Inside FTB

California follows new IRS deadline of April 17

California taxpayers will get an extra two days to file and pay their 2006 state income taxes. On January 24, the Internal Revenue Service announced the new April 17, 2007, deadline, and FTB quickly changed the California deadline to mirror the federal action.

The April 17 deadline applies to:

2006 State and federal income tax returns, whether filed electronically or on paper.
2006 Balance due tax payments, whether made electronically (e-Pay, credit cards) or by check.
Individual estimated tax payments for the first quarter of 2007, made electronically or by check.
Other provisions as detailed by the IRS in their news release IR-2007-15.

All California taxpayers get an automatic six-month extension to file their state tax return, although payment is due by the new April deadline. The FTB receives more than 15 million state income tax returns annually.

We want your tax gap ideas!

You’ve seen many articles about the tax gap on our Website and in Tax News, expressing our strong commitment to closing the gap. Many experienced and creative people are looking at how we can achieve this goal.

You may also have great ideas about how to close the tax gap, and we would like to hear them. Getting your feedback is an important strategy for us. We have included it in several areas of our Tax Gap Plan – see “Critical Success Factors (page 14) and Appendix One (page 16), Goals One and Six. We’ve established a “virtual suggestion box” so that you can submit your ideas and suggestions online, anonymously if you prefer. To get to our Tax Gap Suggestions Webpage, go to our Website at www.ftb.ca.gov and enter “tax gap suggestions” in the search box. Let us hear from you!

Tax News survey results

Over 1,100 Tax News subscribers responded to our December survey, and gave us invaluable feedback. Almost a quarter of you who took the survey spent a little extra time and gave us your comments. Here’s a breakdown of answers to each question.

Distribution of responses to individual questions:

1. Does Tax News cover issues that are important to you?

	Number	Percentage
Always	170	15
Usually	740	66
Sometimes	207	18
Never	4	0

2. Does Tax News give you information you can use in your job?

	Number	Percentage
Always	265	23
Usually	594	52
Sometimes	256	22
Never	6	0

3. Does Tax News publish timely information?

	Number	Percentage
Always	355	3
Usually	662	59
Sometimes	100	8
Never	4	0

4. Should Tax News include more articles about any of the following programs?

Check all that apply	Number	Percentage
Collections	427	15
Audit	627	23
Filing	718	26
Criminal activity	264	9
Legal/legislation	608	22
Fill-in	79	2
(1026 responses: 95 skipped, 91percent responding)

5. Overall, how would you rate Tax News as a publication for tax professionals?

	Number	Percentage
Excellent	402	35
Good	584	52
Satisfactory	110	9
Poor	21	1

Question 6 was an open-ended question: “Pease suggest how we can improve Tax News.” We received a total of 223 comments and suggestions, in responses to Question 6, and the fill-in portion of Question 4

Although each question offered great feedback, Question 6 gave respondents a chance to speak up about anything that was not covered on the survey. Responses can be organized under four main categories: content, format, publication schedule, and general approval or disapproval.

You may view all of the Survey comments exactly as they were submitted, typos and all, at www.ftb.ca.gov. Search for “Tax News Survey.” Suggestions and comments in the content and format categories are divided into sub-categories:

Content

State/Federal conformity
Practitioner needs
Tax law and legislation
Tax programs
Filing and forms

Format

PDF version of Tax News
Return to the printed publication
Article length
Search/indexing
General layout

Thanks again for your participation in the survey. And, if you have new ideas or additional comments, drop us an email at taxnews@ftb.ca.gov