2018 Filing season update - II August 2018 Tax News

In July’s issue of Tax News, 2018 Filing Season Update, we provided you with some of the highlights for returns, payments, and refunds as of the end of May. This month, we are providing you with some of our 2018 Filing Season Customer Service numbers.

• We had 10.5 million website visits (www.ftb.ca.gov) including 3.4 million visits to our Check Your Refund webpage. For those who preferred using their mobile phone, we have an FTB Mobile App. This App was downloaded 7,500 times, with new and existing users accessing this App 60,000 times to check on a refund. Our Mobile App can also be used to make a payment through Web Pay.
• Our general customer service and Tax Practitioner Hotline customer service representatives together answered nearly 500,000 phone calls. We also had 56,000 combined General (FTB website) and Secure (MyFTB) Chats.
• Speaking of MyFTB, we now have nearly 350,000 MyFTB registered users, both individuals and tax professionals.
• We had 127,000 CalFile returns filed through the end of May, with users reporting a 96 percent satisfaction rate with this no-cost method of filing.
• For those who needed assistance with filing their federal and California returns, VITA Volunteers from FTB and the Capital Region Coalition helped prepare and file 19,000 California and federal returns, with many of the VITA prepared returns claiming the Federal and California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC).
• CalEITC continues to be a popular credit. We received 1.3 million CalEITC claims and have allowed $292 million in CalEITC refunds, helping California’s working families and individuals.

So there you have it, our first Filing Season update for the 2018 Filing Season. We will have a complete update later this year for you, so stay tuned!