Helpful liaison: CalCPA committee on taxation sits down with FTB.

• Author: Woodford, John
• Position: CATax

This year's annual liaison meeting between the FTB and the CalCPA Committee on Taxation opened with a presentation from FTB Executive Officer Selvi Stanislaus, who unveiled the FTB's five-year strategic plan that was developed over the course of the last year.

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Stanislaus shared with the COT a new, proposed mission statement for the FTB: "We provide the services and information to help taxpayers file accurate and timely tax returns and pay the proper amount owed. To accomplish this, we develop knowledgeable and engaged employees, administer and enforce the law with fairness and integrity, and responsibly manage the resources provided to us."

Legislative Update

Patrice Gau-Johnson, FTB assistant bureau director legislative services, presented a legislative update that covered the various tax bills chaptered and vetoed in the past year. For a rundown of all the bills mentioned, visit www.leginfo.ca.gov/index.html.

Some of the chaptered legislation mentioned included:

AB 36: Conforms to the federal law that allows an exclusion or deduction from income for certain medical care expenses of a child under the age of 27.

AB 242: Effective Jan. 1, 2012, and conforms to the following tax provisions of the 2010 Healthcare Reform Act:

* PPACA 10908: Health professional's student loan repayment program exclusion and student loan forgiveness exclusion.

* PPACA 9021: Indian tribal government health benefits exclusion.

* PPACA 9022: Safe harbor for small employer cafeteria plans.

* PPACA 1515: Small employer cafeteria plan to allow Exchange-participating health plans.

AB 1423: Generally conforms to the Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010.

SB 86: A chaptered budget trailer bill that:

* Requires the FTB to revise the income tax booklet instructions to include a use tax table that allows taxpayers to determine the amount of use tax they owe.

* Revises the child and dependent care expenses tax credit to be nonrefundable.

* Authorizes a voluntary compliance initiative permitting taxpayers to file amended returns and pay the tax and interest associated with abusive tax avoidance transactions or unreported offshore income and avoid criminal prosecution and the imposition of certain penalties.

* Establishes a record match process between financial institution customer records and FTB debtor records.

COT Affects Reporting of Real Estate Taxes

The FTB presentation portion of the meeting ended with a rather lively discussion...