One-Time Penalty Abatement
Overview
Individual taxpayers may now be eligible for a one-time cancellation of a penalty for filing or paying their taxes late.
FTB was granted the authority to provide taxpayers a one-time abatement of timeliness penalties. (Assembly Bill 194 added authority under Section 19132.5). This includes the failure-to-file penalty. (RTC 19131), and a failure-to-pay penalty (RTC 19132).
The one-time penalty abatement is:
- A once-in-a-lifetime abatement
- Available only to individuals subject to Personal Income Tax Law
- Not applicable to fiduciaries, estates or trusts
- Applicable for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022
Penalties eligible for One-Time Penalty Abatement
Penalties eligible for One-Time Penalty Abatement include:
Failure to File - You did not pay by the due date of the tax return and did not file your tax return by the extended due date.
Failure to Pay - You did not pay the entire amount due by your payment due date.
How to qualify for One-Time Abatement
You may qualify for a One-Time Abatement if all of the following are met:
- Be compliant with all tax return filing requirements
- Have not previously been granted a one-time abatement under R&TC 19132.5
- Have paid in full all outstanding liabilities (other than the timeliness penalties you are seeking to have abated) or arranged to pay pursuant to an installment agreement and be current on all installment payments
Taxpayers may choose to forgo a penalty abatement request based on reasonable cause or may request a one-time penalty abatement when reasonable cause is absent.
How to request a One-Time Abatement
A One-Time Abatement can be requested verbally or in writing.
You may file FTB 2918 or call 800-689-4776 to request that we cancel a penalty based on one-time abatement.
We will begin to accept one-time penalty abatement requests on April 17, 2023
.