End-of-year tax tips offered for California taxpayers

With tax season just around the corner, the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) recently offered Californians tips on planning for next year’s filings.

“Taking stock of your taxes now can make reporting easier and faster for you next year,” said State Controller and FTB Chair John Chiang. “The FTB offers services to help you look ahead to see if you are ready for April 15.”

A few ways residents can prepare for the filing of their 2007 tax returns:

• Use the tax calculator available at http://www.ftb.ca.gov to estimate their tax. Those who are under withheld have time to make added tax payments now to avoid problems later. To make a tax payment online, try FTB’s Web Pay service.

• Check estimated tax payments. Claiming the wrong estimated payments is the most common error made on state tax returns. Taxpayers can check their estimated payments on FTB’s Web site. FTB renamed the View Payments and Balance Due application to “My FTB Account,” which will be available January 2. Customer Service Numbers are required for My FTB Account.

• Get organized. Now is a good time to start collecting the receipts and documents taxpayers will need to file their tax returns. Items to collect include: last year’s tax return, receipts for charitable contributions and car registration. Watch the mail for W-2s and 1099s and put them in a safe place.

• Request an e-mail reminder to file from FTB’s Web site. The reminder also contains links to other areas of the Web site that provide information to make filing easier, such as e-file information, tips to avoid common mistakes and what to do if one cannot pay.

Looking for a tax professional? Last year, 68 percent of taxpayers had their returns professionally prepared.

If a taxpayer chooses to hire someone to prepare his tax return, he should be sure it is someone he knows or can trust. These organizations may be helpful in finding a tax professional:

• CPAs and Public Accountants are licensed by the California Board of Accountancy. To locate a CPA, contact the California Society of Certified Public Accountants at (800) 922-5272 or visit http://www.calcpa.org.

• Enrolled Agents are licensed by the federal government. To locate one, contact the California Society of Enrolled Agents at (800) 829-7765 or visit http://www.csea.org.

• Tax preparers registered with the California Tax Education Council can be found by calling (877) 850-2832 or visiting http://www.ctec.org.

Need to send a general question or comment about e-file? It can be sent to FTB from their Web site under “E-mail For Electronic Return Originators (ERO).”