FTB 4601

A Demand for Tax Return (FTB 4601) means the Franchise Tax Board has no record of your California personal income tax return for the year named. It is a filing question, not a bill — the FTB is asking you either to file or to explain, and it encloses a Reply to FTB form for saying you already filed, you do not have to file, or you are not sure. A business-entity version of the same demand exists as FTB 4684/4685.

“We can’t find a California return under your number for this year. File it, or use the enclosed Reply to FTB form to tell us you already filed or don’t need to — within 30 days. If we hear nothing, we will estimate your income ourselves and propose tax with penalties added.”

If nothing arrives by the date on the notice, the FTB estimates your income and issues a Notice of Proposed Assessment that includes the estimated tax, a demand penalty, a delinquent filing penalty, and a cost recovery fee.

• The notice and its Reply to FTB form, every page
• A copy of the California return for that year, if one was filed
• Records that show whether a California filing requirement existed — residency dates, income sources, W-2s and 1099s
• Any FTB letters that came before this one

• Determining whether a California filing requirement actually exists for the year
• Preparing and filing the missing return before the FTB estimates for you
• Responding on the Reply to FTB form with substantiation
• Heading off the proposed assessment before the stacked penalties attach