Beginning on January 1, 2016, the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) modified its MyFTB online account access website. In order for the tax practitioners to check and review their clients’ California tax payments, balances, notices and other correspondence, they will have to register an account with California FTB on its website and add their clients to their accounts. When the client’s account is first accessed by the tax practitioner, the client will receive a confirmation letter from the FTB with an alert that someone from the tax practitioner’s office has added the taxpayer as a client and now that person has access to the taxpayer’s information.
Please see below for a list of items that tax practitioners will be able to view on their clients’ MyFTB account. Please be aware that unless the tax practitioners have a current Power of Attorney (POA) on file for their clients, the tax practitioners will be limited to the first columns listed below only.
For more information about this article, please contact our tax professionals at taxalerts@windes.com or toll free at 844.4WINDES (844.494.6337).
| Business/ Individual Clients | Added Client to Client List (no POA) | Client with POA processed by the FTB |
| Tax Practitioner can view: | ||
| Estimated payments, real estate withholding, recent payments, liabilities, and penalties | Yes | Yes |
| Prior year balances, including zero balance years | Yes | Yes |
| Account information | Yes | Yes |
| Contact information, such as name, address, and IDs | Yes (cannot make changes) | Yes (can make changes) |
| Summary return information, including status | Yes | Yes |
| State W-2 information (wage and withholding) | Yes | Yes |
| Subject to mandatory e-pay | Yes | Yes |
| FTB-issued Form 1099-G and Form 1099-INT information | Yes | Yes |
| Notices sent to the taxpayer | No | Yes |
| Correspondence sent to the taxpayer | No | Yes |
| Images of clients returns | No | Yes |
| Actions Tax Practitioner can take: | ||
| File a protest (including updating and withdrawing protests) | No | Yes |
| File a nonresident withholding waiver request (Form 588) | Yes | Yes |
| Initiate chat with the FTB | Yes | Yes |
| Send message to the FTB (with or without attachments) | Yes | Yes |
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