Tax Season Begins

Although some taxpayers can procrastinate, April has started with a sizable inflow.  Personal income taxes net of refunds totaled $458 million on April 1.  This number included money received during the weekend and Monday’s Cesar Chavez holiday.  Adding in a small amount of corporate taxes and retail tax receipts, the total of California’s three major resources clocked in at $513 million.  One-half billion dollars is a good start to reaching the state’s forecast goal of about $13 billion for April as a whole.

What a difference a day makes…  Final payments on the corporate tax are due on March 15, so each year there is a flurry of payment and processing activity at the Franchise Tax Board immediately after the Ides of March.  This year, over 50 percent of all the March collections for this tax were reported on just two days—March 16 and 17.  This pattern is persistent, with small variations.  For example in 2013, a similar percentage of all collections were reported on March 17 and 18.  We will see a similar flurry of activity for individuals around the middle of this month as April 15 appears.