Residency Audits and Appeals

California’s 4600 Notice “Request For Tax Return” – The Definitive Guide for Nonresidents

Published on: July 20, 2021 | by Chris Manes

The Issue

Nonresidents who own vacation homes, business interests, financial accounts, or have other significant contacts in California can receive a notice from the Franchise Tax Board, California’s tax enforcement agency, demanding they file a tax return or explain why they aren’t required to. The official notice number is 4600 (you can find the designation on the lower left bottom of the Notice). Hence the name, “4600 Notice.” It’s also called a “Request for Tax Return,” since the verbiage has appeared in bold on the Notice since about 2017. If a nonresident owns a second home or uses some other address in California, the Notice is often mailed there (which can be a problem if it’s an unoccupied vacation home without mail forwarding, since the deadline for responding may be missed before the recipient even knows the Notice has arrived). But it can also be sent to their out-of-state address. Nonresidents who receive the Notice are often perplexed and concerned about why they received the Notice, and how they are supposed to respond. This article clarifies what the Notice is about, the risk it poses, and the options nonresidents have for responding.

Criminal Tax Fraud in California Residency Cases: Will the Trump/Weisselberg Indictment Give the FTB Ideas?

Published on: July 6, 2021 | by Chris Manes

What’s Happening?

There’s a noteworthy residency-related Easter egg in the criminal tax fraud indictment against the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg. The complaint includes the charge that Weisselberg fraudulently failed to file tax returns as a New York City resident, thus evading the municipality’s income tax on the city’s inhabitants. Monetarily, it’s one of the lesser offenses. It isn’t even mentioned in much of the media coverage. But it shines a spotlight on a question that sometimes arises in California residency tax planning: are there criminal tax fraud risks in asserting nonresidency while retaining or establishing significant contacts with California?

The Short Answer

The short answer is no. You would have to blatantly abuse California’s unique system for determining residency status, or commit outright perjury, to incur criminal tax fraud charges for claiming nonresidency. However, the long answer is, while California residency rules aren’t the same as New York’s, the two systems are enough alike that the Weisselberg case may embolden the FTB to think otherwise.

Background

First, the obvious point: the Weisselberg indictment was brought by the State of New York. Accordingly, no matter how the case is resolved, it can’t have a direct precedential impact on the enforcement of California’s residency rules. California draws on its own robust jurisprudence to adjudicate residency tax issues. It rarely needs to look to the outcomes and opinions from out-of-state courts in that regard.

They’re Back! – FTB 4600 Notices Coming Soon to You

Published on: May 17, 2017 | by Chris Manes

It’s that time of year again. The time when the Franchise Tax Board sends out its 4600 Notices, “Request for Tax Return,” the bane of snowbirds and other part-time residents of California, especially those with vacation homes. And a potential trap for the unwary.

What Is A 4600 Notice?

A 4600 Notice is sent by the FTB because it believes the recipient, usually a nonresident, was required to file a California tax return, but didn’t. The notice usually goes out a month or two after the April 15 tax filing deadline, but it can show up any time after that, even years later. There is no statute of limitations. As a practical matter, however, the FTB generally sends the notice within a short period after the tax filing deadline or not at all. That’s because, as explained below, the notice is usually triggered by information provided by third parties (such as banks, mortgage lenders, employers) in the same tax year at issue.

The notice requires you to file a return, or explain why you are exempt. It’s usually directed at nonresidents, who for various reasons discussed below, have the misfortune of popping up on the FTB’s radar scope.

Why Did You Get A 4600 Notice?

When I say the FTB believes a nonresident was supposed to file a California tax return, I’m speaking metaphorically. 4600 Notices are mostly sent out through an automated system. No thinking is involved. The typical scenario goes like this. You’re a nonresident who doesn’t file a California tax return because you don’t live in California and didn’t have any California source income. But you do have a mortgage on your vacation home, or a small local bank account that bears interest, or you work remotely for a California firm which for convenience sake uses your local address for correspondence. As a result, the bank, lender or employer sends a Form 1099-INT (bank interest) or Form 1098 (mortgage interest) or a Form W-2 (wage income) to Sacramento with your name and local address on it. Come April 15^th, FTB computers cross-reference these “information returns” with filed tax returns. When nothing comes up, a 4600 Notice issues.