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CSTC works closely with a Legislative Consultant to keep an eye on important bills that would affect taxpayers and small business owners. Click here to find your California Representative OF PARTICULAR NOTE AB 1175 (Irwin) | Accountants Phases in new education and experience standards for a certified public accountant license and authorizes out-of-state CPA license holders to practice public accountancy in California under a practice privilege if the state that issued their license has comparable licensure requirements. SB 788 (Niello) | Tax preparers: exemptions This bill adds employees of firms registered with the California Board of Accountancy from the requirement to register with the California Tax Education Council under the Tax Preparers Act as specified. TAX RELATED ABx 3 (Wallis) | Personal Income Tax: tax credits: fire-resistant home improvements. This bill would allow a credit against personal income taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, to a qualified taxpayer, in an amount equal to 40% of the taxpayer’s qualified expenses, not to exceed $400 per taxable year, or $2,000 cumulatively. AB 27 (Schiavo) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: Chiquita Canyon elevated temperature landfill event: exclusions. Provides a gross income exclusion for amounts received as payment for losses related to the Chiquita Canyon elevated temperature landfill event in Los Angeles County. AB 53 (Ramos) | Personal income taxes: exclusion: Military Services Retirement and Surviving Spouse Benefit Payment Act. This bill provides a partial gross income exclusion for certain military retirement pay and survivor benefits. AB 97 (Lackey) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: Bobcat Fire: exclusions. Excludes from gross income amounts received in settlement arising out of the 2020 Bobcat Fire. AB 231 (Ta) | Income and corporation taxes: credits: work opportunity credit Allows businesses with fewer than five employees, under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, a credit equal to 40% of the wages paid to an employee who has previously been convicted of a felony. AB 232 (Calderon) | Natural disasters: catastrophe savings accounts: personal income tax. Allows an above-the-line deduction for contributions to a "catastrophe savings account" by a "qualified taxpayer" and excludes any interest accruing to the account from gross income, as specified. AB 245 (Gipson) | Property taxation: application of base year value disaster relief. Existing law allows the transfer of a property's base year value to a comparable replacement within the same county if substantially damaged or destroyed by a Governor-declared disaster, provided it's acquired or built within five years. This bill extends the timeframe to seven years if property was damaged by certain fires. This bill also allows for a fair market value reduction for properties impacted by certain 2025 fires. AB 376 (Tangipa) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: wildfires: exclusions. Excludes from gross income, under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, amounts received in settlement by a "qualified taxpayer" to replace property damaged or destroyed by a wildfire occurring in California. AB 386 (Tangipa) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: credits: student loan payments Allows a credit to an employer that makes student loan payments on behalf of a full-time employee and excludes from the employee's gross income the amount of those payments made on their behalf AB 389 (Wallis) | Personal Income Tax: tax credits: fire-resistant home improvements Allows a credit for certain home-hardening measures. AB 397 (Mark González) | Personal Income Tax Law: young child tax credit Expands the number of taxpayers eligible for the California Young Child Tax Credit by gradually modifying the definition of "qualifying child" to include children over the age of five. AB 398 (Ahrens) | Personal income tax: Earned Income Tax Credit. Establishes a minimum credit amount of approximately $300 for taxpayers who claim the California Earned Income Tax Credit, as specified. AB 429 (Hadwick) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: exclusions: wildfires Excludes from gross income amounts received by a qualified taxpayer as settlement payments related to certain fires. AB 474 (Ward) | Housing discrimination: nonprofit home-sharing program: income tax exclusion: eligibility for public social services The tax impacts were amended out of this bill. AB 490 (Tangipa) | Personal Income Tax Law: deduction from gross income: car loan interest payments Allows a deduction for interest paid on a qualified vehicle loan. AB 547 (Tangipa) | Personal Income Tax Law: credits: in vitro fertilization. The bill allows a tax credit, up to $5,000, for qualified expenses of in vitro fertilization. AB 691 (Wallis) | Personal Income Tax Law: credits: pet adoption and medical expenses Creates a tax credit of up to $750 for qualified pet adoption and pet medical costs. AB 702 (Ta) | Personal income tax: exclusions: interest income: theft This bill allows taxpayers to exclude from gross income any interest earned on an investment during the year if that investment is stolen, sold, or transferred without their consent. AB 755 (Tangipa) | Income tax: exclusion: disasters Provides an exclusion for amounts received as income, not to exceed $300,000 per taxable year, by a qualified taxpayer whose real property, residence, or business was burned or deemed uninhabitable due to a disaster. AB 781 (DeMaio) | Charges: health savings accounts: electricity This billallows a deduction in computing adjusted gross income in connection with health savings accounts in modified conformity with federal law. In general, the deduction would be an amount equal to the aggregate amount paid in cash during the taxable year to a health savings account. (This bill also repeals laws related to electric rates). AB 814 (Schiavo) | Personal Income Tax Law: exclusions: law enforcement retirement. Excludes from gross income peace officer retirement pay and amounts received by the beneficiary of an annuity plan set up for the surviving spouse or dependent of a person that lost their life in services as a peace officer. AB 834 (Hadwick) | Personal Income Tax Law: deduction: teachers. Conform state law with federal law to allow the deduction of certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers. AB 838 (Ta) | Taxation: renter’s credit If specified in a budget bill, this bill would temporarily expand the renter’s tax credit for five years, starting the year funding is approved. Income limits apply. AB 918 (Ransom) | Personal Income Tax Law: exclusions: first responders Excludes from gross income "qualified wages" paid to first responders who are employees of a local agency for work performed in an area subject to a declared state or local emergency as part of the provision of mutual aid, as specified. AB 921(Castillo) | Generators: air pollution regulations: income tax credits Allows a credit for the purchase of a backup generator, not to exceed $7,000, for use in a residence or commercial property. AB 976 (Ávila Farías) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: California Retail Security Tax Credit This bill would give businesses operating in a disadvantaged community with total gross annual receipts of no greater than $5,000,000 and with 25 or fewer employees a tax credit for expenses related to retail theft prevention. AB 984 (Nguyen) | Personal income taxes: deductions: CalABLE contributions Provides an above-the-line deduction for contributions made to a California Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act account. AB 1057 (Michelle Rodriguez) | Personal Income Tax Law: exclusions: first responders: overtime pay Creates an exclusion for “qualified overtime wages,” defined to mean overtime wages paid to a qualified taxpayer for work performed directly in response to, or in support of, emergency operations. AB 1124 (Bains) | Personal Income Tax Law: exclusions: first responders: overtime pay Creates an exclusion for “qualified overtime wages,” defined to mean overtime wages paid to a qualified taxpayer for work performed directly in response to, or in support of, emergency operations. AB 1138 (Zbur) | Income and corporate taxes: tax credits: motion pictures. Modifies the California Motion Picture Credit 4.0, which will be in place from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 2030, in order to increase the competitiveness of the credit in relation to other states and counties. AB 1219 (Wallis) | Personal income tax: rate Reduces the Personal Income Tax by 1% across all brackets by decreasing statutorily prescribed income tax rates and adjusting the income thresholds of certain tax brackets. AB 1265 (Haney) | Income taxes: credits: rehabilitation of certified historic structures This bill extends the availability of the historic home rehabilitation tax credit and increases the tax credit for certain certified historic buildings from 25% to 30% of the cost of approved rehabilitation work. AB 1282 (Jeff Gonzalez) | Personal Income Tax Law: credits: medical expenses This bill would allow a deduction in income for out-of-pocket medical costs, limited to $5,000. AB 1354 (Wallis) | Personal Income Tax Law: credits: insurance Allows a credit for premium payments made to residential property insurance policies. AB 1377 (McKinnor) | Income taxes: credits: motion picture credit Removes the “good-faith effort” standards in the Film and Television Tax Credit 4.0 program related to diversity workplans and diversity goals submitted by motion picture applicants to the California Film Commission. AB 1431 (Tangipa) | Personal income taxes: credit: medical services: rural areas. Allows a credit for a qualified taxpayer for medical services performed in a rural area, not to exceed $5,000 per taxable year. AB 1443 (Castillo) | Personal income taxes: unemployment insurance: tips This bill would exclude tips from gross income and would exclude tips from the definition of wages paid for employment for purposes of income tax withholding and for purposes of unemployment insurance and the employment training tax. AB 1435 (Nguyen) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: credits: cleanup costs Allows a credit for qualified cleanup expenditures, defined to mean costs directly related to the removal and disposal of unauthorized encampments, illegal dumping, and abandoned property. AB 1518 (Committee on Revenue and Taxation) | Income taxes: administration: nonresident aliens: identifying numbers: group filing Current law prevents the Franchise Tax Board from requiring nonresident aliens to provide a Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number if they are not eligible for one. It also allows nonresident aliens to file group tax returns and excludes certain payments made on their behalf from taxable income. This bill would make these provisions permanent. SB 1 (Seyarto) | Personal income taxes: exclusion: Military Services Retirement and Surviving Spouse Benefit Payment Act. Enacts the Military Services Retirement and Surviving Spouse Benefit Payment Act, which excludes two forms of military retirement income from state income tax. SB 17 (Ochoa Bogh) | Personal income taxes: unemployment insurance: tips. This bill would exclude tips from income for state tax purposes and remove tips from the definition of wages for employment tax purposes. SB 23 (Valladares) | Property taxation: exemption: disabled veteran homeowners. Enacts a full exemption from property tax for disabled veterans. SB 56 (Seyarto) | Property taxation: disabled veterans’ exemption: household income. Provides that “household income” does not include service-connected disability payments when determining whether the low-income disabled veterans exemption applies. SB 64 (Grove)| Education expenses: School Choice Flex Account Act of 2025 This bill would establish the School Choice Flex Account Act of 2025 only if an unspecified Senate Constitutional Amendment is approved as part of the November 2026 election. If enacted, the bill provides for income tax exclusions. SB 267 (Choi)| Personal income tax: credit: qualified teacher: school supplies This bill would allow a tax credit for qualified teachers who purchase instructional materials and classroom supplies, not to exceed $250. SB 268 (Choi) | Income taxes: gross income exclusions: state of emergency: natural disaster settlements Provide an exclusion for amounts received from a settlement entity by a qualified taxpayer to replace property damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster that was declared a state of emergency by the Governor. SB 269 (Choi) | Personal income taxes: Fire Safe Home Tax Credits Act Provides credits to a qualified taxpayer for qualified costs relating to qualified home hardening and for qualified costs relating to qualified vegetation management, not to exceed an aggregate amount of $500,000,000 per taxable year. This bill also requires a qualified taxpayer to reserve a credit for these qualified costs to be eligible for the credits and provide all necessary information. SB 296 (Archuleta) | Property taxation: exemption: disabled veteran homeowners Enacts a full exemption from property tax for disabled veterans. SB 302 (Padilla) | Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law: exclusions: environmental credits Conforms state law to specific Internal Revenue Code sections added by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, relating to renewable energy development. SB 353 (Alvarado-Gil)| Income tax: credits: food banks. Extends indefinitely tax credits for food bank donations. SB 376 (Valladares) | Incomplete gift nongrantor trusts: Personal Income Tax Law. This bill changes the definition of an "incomplete gift nongrantor trust" to exclude charitable remainder trusts. SB 529 (Choi)| Personal income taxes: deduction: California qualified tuition program Allows limited deductions for contributions to the California qualified tuition program established pursuant to the Golden State Scholarshare Trust Act. SB 566 (Grove) | Real property tax: Personal Income Tax Law: homeowners’ exemption: renter’s credit This bill would increase the homeowners’ exemption, for certain homeowners, from $7,000 to $50,000 of the full value of a dwelling. It would also increase credits for qualified renters. SB 587 (Grayson) | Personal income taxes: credit: manufacturing: sales and use taxes. Would enact credits against the Personal Income and Corporation Tax equal in the amount of taxes paid by a manufacturer because the current sales and use tax exemption for equipment used in manufacturing or research and development is a partial, not a full, exemption. SB 591 (Valladares) | Taxation: electronic funds transfer: penalties This bill would change the penalty for not making required electronic payments to the Franchise Tax Board. Instead of a 10% penalty, the first violation would result in a $100 fine, and each additional violation would result in a $500 fine, replacing the current 1% penalty. SB 628 (Grove) | Employment: employer contributions: employee withholdings: credit: agricultural employees This bill would create a payroll tax credit to reimburse agricultural employers for overtime wages paid to their agricultural employees. SB 630 (Allen) | Income and corporate taxes: tax credits: motion pictures. Increases the annual authorization amount under Film and Television Production Tax Credit from $330 million to $750 million, and makes specified changes to the credit’s provisions. SB 657 (Niello) | Personal Income Tax Law: deferred compensation: exclusions: long-term qualified tuition program This bill would exempt distributions made from a long-term qualified tuition program that are paid in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to a Roth IRA. SB 665 (Choi) | Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: credits: retail security measures Would allow a credit for retail theft prevention measures, limited to $10,000 annually. SB 666 (Choi) | Personal income tax: credit: home security surveillance Would allow a tax credit, not to exceed $250, for the purchase and installation of a security surveillance system at the taxpayer’s principal California based single-family residence. SMALL BUSINESS RELATED AB 265 (Caloza) | Small Business and Nonprofit Recovery Fund Act. Appropriates $100,000,000 to a newly-created Small Business Recovery Fund for a competitive grant program for small businesses and nonprofit organizations directly impacted by a state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor. AB 685 (Solache) | Los Angeles and Ventura Wildfire Small Business Recovery Act Establishes the Los Angeles and Ventura Wildfire Small Business Recovery Act to provide assistance to certain small businesses. AB 1519 (Committee on Revenue and Taxation) Direct File: employment: notice Requires employer notifications to all employees about specified income tax filing assistance programs to also include information regarding Direct File. AB 713 (Solache) | Public postsecondary education: student employment. Bill amended; now relates to state universities and colleges. SB 70 (Seyarto) | Public contracts: Small Business Procurement and Contract Act. This bill increases, from $250,000 to $350,000, the maximum estimated value of a contract awarded pursuant to the Small Business Procurement and Contract Act which allows state agencies to award a contract to a certified small business or to a disabled veteran business enterprise without complying with competitive bidding requirements. SB 590 (Durazo) | Paid family leave: eligibility: care for designated persons Expands eligibility for benefits under the Paid Family Leave program to include individuals who take time off work to care for a seriously ill designated person, as defined. SB 705 (Hurtado) | Small businesses: certification. “Placeholder” bill Status: This bill will not move forward. SB 816 (Valladares) | Taxation: corporations: minimum franchise tax: limited liability companies: annual tax: microbusinesses Exempts microbusinesses incorporated in California from the minimum franchise tax. |