This month the Franchise Tax Board has launched its new enhanced MyFTB online service after taking a few extra months to implement new security features.
MyFTB provides online access to account information and services for individuals, businesses and tax preparers. Registering for an account is required to use MyFTB. Users can look up their account balance, payment history, view California wage and withholding information, and more. A full list of features is here.
"We realize the launch of our enhanced MyFTB online service may not be as exciting as the latest technology gadget on the market, but we are pretty proud of what this self-service tool has to offer you. MyFTB was designed to help you, taxpayers, businesses representatives, and tax preparers, get the information you need when you need it," FTB said.
The enahanced MyFTB originally was slated to launch in 2015, but the Franchise Tax Board pushed the go-live date back to early 2016 to work on security enhancements.
Cathy Cleek, the tax board’s CIO, said during a Techwire Industry Briefing last year that users will be able to log in and see four or five years’ worth of their data, including tax returns from previous years and their payment history.
"We are super excited about this because this is something we’ve talked about doing for 20 years, and finally it’s here – in one place," Cleek said.
Many of the improvements are aimed at functionality intended for tax preparers – recognizing that many individuals don’t prepare their tax returns themselves. With the summer 2015 release, tax professionals will be able to search for their clients and make lists of their clients; check a client’s alerts, contact information and account status; and file a Power of Attorney.
