The State of California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) will be mailing out Head of Household (HOH) Audit Questionnaires in mid-July.  They will be sending out ~100,000 Audit Letters for 2012 tax year.  We are urging our clients to respond by the stated due date to avoid the *failure to furnish information* penalty.  Failure to respond to the questionnaire or whose responses indicate they do not qualify for HOH can expect a Notice of Proposed Assessment that disallows their HOH filing status.

“Taxpayers who e-filed and claim the HOH filing status, have the option of electronically completing and including the HOH questionnaire (FTB 4803E) with their e-filed return. We will not mail an HOH Audit Letter to taxpayers who submitted this information electronically. They may, however, still receive a follow-up letter if they provided incomplete or conflicting information.”

The Franchise Tax Board has provided three methods to responding to the 2012 HOH Audit Questionnaire:

• Go to ftb.ca.gov and search for hoh web response. They will need their social security number and the FTB ID shown at the top of the questionnaire letter. Using this method of responding to the HOH Audit Letter will expedite the processing of the questionnaire. Encourage your clients to use this method.
• Fax the completed questionnaire, and any supporting information to 866.223.8195.
• Mail it with the enclosed preaddressed envelope.