October 15 filing and payment postponement traps to watch out for.

October 15 filing and payment postponement

California taxpayers who were granted a Los Angeles County wildfire-related postponement of their filing and payment deadlines should note that the October 15, 2025, deadline is approaching quickly. However, there are several traps that can catch practitioners and their clients by surprise.

Many California pass-through entities have received a postponement to file their returns, including the issuance of K-1s, until October 15, 2025. If pass-through entity owners do not receive their K-1s in time to file, they should estimate the pass-through income they expect to receive and use that estimate to timely file their own return. If their estimate is inaccurate, they can always file an amended return later.

The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and the Office of Tax Appeals have consistently held that the late receipt of a K-1 is not reasonable cause for a late-filed return. However, if the taxpayer can document their efforts to obtain the necessary information and demonstrate why they could not reasonably estimate their income from the entity, they may qualify for late payment relief.

Because up to four estimated tax payments have been postponed until October 15, the mandatory e-pay requirement may pose a problem for some taxpayers who plan to make all those payments as a single transaction. Unfortunately, the FTB does not grant an automatic waiver of the mandatory e-pay requirement in these cases. Once an individual or corporation has made a single estimated tax or extension payment greater than $20,000, or filed an original return with a tax liability greater than $80,000, all subsequent payments—regardless of taxable year or amount—must be remitted electronically to the FTB.

For clients whose combined estimated payments will exceed $20,000, it is recommended that those payments be divided into smaller amounts below the threshold.

Pass-through entities eligible to make the Pass-Through Entity (PTE) tax election were given until October 15 to make both the 2024 final payment (originally due March 15, 2025, for calendar-year taxpayers) and the June 15 prepayment required to qualify for the 2025 election. It is essential to ensure that these payments are applied to the correct tax year using the appropriate Form 3893 payment voucher.

If your clients are making payments through WebPay, confirm that they are crediting the payments to the proper year and not combining them with other entity tax payments that may also be due.

Finally, taxpayers are responsible for verifying that any WebPay payments are successfully processed. If a scheduled payment fails—for example, due to a transposed digit in an account number—the taxpayer may not receive any notification of the failed payment. Taxpayers who are unaware that their payment did not go through will not be granted reasonable cause for relief from late payment penalties.

October 15 filing and payment postponement

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