Publication 75, Interest, Penalties, and Collection Cost Recovery Fee
Relief From Interest, Penalty, and the Collection Cost Recovery Fee

It is possible to have interest, penalty, or the CRF waived under limited circumstances. If one of the situations described below applies to you, you may contact our Customer Service Center for more information on how to claim the relief.

You may request relief from interest, penalty, or the CRF on our website. For more information, see our Request Relief webpage.

Reliance on erroneous written advice

You may be relieved of tax, penalty, and interest due on a transaction if we determine that you failed to pay tax because you reasonably relied on erroneous written advice from us regarding the transaction. For this relief to apply, we must have received from you a written request for tax advice on the transaction, the request must have identified the taxpayer to whom the advice applied, and the writer must have fully described the facts and circumstances of the transaction. Our written reply must have advised the writer of the taxability of the transaction and the conditions that had to be met.

If this situation applies to you, call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-400-7115 (TTY:711) for information on how to file a claim for relief from payment.

Please note: Receiving erroneous verbal advice from our employee does not relieve you of tax, penalty, or interest. Relief also does not apply if you rely on written advice that is given to a different person, even if your transactions are similar.

Late returns and payments as the result of a disaster

We may waive interest and penalty for late tax returns and payments if you submit them late because of a disaster. Disaster means fire, flood, storm, tidal wave, earthquake, or a similar public calamity, whether or not it results from natural causes.

If you are unable to file a return or make a tax payment on time because of a disaster, you must either file a statement with us under penalty of perjury stating the facts upon which you are basing your claim for relief, submit CDTFA-735, Request for Relief From Penalty, Collection Cost Recovery Fee, and/or Interest, or request relief from interest, penalty, or the CRF using our Online Services. Please note that a penalty of perjury statement is not required if you are seeking relief from penalty due to a disaster during the first 12 months following the issuance of a state of emergency proclamation made by the Governor or the duration of the state of emergency, whichever is less. For more information, see our Request Relief webpage.

We will not waive interest, penalty, or the CRF if we determine that the return or payment was willfully filed late or was late as a result of negligence.

Extension of time

The law allows us to extend the due date for filing a tax return or for paying tax that is due. You must file the request for the extension prior to or within the period for which the extension may be granted, and the extension cannot exceed one month or three months in the case of a disaster.

If you are granted an extension of time to file your return and file it by the extended due date, there is no penalty for filing late. If we grant you an extension of time to pay your tax and pay it by the extended due date, there is no penalty for a late payment, but you must pay interest during the extension period. We may waive the interest in cases of public disaster. For more information, see Late returns and payments as the result of a disaster.

We charge interest for each month or fraction of a month that the return is submitted after the due date for the reporting period. See Late tax return filings and late payments for an example of how interest is calculated.

You may request an extension of time to file a tax return using our Online Services. For more information, see our Request Relief webpage.

Circumstances beyond your control

You may request relief from penalty or the CRF if, because of circumstances beyond your control, you:

• Are unable to file your return or make a payment on time.
• Are unable to make a payment by electronic funds transfer. This applies to taxpayers who are required to pay by EFT.

We may relieve you of the penalty or the CRF if we find that your failure to pay was due to reasonable cause and circumstances beyond your control and occurred despite the exercise of ordinary care and the absence of willful neglect. If you are unable to file a return or make a tax payment on time due to circumstances beyond your control, you must either file a statement with us under penalty of perjury stating the facts upon which you are basing your claim for relief, submit CDTFA-735, Request for Relief from Penalty, Collection Cost Recovery Fee, and/or Interest, or request relief from penalty or file a claim for refund using our Online Services. However, interest cannot be waived except in cases of disaster.

If your payment or return filing was late because of failure to exercise ordinary care, willful neglect, or lack of funds, we will not grant you relief from the penalty or the CRF.

Please note: In certain cases, you may be eligible to request relief for interest on electronic payments made one business day late. For more information, see CDTFA-734, Request for Interest Adjustment Electronic Payments–One Day Late.

Late penalty imposed in error

If you made your payment by EFT on time but we show it was late, you may file CDTFA-129-EFT, EFT Transmission Declaration, stating that the payment in question was made on time.

If you file your return on time but our records indicate it was late, you may submit a Declaration of Timely Mailing using our Online Services. In some instances, we may require you to show us related records or bank account information. For more information, see our Request Relief webpage.

If we conclude that your EFT transmission was on time or your payment or return was mailed on time, we will correct our records to show that no late penalty or interest is due.

Errors or delays caused by CDTFA or DMV

We may waive interest if you did not pay your tax amount due to:

• An unreasonable error or delay by a CDTFA employee acting in an official capacity, or
• An error made by DMV in calculating the use tax due on a vehicle or vessel registered with DMV.

If you believe you are entitled to relief from interest for either of the reasons described above, you must file a statement with us under penalty of perjury stating the facts that apply to your situation. You can request relief by either using our Online Services or submitting CDTFA-735, Request for Relief from Penalty, Collection Cost Recovery Fee, and/or Interest. We will not grant relief of interest if we find that a significant part of the error or delay was caused by your own actions.

Penalty and payment plans

As explained in any CDTFA bill notice (for example, a notice of determination), a 10 percent penalty applies if you receive a bill and do not pay the tax due within 30 days. However, we will waive the 10 percent late payment penalty if you enter into a payment plan and complete the installment payments on time. You must enter into a payment plan within 45 days of the due date on the notice.

In some cases, we will not waive the late file penalty. For example, we will not waive the 10 percent late penalty if a bill includes a fraud penalty assessment. For a Hazardous Waste Generation and Handling Fee assessment, the late file penalty will not be waived if a bill includes the 300 percent penalty for willingly or knowingly providing incorrect information or withholding information that results in an underpayment or nonpayment.

Multiple penalties

If you have been assessed multiple penalties for a tax amount due, but we charge you only 10 percent because of the limitations discussed under How Do Interest, Penalty, and Collection Cost Recovery Fee Charges Apply?, your request for relief must explain the reason for relief of each penalty. In other words, we must grant relief for each of the multiple penalties assessed to avoid any penalty charges.

Reconsideration of a relief of penalty or CRF request

If we deny your request for relief of penalty or the CRF, you may be able to request reconsideration of the denial.

You must submit a written request for reconsideration within 30 days of the date your relief request was denied. You should send your request to the CDTFA representative who sent you the denial letter or to your nearest local office. Your request for reconsideration should include any new information to be considered in your request.

Revision June 2026