BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           1546 (Calderon)
          
          Hearing Date:  08/17/2009           Amended: 08/17/2009
          Consultant: Mark McKenzie       Policy Vote: Rev&Tax 5-2
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:  AB 1546 would require a canceled domestic limited  
          partnership (LP) seeking to revive its active status to pay  
          outstanding fees and file missing tax returns with the Franchise  
          Tax Board (FTB) in addition to other existing requirements.  FTB  
          would be authorized to charge a $100 service fee for expedited  
          reinstatement until January 1, 2011, and establish future fee  
          amounts through regulation based upon direct and indirect costs  
          of providing the service.  This bill would also make technical  
          and clarifying changes to recently enacted budget provisions.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
          Expedited service fees minor annual fee revenue gains   General
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          All domestic limited partnerships, regardless of the date of  
          formation, will be subject to the Uniform Limited Partnerships  
          Act (ULPA) of 2008 as of January 1, 2010.  The ULPA requires a  
          domestic LP to file a certificate of cancellation with the  
          Secretary of State to complete the dissolution process, and to  
          file a certificate of revival to revive active status.  The  
          certificate of revival must be accompanied by certification by  
          FTB that the domestic LP has paid all annual taxes, penalties,  
          and interest due, including amounts for periods between  
          dissolution and revival.  Current law requires corporations that  
          are suspended by FTB and seeking to revive active status to file  
          a certificate of revival accompanied by written confirmation by  
          FTB that the corporation has filed all delinquent tax returns  
          and paid any outstanding taxes, penalties, interest, and fees.   
          Corporations seeking expedited processing of a revival request  
          must pay a $100 service fee.











          While existing law requires corporations seeking revival to pay  
          any outstanding fees and file tax returns, these requirements do  
          not apply to domestic LPs seeking revival.  Furthermore, there  
          is no existing authorization for FTB to charge a service fee  
          when a domestic LP seeks expedited processing of certification  
          requests.  AB 1546 would require domestic LPs seeking to revive  
          active status to pay any outstanding fees and file missing tax  
          returns with FTB, in addition to other requirements, and would  
          authorize FTB to charge a $100 specialized service fee for LP  
          revival confirmation letter requests until January 1, 2011.   
          After that date, FTB would establish the fees based upon direct  
          and indirect costs for providing the service through regulation.  
           

          Approximately 240 domestic LPs canceled registration in fiscal  
          year 2007-08.  FTB estimates that few canceled domestic LPs with  
          outstanding fees would seek revival.  If 5 percent of canceled  
          domestic LPs seek revival and pay the $100 expedited processing  
          fee, there would be a minor revenue gain of $1,200 annually.
          Page 2
          AB 1546 (Calderon)

          AB 1546 would also clean up provisions enacted in ABX3 3  
          (Evans), Chapter 15 of the 2009 Third Extraordinary Session, and  
          SBX3 15 (Calderon), Chapter 17 of the 2009 Third Extraordinary  
          Session.  Specifically, this bill would:
           Clarify the operative date for the changes to the dependent  
            exemption credit.
           Correct cross referencing errors for the underpayment of  
            estimated tax penalty.
           Clarify the operative date and correct a cross referencing  
            error in provisions that authorize businesses that apportion  
            income to make an annual irrevocable election to utilize a  
            "single sales factor" apportionment formula.