Income and corporation taxes: deductions: disaster relief.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law provide for a deduction of specified losses sustained as a result of disasters occurring in California in an area determined by the President of the United States to warrant specified federal assistance or, for other disasters for which a specific law has been enacted, proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of emergency. Those laws allow a taxpayer to elect to deduct those disaster losses on the return for the taxable year preceding the taxable year in which the disaster occurred, filed by a specified date. Existing law also allows individual and corporate taxpayers to utilize net operating losses and carryovers and carrybacks of those losses for purposes of offsetting their individual and corporate tax liabilities. Existing law, for net operating losses incurred in taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2013, allows net operating losses to be carrybacks to each of the preceding 2 taxable years, as provided, but varies the amount of carryback allowed for net operating losses attributed to specified taxable years. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2024, extend the provisions relating to disaster losses to losses in any city, county, or city and county that is proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of emergency and would extend the time during which a taxpayer may claim the deduction. This bill would additionally provide that any law that suspends, defers, reduces, or otherwise diminishes the deduction of a net operating loss, other than those variations already imposed in existing law, shall not apply to a net operating loss attributable to these specified disaster losses. This bill would make a legislative finding and declaration relating to the statewide public purpose served by the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.