Topics covered in tax bulletin articles:

1 Deductions

For most of the last half-century, California tax law has been notable for its non-conformity to Federal law.  During the last decade, it appeared that the California legislature had gotten the message that this non-conformity was a lose-lose situation, and should be dispense with.  Major sections of the tax law were rewritten by the legislature stating that California law would be the same as U.S. law, and the Treasury rules and regulations on the subject would be binding for California law as for federal.

      However, the bill to conform California tax law to U.S. for the 1993 changes has been sidetracked on the way to the Governor's office.  I will not go into why, but the following are the some of the areas in which there is a difference between California and federal law for 1993 and potentially for 1994 and the future: 

     *  California retains the tax preference for contributions of appreciated property (e.g., securities, land) to charities;

     * California retains the $10,000 rather than the higher $17,500 limit for IRC section 179 expensing;

     * California does not allow 15 year (or any) amortization of purchased goodwill-type intangibles;

     * California does not allow any roll-over of gains from publicly-traded securities to "Specialized Small Business investment Companies."