3531: California Competes Tax Credit (2024)
California · FTB · Used for tax years 2024
California Form 3531 reports the California Competes Tax Credit earned, available, and claimed for 2024, along with credit carryovers and recapture amounts. Attach it to your California tax return.
What you'll need
Have the information requested on the form ready:
- Name(s) as shown on your California tax return and the applicable identifying numbers.
- Credit owner's name and applicable business identifying numbers.
- Agreement number(s), credit earned in 2024, and whether the credit includes milestones achieved in more than one year.
- Prior-year credit carryover amounts.
- For Part IV, each agreement number, the year the credit was earned, the amount available, the credit claimed, and the carryover.
Depending on the entries you make, the form also references:
- Schedule K-1 (100S, 541, 565, or 568) for pass-through credits.
- Form FTB 3544, Part A, column (g), for credits assigned.
- Form FTB 3870 to elect refundable treatment for credits disallowed due to the $5,000,000 limitation.
How to file
Attach Form FTB 3531 to your California tax return.
The supplied form does not give a mailing address or e-file instructions.
Common mistakes
- Do not include assigned credit claimed on Form FTB 3544, Part B, in line 8a.
- If you are not a corporation, enter 0 on line 8b.
- If you elect refundable treatment for credits disallowed due to the $5,000,000 limitation, do not include the credit being elected as refundable in Part IV, column (e). You must complete Form FTB 3870 to make that election.
- Remember to attach Form FTB 3531 to your California tax return.
Questions people ask
How do I total the credit earned in 2024?
Add the credit amounts on lines 1a and 1b and enter the total on line 2.
Where do I report a pass-through California Competes Tax Credit?
Enter the credit from Schedule K-1 (100S, 541, 565, or 568) on line 4a. Enter its agreement number on line 4b.
What if my earned credit includes milestones from more than one year?
Lines 1a and 1b each have a Yes/No question asking whether the credit includes milestones achieved in more than one year. Answer the question for the applicable entry.
How do I calculate the carryover available for future years?
For line 9, add lines 8a, 8b, and 8c, then subtract that total from line 7.
Where do I report credit recapture?
Part III provides line 10a for credit recapture and line 10b for the amount of previously used recaptured credit. Both lines refer to instructions, which were not supplied.