Watch out for the new Texas Comptroller emailed Tax Return Due Date Reminder

Towards the end of 2020 the Texas Comptroller updated their website to include a notice that they are changing the annual reminders to file a Franchise Tax Return. I wrote a blog post about these notices back in December and here’s a link to that post. In prior years they mailed a paper reminder to taxpayers with the due date of the Franchise Tax Return during the first couple months of the year. Now they will be emailing these notices to taxpayers. Here is a screen shot of the announcement:

I just received one of the emails from the Texas Comptroller with this reminder. Unfortunately, it’s not nearly as helpful as the notices from the past. In the past, the notice included the taxpayer’s name and address and also the taxpayer’s webfile number. This is the number used to efile the tax return. However, the new notice is very generic and doesn’t even mention the exact taxpayer it relates to. Here is a copy of the email I received:

So, the moral of the story is to be on the lookout for these notices regarding your annual franchise tax returns and don’t expect the notice to have any identifiable information related to the specific taxpayer that the notice is for. Maybe the Comptroller will be smart enough not to send multiple emails to the same email address, but who knows what they’ll do.