California FTB Notice Statute of Limitations Waiver – Individuals (AUD 3570D)

The AUD 3570D is the individual version of the California Franchise Tax Board’s statute of limitations waiver. While the AUD 3570 is a cover letter explaining the request, the AUD 3570D is the actual document you sign to extend the FTB’s legal deadline to assess additional California income tax for a specific tax year. The FTB sends this to individual taxpayers — not business entities — when an audit is in progress and the four-year assessment window under California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 19057 is approaching its end.

You’ll typically receive the AUD 3570D midway through an audit, usually several months before the statute expires, giving you time to consider it and respond. The FTB sends it with the AUD 3570 cover letter that explains why they’re asking and what the implications are. The form itself specifies the tax year, the current assessment deadline, and the proposed extended deadline — usually one year beyond the current expiration.

Receiving this form means your California audit is still open and unresolved. It’s not a routine form and it’s not something you should sign without understanding what you’re agreeing to and what the strategic implications are for your specific audit situation.

Yes — the AUD 3570D is specifically for individual California personal income tax returns (Form 540 filers). Business entities have separate waiver forms. The AUD 3570D covers only your individual California income tax liability and is tied to your Social Security Number rather than a business entity tax ID. If the audit involves both individual and pass-through entity issues, you might receive both individual and entity-specific waiver requests.

For married couples who filed jointly, both spouses generally need to sign the AUD 3570D for the waiver to be valid. If you’re separated or divorced and the audit involves a joint year, getting both signatures can be complicated — and if you can’t obtain your former spouse’s signature, the situation requires a different approach. The FTB has procedures for this, but they’re not automatic.

The substance of the waiver decision — whether to sign or not — is the same regardless of the form number. The AUD 3570D is the individual version, but the analysis is identical: what does the FTB have so far, what would they assess if the statute expired today, and is more time going to help you or hurt you?

Yes — and this is something many taxpayers don’t realize. The AUD 3570D waiver isn’t a take-it-or-leave-it document. You can negotiate the duration of the extension, the scope of issues covered, and even include a closing condition that requires the FTB to issue a determination within the extended period. A skilled tax representative can sometimes get the FTB to agree to a limited-scope waiver that only covers specific items under review, not the entire return.

One practical negotiating point: the extension period. The FTB typically asks for a one-year extension. You could counter with six months, which creates pressure on both sides to finish faster. You can also request in writing that the FTB provide a status update within 90 days of signing so you know whether they’re actually using the time productively. None of these conditions are automatic — they require you to propose them and the FTB to agree.

We negotiate waiver terms routinely. The FTB auditors have supervisors who can approve modified waiver terms, though it takes more time than simply signing what’s sent. When the modified waiver serves our client better than the standard form, we do the work to negotiate it. That extra effort has resulted in shorter audit timelines and narrower scopes for several clients.

You can revoke a California FTB AUD 3570D waiver before it takes effect — but you need to act quickly. If the waiver has been signed but not yet accepted by the FTB, a written revocation sent to the audit unit may be accepted. Once the FTB has accepted and recorded the waiver, revocation is much harder and requires a showing that the waiver was signed under mistake, duress, or misrepresentation.

Revoking an accepted waiver through normal FTB channels is extremely difficult. The FTB’s position is that once a waiver is validly executed and accepted, both parties are bound by it. If you believe you were misled about what you were signing — for example, if an FTB auditor misrepresented the consequences — you could potentially raise that through the California Office of Tax Appeals, but the evidentiary burden is high.

The better approach is to get the analysis right before signing. We review every AUD 3570D with clients before they decide whether to sign. If the decision was made without professional advice and you’ve had second thoughts, reach out to us as soon as possible — the earlier we get involved after signing, the more options we have to manage the extended audit period productively.

No. Signing the AUD 3570D waiver is not an admission of liability. You’re agreeing to extend the time period during which the FTB can assess additional tax — not agreeing that they will or should. The decision to sign is purely procedural and strategic. It doesn’t affect the underlying merits of the audit or your legal position on any issue being examined.

However, don’t let that procedural neutrality trick you into signing without careful thought. Giving the FTB more time to audit is rarely a neutral act in practice. More time means more opportunity for the FTB to develop additional audit issues, request more documentation, and build a stronger case if there are vulnerabilities in your return. The merits haven’t changed, but the FTB’s ability to act on those merits extends when you sign.

The cleanest way to think about the AUD 3570D: it’s a business decision, not a legal admission. The question isn’t ‘do I owe more tax?’ — it’s ‘am I better off with the FTB having more time, or less?’ Our job is to help you answer that question based on the current audit facts, then execute whichever strategy makes sense.