California governor extends small business tax deadlines

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California small businesses will have more time to file their tax returns in 2021.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Monday giving small businesses until the end of July to file their first-quarter tax returns. More broadly, the order gives a 90-day extension on returns and payments for all businesses with returns of less than $1 million.

It comes as California prepares to enter 2021 still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led Newsom to implement restrictions that have shuttered businesses. In most of the state, restaurants are closed for indoor dining, hair and nail salons can’t operate and stores can only allow in a fraction of customers. At minimum, it will be weeks before businesses can reopen.

The tax extension was one piece of Newsom’s pandemic-related order.

He also extended occupancy laws for farmworkers and their families in housing centers and dropped a requirement about how far away from the job workers must live to access that housing. Previously, workers had to live outside a 50-mile radius from the housing center for three of the past six months and could only live in the housing for 275 days out of the year.

“Finding new housing during this time both poses health risk and is extremely burdensome, especially for migratory agricultural workers and their families,” Newsom wrote in the order.

It also updates quarantine guidelines under the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The changes are consistent with new state health guidance. California previously directed employers to keep workers who had been exposed to the virus off the job for two weeks. That’s been reduced to 10 days if the person doesn’t have symptoms, aligning with federal guidelines.