California Renters Credit 2026: Income Limits and How to Claim

California's renter's credit is $60 if you file single or married/RDP filing separately and $120 if you file jointly, as head of household or as a qualifying surviving spouse, and those amounts hold for tax year 2026 as well. On your 2025 return, filed in 2026, the California adjusted gross income (AGI) limit is $53,994 if you file single or separately and $107,988 for joint, head of household and surviving spouse filers. On your 2026 return, filed in 2027, the limits are $55,830 and $111,660. Tax software and CalFile ask the renter questions and figure the amount for you; check that $60 or $120 lands on Form 540 line 46 or Form 540 2EZ line 19 before you submit.

Income limits by tax year

Use the row for the tax year printed on the return: a 2025 return filed in 2026 uses the 2025 row.

AGI here means the California figure on your return: Form 540 line 17, Form 540 2EZ line 16, or Form 540NR line 17, where part-year residents count income from all sources. One dollar over the limit ends the credit for that year.

The $250 and $500 figures in recent headlines come from AB 130, a 2025 budget law. It sets the credit at $250, or $500 for renters with dependents, for tax years starting in 2026, but only in a year when a budget bill specifies the higher amount. SB 122 and SB 180, the 2026 budget trailer bills that change the tax law FTB runs, set no higher amount, so the law's default of $60 or $120 applies to your 2026 return, with the new $55,830 and $111,660 limits.

Who qualifies

You get the credit when all of these are true for the tax year:

• You were a California resident. Full-year residents claim it on Form 540 or 540 2EZ. Part-year residents file Form 540NR, need at least six full months of California residence, and get a prorated amount.
• You rented your main home in California for at least half the year. A mobile home you own on rented land counts.
• Your California AGI is at or under the limit in the table for that year.
• You did not live in the home of someone who can claim you as a dependent for more than half the year. Being claimable as a dependent is fine; whose home you lived in is what counts.
• Your rental was taxable property. Renting a property-tax-exempt home for more than half the year ends the credit. Exempt property includes most government-owned buildings, church-owned parsonages, college dormitories and military barracks. If you or your landlord paid possessory interest tax on the unit, you qualify anyway.
• Neither you nor your spouse or RDP received the homeowners' property tax exemption that year. If you lived apart the whole year and your spouse claimed it on a separate home, you still qualify.

The credit is a flat amount: $900 or $3,000 a month in rent earns the same $60 or $120.

The amount by filing status

• Single: $60.
• Head of household or qualifying surviving spouse/RDP: $120.
• Married/RDP filing jointly: $120, or $60 when one spouse claimed the homeowners' exemption and you lived apart the entire year.
• Married/RDP filing separately: if you shared the rental and both qualify, one spouse claims $120 or each claims $60. If you lived apart all year, you claim $60.
• Part-year residents on Form 540NR: one-twelfth of the credit for each full month you were a California resident and rented your home there, so $30 to $55 for single or separate filers and $60 to $110 for joint, head of household and surviving spouse filers with six to eleven months.

How the credit changes your refund

The renter's credit cuts the California tax on your return and stops at zero. With $40 of tax on the return, a $60 credit wipes out the $40 and the other $20 goes unused. When your paycheck withholding already covered that $40, it comes back to you as $40 more in refund.

When your California tax is already zero, claim the credits that pay cash instead: CalEITC, the Young Child Tax Credit and the Foster Youth Tax Credit are refundable.

What to do today

1. Pull the return for the year you are checking and compare its California AGI with the table.
2. Fill in the renter record below. It collects what FTB's Nonrefundable Renter's Credit Qualification Record asks for, and FTB tells you to keep that record with your tax papers instead of mailing it.
3. If your 2025 return is still unfiled, file it now. The October 15, 2026 extension date has passed. The late-filing penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax for each month from April 15, 2026, up to 25%, and a return filed more than 60 days late with a balance due owes at least $135 or the whole balance, whichever is less. A return that ends in a refund owes no late-filing penalty.
4. Use CalFile if it fits your return. It is free, it currently accepts 2023, 2024 and 2025 returns, and it handles the renter's credit. It runs through a MyFTB account, and MyFTB registration requires a California return filed in one of the last five years; without one, use tax software or a volunteer site.
5. Claim it on the right line: Form 540 line 46, Form 540 2EZ line 19 or Form 540NR line 61, and check that line in the preview before you submit.
6. Track the refund at Where's My Refund with your Social Security number, ZIP code, the street numbers in your mailing address and your exact refund amount. FTB's current processing times are about 1 month for an e-filed refund and about 4 months for a paper one.

If you already filed without the credit

Add it with an amended return. Prepare a corrected Form 540, 540 2EZ or 540NR, check the amended return box, and attach Schedule X, California Explanation of Amended Return Changes. Send it through your tax software or preparer, or mail it to Franchise Tax Board, PO Box 942840, Sacramento, CA 94240-0001. FTB currently takes about 5 months to process an amended personal return.

You have four years from the original due date to claim the refund if you filed on time, or four years from the date you filed if you filed during the extension period, or one year from the date you overpaid if that ends later. A 2025 return filed by April 15, 2026 can be amended for this credit through April 15, 2030. The credit was the same $60 or $120 in 2022, 2023 and 2024, so check those returns against their rows in the table too.

Where it splits

• If you are a student, a college dormitory counts as tax-exempt property, so a year spent mostly in a dorm ends the credit. An off-campus apartment you rented and lived in for at least half the year keeps you eligible even when your parents claim you as a dependent.
• If your building belongs to a housing authority, a university or another public agency, the answer turns on possessory interest tax. Ask the management office whether you or the owner pays possessory interest tax on your unit, or whether the owner makes payments in lieu of property taxes that match what comparable taxable properties pay; a yes to either keeps you eligible.
• If you are married and your spouse owns a home with the homeowners' exemption, you qualify only when you two lived apart the entire year. The credit is then $60 on a joint return and $60 for you on a separate return.

What you get and your leverage

• Back years: the 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 credits are all still open through an amended return. The 2022 window closes first: April 15, 2027, or four years from the date you filed if you filed your 2022 return during the extension period.
• A refund smaller than your return shows: FTB mails a letter when it pays a different amount. Wait for that letter, then answer it with your lease, rent receipts and your qualification record.
• A Notice of Proposed Assessment: you have 60 days to protest, by the protest-by date printed on the front of the notice.
• Free help: more than 1,200 volunteer sites across California prepare simple federal and state returns for free during filing season. Call FTB at 800-852-5711 to find one, or see our guide to free tax preparation.

Your renter's credit record

Fill this in for each year you claim the credit and keep it with that year's return.

• Tax year: ________
• Each rental address, city and ZIP: ________________________
• Dates rented at each address: from ________ to ________
• Landlord or person you paid rent to: name ________, address ________, phone ________
• How you paid rent (check, bank transfer, app, money order): ________
• California AGI on the return: $________ (limit for that year: $________)
• Filing status and credit claimed: ________ / $60 or $120

Today

1. Open your 2025 return, or start it in CalFile, and compare your California AGI with $53,994 or $107,988.
2. If line 46 (Form 540), line 19 (Form 540 2EZ) or line 61 (Form 540NR) is blank and you qualify, file the corrected return with Schedule X. Run the same check on your 2022, 2023 and 2024 returns, starting with 2022, which closes April 15, 2027.
3. Fill in the renter record above while your lease and landlord details are in front of you.

An e-filed 2025 return brings its refund in about a month; an amended return takes about 5 months and comes back as a larger refund or a smaller balance.