Form 1104PC: City/County Business Tax Program Participation Guide Explained

Form 1104PC is not a tax return or a form you file for yourself. It’s a participation guide published by the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) that explains how cities and counties can join the City/County Business Tax (CCBT) Program. If you’ve come across this document while researching local business licensing or tax compliance in California, it’s worth understanding what it actually does before you assume you need to fill it out.

The CCBT Program is an information-sharing arrangement between the FTB and local jurisdictions. Cities and counties that participate get access to state tax data that helps them identify businesses operating within their boundaries that may not be properly registered for local business taxes or licenses. In plain terms, it’s a compliance tool for local governments, not a filing requirement for business owners.

Who Actually Uses This Form

Form 1104PC is aimed at municipal and county officials, typically someone in a city’s finance department, tax collector’s office, or business license division. If a city wants to enroll in the program, its designated representative uses this guide to understand the application process, data-sharing rules, confidentiality requirements, and ongoing obligations tied to participation.

Business owners themselves generally won’t need to submit this particular document. However, understanding the CCBT Program matters if you run a business in California, because it explains why you might receive a notice from your city or county asking you to register for a local business license or pay back taxes you didn’t know you owed. The data exchange this program enables is often the reason local agencies reach out to businesses that assumed they were flying under the radar.

When the Guide Comes Into Play

A city or county typically reviews Form 1104PC when it’s setting up a new compliance initiative or renewing its participation in the program. It’s used during the initial application phase and referenced again whenever local staff need to confirm procedures for requesting data, handling confidential taxpayer information, or reporting back to the FTB.

For business owners, the practical moment this becomes relevant is when you receive a compliance letter from a city tax office. That correspondence is often a direct result of the CCBT data match process this guide governs. If that happens, it’s a good time to check your entity’s broader state filing history too, since gaps in local registration sometimes coincide with other overdue obligations, like corporate estimated payments or annual filings.

How to Get and Use the Form

Form 1104PC is available directly from the FTB website as a downloadable PDF. It does not have fillable digital fields, so if a city representative needs to complete any accompanying application materials referenced in the guide, those pages need to be printed and filled out by hand before submission to the FTB.

Since this is a reference and procedural document rather than a tax form with line-by-line instructions, there’s no need to calculate figures or attach schedules. The bulk of the document walks through eligibility, data confidentiality obligations under state law, and the mechanics of how information gets transmitted between the state and participating jurisdictions.

If you’re a business owner rather than a city official, your best use of this document is context. It helps explain the origin of local tax notices and why California’s state and local tax systems are more connected than many people realize. Businesses dealing with related state-level compliance issues, such as nonprofit dissolution filings like Form 3502, net operating loss adjustments through Form 3805Q, or e-file payment vouchers such as Form 3586, should keep in mind that state and local agencies increasingly cross-reference records, and staying current on one front doesn’t guarantee compliance on another.