Get your CDTFA returns and payments through an API

What you can build on CDTFA

• Get return and payment history

  Build this

  Opens one account in CDTFA Online Services and reads its previous returns and payments for the periods you ask for.

  Takes

  Account number, from period, to period (optional)

  Returns

  Account, period, return filed date, amount reported, payment date, payment amount, payment method

• Check the Submissions tab

  Build this

  Reads the Submissions tab: saved returns and the requests you have sent, such as power of attorney requests, with where each one stands.

  Takes

  Nothing

  Returns

  Submission type, account, period, date saved or submitted, status

• List third-party access on your account

  Build this

  Opens Settings, then Third-Party Access, and reads who has access to your account and whether it is All Access or View.

  Takes

  Account number (optional)

  Returns

  Name or firm, access type, account

• Request access to a client's account

  Build this

  Selects Request Access to an Account in the I Want To section and sends a request for one client's account, for the owner to approve or deny.

  Takes

  Client account number, access type, security code (optional)

  Returns

  Account, access type, request status

Automate CDTFA with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• Filed returns and payments, handed to accounting

  Build this

  Starts

  Every month on the 3rd at 8:00

  Step 1

  For each account you name, get the return and payment history for the last period.

  Step 2

  Keep the returns and payments that were not there on the last run.

  Step 3

  Post account, period, filed date, amount reported and payments to your accounting system's webhook.

• Saved returns and requests in Submissions

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 7:30

  Step 1

  Check the Submissions tab for saved returns and submitted requests.

  Step 2

  Keep the items that are new or whose status changed since the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the list, with saved returns first, since drafts are kept for 30 days.

• Third-party access review

  Build this

  Starts

  Every month on the 1st at 9:00

  Step 1

  List the third-party access on your accounts from Settings.

  Step 2

  Compare it with the last run and keep anyone added, removed or whose access type changed.

  Step 3

  Email you the changes with name or firm, access type and account.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get return and payment history” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "onlineservices.cdtfa.ca.gov/get_return_and_payment_history",
    "input": {
      "account_number": "000-000001",
      "from_period": "2026-Q2",
      "to_period": "2026-Q3"
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "account": "000-000001",
    "periods": [
      {
        "period": "2026-Q3",
        "return_filed": "2026-10-28",
        "amount_reported": 18420.55,
        "payments": [
          {
            "date": "2026-10-28",
            "amount": 18420.55,
            "method": "Bank account"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

CDTFA’s own options

CDTFA offers Direct Transmit, a SOAP and XML service for sending sales and use tax returns, open to participants who apply and pass CDTFA's testing and certification. It sends one filing at a time and does not cover CDTFA's other taxes and fees. Return and payment history, submissions and account settings are only in CDTFA Online Services.

Read on November 12, 2026: Direct Transmit Program, Direct Transmit FAQs, Online Services resources.

Signing in to CDTFA

CDTFA Online Services signs you in with a username and password. Usernames belong to one person and cannot be changed, and passwords expire after 400 days. With Fous you sign in once through CDTFA's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, never returned by the API or written to logs, and an expired session is signed back in.

Worth knowing

Direct Transmit is sales and use tax only

CDTFA's Direct Transmit does not cover its other tax programs and fees. It works one filing at a time, as CDTFA does not offer batch processing.

One username per person

Usernames are individual and cannot be changed once created. An owner adds people under Settings, then Secondary logons, and there is no limit to the number of usernames on an account.

Access to a client's account is approved

A tax professional requests access from the I Want To section. The owner approves or denies it, or shares the security code CDTFA mails to the address on file.

Saved drafts last 30 days

A return saved as a draft stays in the Submissions tab for 30 days, so check the tab before that time runs out.

More in Government: US state and local tax

• Ohio Business Gateway
• MyFTB
• Colorado Revenue Online
• Florida DOR eServices File and Pay
• Georgia Tax Center
• INTIME
• LaTAP
• Maryland Tax Connect
• MassTaxConnect
• Michigan Treasury Online
• Minnesota e-Services
• My DOR
• myconneCT
• MyDORWAY
• myPATH
• MyTax Illinois
• MyTaxes Kentucky
• NCDOR eBusiness Center
• New Jersey Tax Portal
• NY Business Online Services
• OH|TAX eServices
• Texas Comptroller Webfile
• TNTAP
• Virginia Tax Business Online Services
• Wisconsin My Tax Account

Other industries: Sunbiz, Rexel France, ShiftWise Flex, PCSE Online, AXA Connect, eCourts e-Filing.