Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19582

For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1987, the Franchise Tax Board shall make available to taxpayers tax forms that are as simple as possible for taxpayers to prepare. These forms shall be designed to provide for taxpayers to copy figures from, or attach a copy of, their federal return or portions thereof, or both, and to make any necessary adjustments.

The Franchise Tax Board shall, in preparing tax forms, make every effort to ease taxpayers’ compliance burden, including, but not limited to, (a) designing forms so that, to the maximum extent possible, items already entered on the federal return may be copied to the state form, (b) reducing the number of state schedules by attaching copies of comparable federal schedules to the state return, where appropriate, and (c) choosing a weight and quality of paper, color of ink, and general form design which will facilitate the preparation of returns.