Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Even if you owe $500, you're not penalized if you paid in at least 90% of the current year's tax liability or 100% of last year's tax liability. If you didn't file a CA tax return last year, you would also not be penalized for filing.

If you believe you should still be assessed a penalty, make sure you haven't elected to have CA FTB calculate the penalty for you. See the screenshot below.