Hello oswaltmike:
You are very welcome for the information.
With respect to your two additional questions: first, there is nothing at all wrong or abnormal about requesting an extension of time to file your income taxes, either on a federal or a state level. Plenty of people do it every year. I've done it myself a few times. Basically, when you file for an extension, you get an automatic 6 extra months (until mid-October) to file your original tax return. But you do need to know one rule, and this vitally important, that an EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE IS NOT AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO PAY (bold typing added simply for emphasis).
What that last sentence means is that you must, by the regular tax filing deadline of April 15th (actually April 18th for the 2016 tax year) have paid enough in taxes to the government (both federal and state), to satisfy whatever your eventual tax liability will be, when you ultimately submit your tax return. Thus, even when you are granted an automatic extension, you don't get any extra time to pay your taxes. Confusing? Yes, but that's the system. If you need an extension of time to pay your taxes, then what you'll want to request instead is that the IRS or California state set up a payment plan for you. Then you can file your tax return either at the normal time, or request an extension of time to do that as well. Both the IRS and California have information on how to apply for payment plans listed on their websites.
With respect to your second question, there actually isn't any set tax rate (percentage) on pension income. Instead, pension income is taxed as "ordinary" income, just like wages, self-employment, interest income on savings accounts, etc. What you really want to look at is your total overall taxable income, as well as your marginal tax bracket. For that, you can refer to the following two sources. The first link below is to a table of California tax brackets / rates; and the second link is to a table of federal tax brackets / rates. Simply scroll up and down those pages to find the exact section that applies to you and your filing status (the tax brackets are different for Married Filing Jointly and Single, for example).
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="
https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2016-california-tax-rates-and-exemptions.shtml#ctrs">https://www.ftb.ca...>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="
https://taxfoundation.org/2016-tax-brackets">https://taxfoundation.org/2016-tax-brackets</a>
Thanks again for your questions, and we hope that you will enjoy living in California (despite the higher taxes).
