California CPA License Reinstatement: What a Lapsed License Costs

California calls this the 'delinquency fee,' not a separate line item -- $200 for a license expiring after June 30, 2026 ($170 before), equal to 50% of the $400/$340 renewal fee (Bus. & Prof. Code §163.5).

• A licensee renewing an expired license in active status must complete the basic 80 hours under 16 CCR § 87 in the two years before the renewal application, with no carryover from another renewal period (16 CCR § 81(a)). The additional-hours formula applies in two narrower cases: an initial license that expired (16 CCR § 87.1(h)), or a license that expired after the expiration date immediately following a conversion or restoration to active status (16 CCR § 80.2(f)). In those cases: an additional 20 hours for each full 6-month period from expiration to the renewal application, up to a total of 80 hours, and none if that period is under 6 full months. A licensee who owes the total of 80 hours under § 80.2(f) must include four hours of ethics within them (16 CCR § 80.2(f)(2)(A)). A licensee who owes the total of 80 hours and must also meet § 80.2(c), (d) or (e) (on the § 80.2(f) path) or § 87.1(d), (e) or (f) (on the § 87.1(h) path) must include four hours on financial-statement fraud within them, and those four hours cannot also count toward the hours those subsections require (16 CCR §§ 80.2(f)(2)(B), 87.1(g)).