41171.5
. (a) (1) Beginning on January 1, 2007, the executive
director and chief counsel of the board, or their delegates, may
compromise any final surcharge liability where the reduction of
surcharges is seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) or less.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), the board, upon
recommendation by its executive director and chief counsel, jointly,
may compromise a final surcharge liability involving a reduction in
surcharges in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500).
A recommendation for approval of an offer in compromise that is not
either approved or disapproved within 45 days of the submission of
the recommendation shall be deemed approved.
(3) The board, itself, may by resolution delegate to the executive
director and the chief counsel, jointly, the authority to compromise
a final surcharge liability in which the reduction of surcharges is
in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500), but less
than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(b) For purposes of this section, "a final surcharge liability"
means any final surcharge liability arising under Part 20 (commencing
with Section 41001), or related interest, additions to the
surcharge, penalties, or other amounts assessed under this part.
(c) (1) Offers in compromise shall be considered only for
liabilities that were generated from a business that has been
discontinued or transferred, where the surcharge payer making the
offer no longer has a controlling interest or association with the
transferred business or has a controlling interest or association
with a similar type of business as the transferred or discontinued
business.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a qualified final surcharge
liability may be compromised regardless of whether the business has
been discontinued or transferred or whether the surcharge payer has a
controlling interest or association with a similar type of business
as the transferred or discontinued business. All other provisions of
this section that apply to a final surcharge liability shall also
apply to a qualified final surcharge liability, and a compromise
shall not be made under this subdivision unless all other
requirements of this section are met. For purposes of this
subdivision, a "qualified final surcharge liability" means either of
the following:
(A) That part of a final surcharge liability, including related
interest, additions to the surcharge, penalties, or other amounts
assessed under this part, arising from a transaction or transactions
in which the board finds no evidence that the service supplier
collected the surcharge from the service user or other person and
which was determined against the service supplier under Article 3
(commencing with Section 41070), Article 4 (commencing with Section
41080), or Article 5 (commencing with Section 41085) of Chapter 4.
(B) That part of a final surcharge liability, including related
interest, additions to the surcharge, penalties, or other amounts
assessed under this part, determined under Article 3 (commencing with
Section 41070), Article 4 (commencing with Section 41080), and
Article 5 (commencing with Section 41085) of Chapter 4 against a
service user who is a consumer that is not required to register with
the board under Article 3 (commencing with Section 41040) of Chapter
2.
(3) A qualified final surcharge liability may not be compromised
with any of the following:
(A) A surcharge payer who previously received a compromise under
paragraph (2) for a liability, or a part thereof, arising from a
transaction or transactions that are substantially similar to the
transaction or transactions attributable to the liability for which
the surcharge payer is making the offer.
(B) A business that was transferred by a surcharge payer who
previously received a compromise under paragraph (2) and who has a
controlling interest or association with the transferred business,
when the liability for which the offer is made is attributable to a
transaction or transactions substantially similar to the transaction
or transactions for which the surcharge payer's liability was
previously compromised.
(C) A business in which a surcharge payer who previously received
a compromise under paragraph (2) has a controlling interest or
association with a similar type of business for which the surcharge
payer received the compromise, when the liability of the business
making the offer arose from a transaction or transactions
substantially similar to the transaction or transactions for which
the surcharge payer's liability was previously compromised.
(d) The board may, in its discretion, enter into a written
agreement which permits the surcharge payer to pay the compromise in
installments for a period not exceeding one year. The agreement may
provide that such installments shall be paid by electronic funds
transfers or any other means to facilitate the payment of each
installment.
(e) Except for any recommendation for approval as specified in
subdivision (a), the members of the State Board of Equalization shall
not participate in any offer in compromise matters pursuant to this
section.
(f) A surcharge payer that has received a compromise under
paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) may be required to enter into any
collateral agreement that is deemed necessary for the protection of
the interests of the state. A collateral agreement may include a
provision that allows the board to reestablish the liability, or any
portion thereof, if the surcharge payer has sufficient annual income
during the succeeding five-year period. The board shall establish
criteria for determining "sufficient annual income" for purposes of
this subdivision.
(g) A surcharge payer that has received a compromise under
paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) shall file and pay by the due date
all subsequently required emergency telephone users surcharge returns
for a five-year period from the date the liability is compromised,
or until the surcharge payer is no longer required to file emergency
telephone users surcharge returns, whichever period is earlier.
(h) Offers in compromise shall not be considered where the
surcharge payer has been convicted of felony tax evasion under this
part during the liability period.
(i) For amounts to be compromised under this section, the
following conditions shall exist:
(1) The surcharge payer shall establish that:
(A) The amount offered in payment is the most that can be expected
to be paid or collected from the surcharge payer's present assets or
income.
(B) The surcharge payer does not have reasonable prospects of
acquiring increased income or assets that would enable the surcharge
payer to satisfy a greater amount of the liability than the amount
offered, within a reasonable period of time.
(2) The board shall have determined that acceptance of the
compromise is in the best interest of the state.
(j) A determination by the board that it would not be in the best
interest of the state to accept an offer in compromise in
satisfaction of a final surcharge liability shall not be subject to
administrative appeal or judicial review.
(k) (1) Offers for liabilities with a fraud or evasion penalty
shall require a minimum offer of the unpaid surcharge and fraud or
evasion penalty.
(2) The minimum offer may be waived if it can be shown that the
surcharge payer making the offer was not the person responsible for
perpetrating the fraud or evasion. This authorization to waive only
applies to partnership accounts where the intent to commit fraud or
evasion can be clearly attributed to a partner of the surcharge
payer.
(l) When an offer in compromise is either accepted or rejected, or
the terms and conditions of a compromise agreement are fulfilled,
the board shall notify the surcharge payer in writing. In the event
an offer is rejected, the amount posted will either be applied to the
liability or refunded, at the discretion of the surcharge payer.
(m) When more than one surcharge payer is liable for the debt,
such as with spouses or partnerships or other business combinations,
including, but not limited to, surcharge payers who are liable
through dual determination or successor's liability, the acceptance
of an offer in compromise from one liable surcharge payer shall
reduce the amount of the liability of the other surcharge payers by
the amount of the accepted offer.
(n) Whenever a compromise of surcharges or penalties or total
surcharges and penalties in excess of five hundred dollars ($500) is
approved, there shall be placed on file for at least one year in the
office of the executive director of the board a public record with
respect to that compromise. The public record shall include all of
the following information:
(1) The name of the surcharge payer.
(2) The amount of unpaid surcharges and related penalties,
additions to surcharges, interest, or other amounts involved.
(3) The amount offered.
(4) A summary of the reason why the compromise is in the best
interest of the state.
The public record shall not include any information that relates
to any trade secrets, patent, process, style of work, apparatus,
business secret, or organizational structure, that if disclosed,
would adversely affect the surcharge payer or violate the
confidentiality provisions of Section 41132. A list shall not be
prepared and releases shall not be distributed by the board in
connection with these statements.
(o) A compromise made under this section may be rescinded, all
compromised liabilities may be reestablished, without regard to any
statute of limitations that otherwise may be applicable, and no
portion of the amount offered in compromise refunded, if either of
the following occurs:
(1) The board determines that a person did any of the following
acts regarding the making of the offer:
(A) Concealed from the board property belonging to the estate of a
surcharge payer or other person liable for the surcharge.
(B) Received, withheld, destroyed, mutilated, or falsified a book,
document, or record or made a false statement, relating to the
estate or financial condition of the surcharge payer or other person
liable for the surcharge.
(2) The surcharge payer fails to comply with any of the terms and
conditions relative to the offer.
(p) A person who, in connection with an offer or compromise under
this section, or offer of that compromise to enter into that
agreement, willfully does either of the following shall be guilty of
a felony and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than fifty
thousand dollars ($50,000) or imprisoned pursuant to subdivision (h)
of Section 1170 of the Penal Code, or both, together with the costs
of investigation and prosecution:
(1) Conceals from an officer or employee of this state property
belonging to the estate of a surcharge payer or other person liable
in respect of the surcharge.
(2) Receives, withholds, destroys, mutilates, or falsifies a book,
document, or record, or makes a false statement, relating to the
estate or financial condition of the surcharge payer or other person
liable in respect of the surcharge.
(q) For purposes of this section, "person" means the surcharge
payer, a member of the surcharge payer's family, a corporation,
agent, fiduciary, or representative of, or another individual or
entity acting on behalf of, the surcharge payer, or another
corporation or entity owned or controlled by the surcharge payer,
directly or indirectly, or that owns or controls the surcharge payer,
directly or indirectly.
(r) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.