41171.5
. (a) (1) 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) 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.
(d) 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.
(e) 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.
(f) 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.
(g) (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.
(h) 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.
(i) 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.
(j) 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.
(k) 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.
(l) 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.
(m) 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.
(n) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2018.