45867.5
. (a) (1) Beginning on January 1, 2007, the executive
director and chief counsel of the board, or their delegates, may
compromise any final fee liability where the reduction of fees 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 fee liability involving a reduction in fees in
excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500). Any
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 fee liability in which the reduction of fees 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 fee liability" means
any final fee liability arising under Part 23 (commencing with
Section 45001), or related interest, additions to fees, 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 fee 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 fee
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 fee payer shall establish that:
(A) The amount offered in payment is the most that can be expected
to be paid or collected from the fee payer's present assets or
income.
(B) The fee payer does not have reasonable prospects of acquiring
increased income or assets that would enable the fee 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 fee 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 fee and fraud or evasion
penalty.
(2) The minimum offer may be waived if it can be shown that the
fee 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 fee 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 fee 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 fee payer.
(i) When more than one fee payer is liable for the debt, such as
with spouses or partnerships or other business combinations,
including, but not limited to, fee payers who are liable through dual
determination or successor's liability, the acceptance of an offer
in compromise from one liable fee payer shall reduce the amount of
the liability of the other fee payers by the amount of the accepted
offer.
(j) Whenever a compromise of fees or penalties or total fees 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 fee payer.
(2) The amount of unpaid fees and related penalties, additions to
fee, 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 fee payer or violate the confidentiality
provisions of Section 45855. No list shall be prepared and no
releases distributed by the board in connection with these
statements.
(k) Any 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 any person did any of the following
acts regarding the making of the offer:
(A) Concealed from the board any property belonging to the estate
of any fee payer or other person liable for the fee.
(B) Received, withheld, destroyed, mutilated, or falsified any
book, document, or record or made any false statement, relating to
the estate or financial condition of the fee payer or other person
liable for the fee.
(2) The fee payer fails to comply with any of the terms and
conditions relative to the offer.
(l) Any person who, in connection with any 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 any officer or employee of this state any
property belonging to the estate of a fee payer or other person
liable in respect of the fee.
(2) Receives, withholds, destroys, mutilates, or falsifies any
book, document, or record, or makes any false statement, relating to
the estate or financial condition of the fee payer or other person
liable in respect of the fee.
(m) For purposes of this section, "person" means the fee payer,
any member of the fee payer's family, any corporation, agent,
fiduciary, or representative of, or any other individual or entity
acting on behalf of, the fee payer, or any other corporation or
entity owned or controlled by the fee payer, directly or indirectly,
or that owns or controls the fee payer, directly or indirectly.