Chapter 5. Collections of California Unemployment Insurance Code >> Division 6. >> Chapter 5.

(a) The employer shall be liable for the payment of the tax required to be deducted and withheld under Section 13020, and shall not be liable to any person for the amount of such payment.
  (b) Whenever any employer or person has withheld any amount pursuant to this division, the amount so withheld shall be held to be a special fund in trust for the State of California.

If the employer, in violation of the provisions of this division, fails to deduct and withhold the tax under this division, and thereafter the tax against which the tax may be credited is paid or the taxpayer reports to the Franchise Tax Board the wages or gross income against which the tax would have been imposed, the tax so required to be deducted and withheld shall not be collected from the employer, but this section shall in no case relieve the employer from liability for any penalties or additions to the tax otherwise applicable with respect to the failure to deduct and withhold.

The department may by notice, served personally or by first-class mail, require any employer, person, officer or department of the state, political subdivision or agency of the state, including the Regents of the University of California, a city organized under a freeholders' charter, or a political body not a subdivision or agency of the state, having in their possession, or under their control, any credits or other personal property or other things of value, belonging to a taxpayer or to an employer or person who has failed to withhold and transmit amounts due pursuant to Section 13070 or 13073 to withhold, from such credits or other personal property or other things of value, the amount of any tax, interest, or penalties due from the taxpayer or the amount of any liability incurred by such employer or person for failure to withhold and transmit amounts due from a taxpayer and to transmit the amount withheld to the department at such times as it may designate.

Any employer or person failing to withhold the amount due from any taxpayer and to transmit the same to the department after service of a notice pursuant to Section 13072 is liable for such amounts.

Any employer or person required to withhold and transmit any amount pursuant to this division shall comply with the requirement without resort to any legal or equitable action in a court of law or equity. Any employer or person paying to the department any amount required by it to be withheld is not liable therefor to the person from whom withheld unless the amount withheld is refunded to the withholding agent.

Whenever, under any provision of this division, service is authorized upon the state of any notice to withhold, unless expressly exempted from the provisions of this section, such service to be effective must, in addition to any other requirements, be made on the state agency owing the obligation prior to the time such agency presents the claim for payment thereof to the State Controller.

If the employer is the United States, or this state, or any political subdivision thereof, including the Regents of the University of California, a city organized under a freeholders' charter, or any agency or instrumentality of any one or more of the foregoing, the return of the amount deducted and withheld upon any wages may be made by any officer or employee of the United States, or of such state, city organized under a freeholders' charter, or political subdivision, or of such agency or instrumentality, as the case may be, having control of the payment of such wages, or appropriately designated for that purpose.

(a) For purposes of Sections 13020 and 13070, if a lender, surety, or other person, who is not an employer under such sections with respect to an employee or group of employees, pays wages directly to such an employee or group of employees, employed by one or more employers, or to an agent on behalf of such employee or employees, such lender, surety, or other person shall be liable in his or her own person and estate to the State of California in a sum equal to the taxes (together with interest) required to be deducted and withheld from such wages by such employer.
  (b) If a lender, surety, or other person supplies funds to or for the account of an employer for the specific purpose of paying wages of the employees of such employer, with actual notice or knowledge that such employer does not intend to or will not be able to make timely payment or deposit of the amounts of tax required by this part to be deducted and withheld by such employer from such wages, such lender, surety, or other person shall be liable in his or her own person and estate to the State of California in a sum equal to the taxes (together with interest) which are not paid over to the State of California by such employer with respect to such wages. However, the liability of such lender, surety, or other person shall be limited to an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount so supplied to or for the account of such employer for such purpose.
  (c) Any amounts paid to the State of California pursuant to this section shall be credited against the liability of the employer.