Fighting Corruption at the CA Franchise Tax Board (CA's income tax agency)
Every year at their December meeting, the public is allowed to present suggestions on how to make FTB better.
Here is FTB’s Response to my 2020 Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Requests. Here is the rebuttal that I wrote in which I detail the following:
Here is the full speech that I tried to give at FTB’s 2020 Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Meeting (12 minutes).
For those that prefer reading over video, here is the written speech.
Unfortunately, State Controller Yee muted me after 5 minutes. Here is how the speech sounded to the FTB audience:
The whole meeting is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTgFO5uADxo. My speech is from 51:24 – 57:21
Usually, FTB lets people speak for 8 minutes, and last year they let me talk for 11 minutes without cutting me off.
Controller Yee said that they had already received my written submission (which was longer and more detailed than the speech), and all of the requests I’d made would be addressed in their response due on February 1, 2021.
Just like last year, FTB did not deny any of the allegations that I made, neither verbally at the meeting nor in their written response . If my allegations were false, FTB would have denied them.
I think it was obvious to everyone that regularly attends these meetings that the Board knew what I was going to say and the Board cut the time short this year stop me from speaking the truth.
On Friday, December 18, 2020, at 1:30 pm (PST). the CA Franchise Tax Board will be having its Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Meeting, where they accept suggestions from the public on how to improve “the system.” More information is here: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/your-rights/your-taxpayer-rights.html
Continue reading “FTB is Accepting Suggestions From the Public on How to Improve!”Summary: I have been trying to get the Franchise Tax Board to end some blatantly illegal business practices. The basics are:
1. The FTB is illegally putting your estimated tax payments into a general slush fund instead of into your account. The money isn’t put into your account until you file your return for that year; basically, the State of CA is temporarily embezzling your money. If you file late, they harass you for payments that would not be owed/impose penalties that would not have been assessed had the money been applied to your account in accordance with the law.
Continue reading “Summary of FTB Crimes and Update on My Efforts To Stop Them”FTB’s response to the 13 policy change requests that I made is short, terse and riddled with problems.
Item 1: End Policy of withholding estimated tax payments made via credit elects
FTB wrote: The Franchise Tax Board previously addressed this issue in the 2018 Taxpayer Bill of Rights response to you, dated January 25, 2019.
Rebuttal: In my written submission, I clearly detailed how they had committed one count of collusion to cover up racketeering by misrepresenting what the law said in Commissioner V Lundy. I also re-sent them a copy of the 2018 letter to Governor Brown in which I cited several more times that the FTB committed the crime of collusion to cover up racketeering on this topic. In this response, FTB did not dispute my interpretation of the assorted laws they falsely cited, nor offer any valid laws.
Continue reading “Rebuttal to FTB’s Response to My Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Request”2019 Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Requests
1. End the policy of withholding estimated tax payments made via credit elects.
This policy violates R&TC 19363, which says “Any amount paid as estimated tax for any taxable year shall be deemed to have been paid on the last day prescribed for filing the return for the taxable year (determined without regard to any extension of time for filing the return),” which in simple English means that no matter what date you filed the previous year’s return, the credit elect payment must be credited on tax day, which is usually April 15 or 16.
However, the FTB does not apply these payments in accordance with the law; instead, the FTB puts the credit elect money into “suspense,” which is a fancy word for the general slush fund. The credit elect money does not get moved from the slush fund until the taxpayer files that year’s return. The FTB claims this policy is in line with federal practices, but that is a lie; the IRS does not withhold payments made via credit elects.
Continue reading “Written Submission for the FTB’s 2019 Annual Taxpayers Bill of Rights Meeting”FTB Meeting Dec 2019 – Christi Section
State Controller Betty Yee is the Chair of the Franchise Tax Board’s Board of Directors. She is the woman on the stage who calls me to the podium before I speak, and thanks me at the end of my speech. The women seated at the table with her are (from left to right): Gayle Miller, who was there on behalf of Keely Bosler, who is the Director of the Department of Finance and the second FTB Board Member, Yvette Stowers, who is Betty Yee’s Deputy that normally attends the meetings in lieu of Betty, and Malia Cohen, who was at the time Chairman of the Board of Equalization and the third Board Member.
At the FTB table on the other side of the state are (from left to right): Dawn Casey, who works in the legal department; Shane Hofeling; Jozel Brunett, who is Chief, Legal Counsel; Selvi Stanislaus, who is Executive Officer; and Susan Maples, who Taxpayer Advocate. Notice that the FTB waived their right to offer a rebuttal/response to my speech — not denying what I said to be true is a tacit admission of guilt.
The text of my speech is here. Please note that the speech had a time limit, thus was shorter and less detailed than the written submission that I provided prior to the speech. The written submission is here. The video of the entire FTB meeting is here.
My name is Christine Grab. I have 13 requests.
1. End the Policy of Withholding Estimated Tax Payments Made Via Credit Elects Until the Taxpayer Files a Return.
This policy violates R&TC 19363, which in simple English says that no matter what date you filed the previous year’s return, the credit elect payment must be applied on tax day, which is usually April 15th.
The FTB does not apply these payments in accordance with the law. Instead, the FTB puts the credit elect money into “suspense,” which is a fancy word for the general slush fund. The credit elect money does not get moved from the slush fund until the taxpayer files that year’s return. The FTB claims this policy is in line with federal practices, but that is a lie; the IRS does not withhold payments made via credit elects.
Demand Notices are only sent to taxpayers whom the FTB believes have underpaid their tax liability. The accompanying Demand Penalty is a crippling 25% of extra additional taxes beyond what the taxpayer actually owed.
By withholding the credit elect payment, it appears that the account was underfunded and thus a Demand Penalty is assessed. However, had the credit elect payment been applied in accordance with the law, the account would not have been underfunded and the Demand Penalties would not have been imposed.
Continue reading “Text of Speech I Made at the 2019 Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Meeting on December 3, 2019”2017 was the first year that I participated in the Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Meeting. At the time, FTB hid this meeting from the public; I found out about the meeting from a tax lobbyist that I had contacted. When I submitted the first request, FTB told me that only tax professionals were allowed to submit, which is a lie. I complained to the governor and board members about being denied my taxpayer rights and was allowed to participate.
Rather than sending one letter, I sent several emails with requests as I thought of them. There were eight requests in total. The first one addressed the policy of withholding payments made via credit elect. I will work on digging up and redacting the rest of the email requests.
Continue reading “My 2017 My Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Request and FTB’s Resolution — FTB Misrepresented What the Law Says and Denied State Taxpayer Rights”Summary: I have caught the Franchise Tax Board, California’s Income Tax Collection Agency, utilizing an assortment of unlawful practices to scam extra tax money out of people (Section 1). I have been trying to put a stop to this government corruption (section 2). If you’d like to help me, I have suggestions at the bottom (section 3).
Both former Governor Brown and current Governor Newsom are actively protecting these schemes, as are State Controller Betty Yee and an assortment of other legislators.
Here is a video of me giving an 8-minute speech to legislators in December 2018, asking them to end some of these schemes. Since I was limited to only eight minutes, I couldn’t address all of the schemes that I’ve found. In the video, I flat out accused them of racketeering, along with other assorted violations. Even though they had more time to speak, the FTB only gave a 2-minute response. Susan Maples only responded to two of the eight items that I brought up, and Jozel Brunett gave a blanket statement that FTB is not doing anything unlawful.
The FTB’s written response to my speech is here: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/about-ftb/meetings/taxpayer-bill-of-rights/2018_Grab_Response.pdf. This response is full of legal improprieties – so much so that the Taxpayer Advocate refused to sign it when I pointed out that her signature was missing.
Continue reading “California’s Unlawful Schemes to Collect Extra Income Taxes From Taxpayers”