FTB responded to my Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights (ATBOR) Requests on February 3, 2026, as promised. In the same meeting, I had made two public comments separate from the ATBOR requests. FTB included a response to one of the comments, about Protests, as if it were part of the ATBOR requests.
I’ve learned that with FTB, what they don’t say is far more telling than what they do say. The first public comment that I’d made was asking FTB what they were going to do to correct their issues with the small business collections line. I pointed out long hold times and high hang up rates. FTB did not acknowledge the public comment at the time I made it; they responded with “Next speaker.” And they didn’t respond in writing to that comment, even though I’d sent two follow up emails stating that I expected a response. Per California law, failure to deny constitutes admission: Any material allegation in the complaint that is not effectively denied is deemed admitted. [CCP § 431.20(a); see Hennefer v. Butcher (1986) 182 CA3d 492, 504, 227 CR 318, 325]. This failure to acknowledge my comment is basically an admission that they are intentionally trying to destroy small businesses by making it impossible to resolve “issues.”
Issue 1: In the written version, I asked FTB’s board and executives to stop putting their employees at risk of federal prosecution by having FTB staff cite laws verbatim so that they can no longer deceive people about their unlawful and extra-lawful policies and procedures. In the verbal version, I asked FTB staff to protect themselves from federal prosecution by refusing to comply with unethical and unlawful behavior.
Continue reading “Analyzing FTB’s Response to My 2025 Annual Taxpayer Bill of Rights Requests”
