California Question

[Julie]

Client came in last week with ten years of tax returns. They're all done, and they all would have had refunds. Of course he won't get the refunds that are out of statute, and I've already explained that to him. He has lost at least $12K by not filing.

However....as recently as a few months ago he was making payments on a bill from the Franchise Tax Board for taxes he did not owe. The tax bill was a typical FTB invention, with no connection to his actual income. Any chance of getting a refund of the more recent payments? I'm not making promises, just want to know if anyone has ever succeeded at this.

[jainen]

>>getting a refund of the more recent payments<<

You'll need to ask FTB for a record of those payments to see where and when they were applied. There are no exceptions to the California statute of limitations, which is the later of four years from the original due date or timely filing, or one year from the date of overpayment.

[Julie]

Okay, thanks. I think that's the bit of information I didn't have....payments made in the last year, then, for an out-of-statute return, would be potentially refundable? I wasn't looking for an exception, just wasn't sure how it applied to those additional payments, some of which are quite recent.

All ten returns showed no tax liability to California in the first place. If done timely, all withholding would have been returned. IRS apparently was able to figure out that he didn't owe them anything...they've never asked for a tax return. (Most would have had EIC.)

quote name='jainen' date='Feb 14 2008, 03:19 PM' post='10268']

>>getting a refund of the more recent payments<<

You'll need to ask FTB for a record of those payments to see where and when they were applied. There are no exceptions to the California statute of limitations, which is the later of four years from the original due date or timely filing, or one year from the date of overpayment.