Douglas Bramhall: TEI gains insight into the new California Office of Tax Appeals.

• Author: Levin-Epstein, Michael
• Position: Tax Executives Institute - Interview

The California Office of Tax Appeals, made effective in July 2017, was created to provide increased transparency and an expedited appeals process for taxpayers in the state. To get an inside look at how the new agency was doing, we interviewed Douglas Bramhall, one of the administrative law judges who hear appeals.

Levin-Epstein: Tell us about the new California Office of Tax Appeals.

Bramhall: The Office of Tax Appeals was created effective July 1, 2017, by legislation called the Taxpayer Transparency and Fairness Act of 2017. The agency was created to hear tax appeals from final determinations of the Franchise Tax Board--the income franchise administrative agency--and the California Department of Taxes and Fees Administration--CDTFA, we call it fondly--which administers the sales and use tax and many other smaller tax programs and fee programs which had historically been administered by the California State Board of Equalization. The jurisdiction to hear appeals commenced January 1, 2018, so we are just getting started. We have had a few hearings in January and one in February, and there are more scheduled. The office was created to replace the Board of Equalization's role as the tax appeals body for tax disputes from those two agencies. There are currently sixteen administrative law judges, and each appeal will be heard by a panel of three administrative law judges. I am one of those administrative law judges, assigned to our Los Angeles office. Appeals will be heard in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Fresno, California. Taxpayers who are noticed of hearing have the option of selecting the location for their hearings among those three locations.

Levin-Epstein: Do other states have similar offices?

Bramhall: They do, more and more. Actually, California, prior to the creation of the Office of Tax Appeals, was unique in its tax appeal process in that it was the only state where tax administration and appeals was conducted by a body of elected officials. The Board of Equalization historically was comprised of the state controller, a statewide elected office, and four district Board of Equalization members elected from their respective districts around the state. So, California is more in line with other states now in terms of having an independent hearing body prepay appeal process. Each appeal is heard by a three-member panel and, in each case, the legal analysis is independently done within OTA. The panel decisions are the final...