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California Office of Tax Appeals Bifurcates Proposed Regulatory Changes to Temporarily Table its Proposed Amendments to Limit Taxpayer Appeals

The California Office of Tax Appeals (“OTA”) removed the contentious proposal to limit the agency’s jurisdiction and taxpayer appeals from its proposed changes to its Rules for Tax Appeals. On May 10, 2023, the OTA issued a notice that it is moving forward and proposing to adopt amendments to the Rules for Tax Appeals.  However, the second notice indicates that the OTA’s proposal to limit its jurisdiction will be addressed in a separate, future rule-making.  Interested parties are allowed to submit written comments on or before 5:00 p.m. on May 26, 2023.

The OTA’s new proposed revisions to the Rules for Tax Appeals contain several changes that are seemingly less controversial, mainly limited to recently adopted legislation.  According to the OTA, the new proposed language implements the statutory changes from:

  • Senate Bill 92 (Stats. 2019, Ch. 34), relating to the “Small Case Program”;
  • Assembly Bill 1578 (Stats. 2021, Ch. 401), relating to the Administrative Procedures Act;
  • Assembly Bill 473 (Stats. 2021, Ch. 614), relating to the California Public Records Act; and
  • Senate Bill 189 (Stats. 2022, Ch. 48), relating to the new authorization for non-attorneys to sit on OTA panels.

Those interested in all of the OTA’s most recent proposed changes to its Rules for Tax Appeals can review the language at the link below:

https://ota.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2023/05/Revised-Proposed-Amendments-to-OTA-Rules-for-Tax-Appeals-2023-No.-1.pdf

If you have questions about OTA’s new proposed changes to the Rules for Tax Appeals or need assistance with any other tax matter, please get in touch today with our dedicated team of attorneys at Bewley, Lassleben & Miller, LLP.

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