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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Alcoholic Beverage Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 14. Alcoholic Beverage Tax
Chapter 9. Administration
Article 2. The California Taxpayers' Bill of Rights1
Section 32469
32469. Reimbursement to taxpayer. (a) Every taxpayer is entitled to be reimbursed for any reasonable fees and expenses related to a hearing before the board if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The taxpayer files a claim for the fee and expenses with the board within one year of the date the decision of the board becomes final.
(2) The board, in its sole discretion, finds that the action taken by the board staff was unreasonable.
(3) The board decides that the taxpayer be awarded a specific amount of fees and expenses related to the hearing, in an amount determined by the board in its sole discretion.
(b) To determine whether the board staff has been unreasonable, the board shall consider whether the board staff has established that its position was substantially justified.
(c) The amount of reimbursed fees and expenses shall be limited to the following:
(1) Fees and expenses incurred after the date of the notice of determination, jeopardy determination, or a claim for refund.
(2) If the board finds that the staff was unreasonable with respect to certain issues but reasonable with respect to other issues, the amount of reimbursed fees and expenses shall be limited to those that relate to the issues where the staff was unreasonable.
(d) Any proposed award by the board pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be available as a public record for at least 10 days prior to the effective date of the award.
(e) The amendments to this section by the act adding this subdivision shall be operative for claims filed on or after January 1, 2000.
History—Stats. 1995, Ch. 555, in effect January 1, 1996, substituted "board" for "State Board of Control" after "expenses with the" in paragraph (1) of, substituted "decides" for "makes a recommendation to the State Board of Control" after "The board" in paragraph (3) of, and deleted paragraph (4) which read: "The State Board of Control concurs with the recommendation and orders the board to provide reimbursement of fees and expenses to the taxpayer." from, subdivision (a); and added subdivision (d). Stats. 1999, Ch. 929 (AB 1638), in effect January 1, 2000, added "within one year … board becomes final" after "with the board" in paragraph (1) of, and substituted "in an amount … its sole discretion" for "which shall be determined by the board" after "to the hearing" in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a), substituted "board staff has … substantially justified" for "taxpayer has established that the position of the staff was not substantially justified" after "consider whether the" in subdivision (b), and added subdivision (e). Stats. 2000, Ch. 1052 (AB 2898), substituted "the notice of determination, jeopardy determination, or a claim for refund" for "filing petions for redetermination and claims for refund" after "incurred after the date" in subdivision (c) paragraph(1).
1Article 2 was added by Stats. 1992, Ch. 438, in effect January 1, 1993.