Sacramento – The Board of Equalization (BOE) announced today that business owners and tax and feepayers affected by the Clayton Fire in Lake County and the Chimney Fire in San Luis Obispo County may request extensions to file their returns, ask for relief from penalties and/or interest for some taxes and fees, or request replacement copies of records lost or damaged. Governor Jerry Brown issued an emergency proclamation for Lake County and emergency proclamation for San Luis Obispo County on Monday, August 15, 2016.
The BOE will also participate in a Local Assistance Center open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., through August 26, 2016 at Lake County Adult Services, located at 16170 Main Street in Lower Lake. There, residents will be able to talk to staff from the BOE and other state and local agencies about available recovery assistance and replacement of government documents that may have been destroyed or lost.
"As the residents of Lake and San Luis Obispo work to put their businesses and lives back together after these devastating fires I want them to know the BOE is here to help," said Chairwoman Fiona Ma. "During this terrible ordeal, BOE is doing everything we can to provide information about tax and fee relief to those affected by these fires."
Requesting Relief
For most BOE programs, tax and feepayers can go online to request relief from penalties and/or interest, and an extension of time to file their tax or fee returns. Tax and feepayers may also call the BOE Customer Service Center toll-free at 1-800-400-7115 (TTY: 711), Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Pacific Time), for assistance requesting relief. Online relief requests are not available for Timber Yield Tax and Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services (MTS) Surcharge, but tax and feepayers may call the Customer Service Center for assistance.
This video (in English and Spanish) has more information on relief requests.
Board Member Fiona Ma, CPA, was elected to the Board of Equalization in November 2014, to represent the Second Equalization District. She represents 9.5 million residents in many of California's coastal counties, from Del Norte to Santa Barbara, including the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Ma served in the California State Assembly from 2006 to 2012, serving as the first Asian woman Assembly Speaker pro Tempore since 1850. While in the Assembly, Ms. Ma focused on improving California, authoring legislation to create jobs and grow the state's economy. As an Executive Board Member of the National Conference of State Legislators, she worked to keep California's economy competitive with other states. Ms. Ma has been a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in California since 1992. For more information, visit www.boe.ca.gov/ma.
The five-member California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a publicly elected tax board. The BOE collects $60 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services. It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes. For more information on other taxes and fees in California, visit www.taxes.ca.gov.
Note: This news release may discuss complex tax laws and concepts. It may not address every situation, and is not considered written advice under Revenue and Taxation Code section 6596. Changes in law or regulations may have occurred since the time this news release was written. If there is a conflict between the text of this news release and the law, decisions will be based upon the law and not this news release. For specific help, please contact the BOE at 1-800-400-7115.
