1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 3 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 FEBRUARY 23, 2016 10 11 12 13 14 15 CUSTOMER SERVICES & ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY 16 COMMITTEE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 REPORTED BY: Gloria Apiecionek 27 CSR NO. 12776 28 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board of Equalization: 4 Jerome E. Horton Chair 5 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) 6 Member 7 Fiona Ma, CPA Member 8 Diane L. Harkey 9 Member 10 Yvette Stowers Appearing for Betty T. 11 Yee, State Controller (per Government Code 12 Section 7.9) 13 Joann Richmond 14 Chief Board Proceedings 15 Division 16 17 For Board of Equalization Staff: Todd Gilman 18 Taxpayer Rights Advocate 19 Trey Luzzi Staff Services Manager III 20 Outreach Services Division 21 22 23 ---oOo--- 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 2 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 3 FEBRUARY 23, 2016 4 ---oOo--- 5 6 MR. HORTON: Ms. Richmond? 7 MS. RICHMOND: Our next matter is the 8 Customer Service and Administrative Efficiency 9 Committee. Mr. Runner is the Chair of that 10 Committee. 11 Mr. Runner? 12 MR. RUNNER: Thank you. We'll call the 13 Customer Service Administration -- Administrative 14 Efficiency Committee to order. Today we have a 15 presentation on the Annual Board of Equalization's 16 Education Outreach Plan for 2016. 17 MR. GILMAN: Good morning, 18 Committee Chair Runner and Members of the Board. 19 Todd Gilman, Taxpayers' Rights Advocate with the Board 20 of Equalization. 21 For discussion by the Committee this 22 morning is the Board of Equalization's Outreach 23 Services Division 2016 Education Outreach Plan. 24 With me this morning is Mr. Trey Luzzi, Manager of 25 the Outreach Services Division, who will give you an 26 update on the plan that was distributed to you last 27 week. 28 Mr. Luzzi? 3 1 MR. LUZZI: Thank you. 2 MR. GILMAN: Proceed. 3 MR. LUZZI: Good morning. This plan is 4 focused on the methods of outreach to maximize 5 voluntary compliance in education to permit holders 6 and potential taxpayers about California's current 7 and changing tax laws. This will happen through 8 several -- several different avenues, beginning with 9 helping taxpayers understand sales and use tax, 10 educating them about permits, licenses, and filing 11 requirements, third, helping taxpayers understand 12 what is taxable, educating taxpayers on various 13 resources and services available to them, and then 14 helping people understand property taxes. 15 There's a few target audiences that I'd 16 like to list off that we're going to focus on for 17 2016. First, new businesses, educating them on tax 18 laws and how they are applied to their businesses, 19 recordkeeping and filing instructions, existing 20 businesses, new laws and regulations, rate changes, 21 resource tools available to them, the general 22 public, of course, and then partners, strengthening 23 our partnerships with practitioners, industry 24 associations, and local governments and chambers. 25 Second, we'd like to focus on key topics 26 and industries that have certain challenges to them. 27 A few of those are the MTS prepaid mobile cards, 28 manufacturing and research and development equipment 4 1 exemption, lumber product, fire prevention fee, and 2 then use tax. 3 Some industries that are focused -- that 4 will be focused on for 2016, restaurants, used car 5 dealerships, convenience and liquor stores, 6 construction contractors, gas stations, and mini 7 marts, medical marijuana, cigarette and tobacco 8 products, and then throughout the year various 9 pieces of legislation. 10 The final thing I want to touch on is the 11 methods that we're going to use for 2016. There are 12 several: Small business seminars and resource expos, 13 telephone town halls, webinars. The Board did do 14 their first webinar. It was very successful, and it 15 is a new way of reaching out to current and 16 potential taxpayers to listen in, join, and actually 17 participate during the webinar via e-mail with 18 questions and answer sessions. And then it can also 19 be archived just like telephone town halls and small 20 business seminars. So if someone is not available 21 to participate live in the webinar at that moment, 22 they can go back into the archives and not miss any 23 of the valuable information discussed. 24 Speaker bureau events, our online seminars, 25 strategic partnerships, folks like SBDC, Franchise 26 Tax Board, IRS, GO-Biz. We also want to try to do 27 more on-the-spot registration. So when folks are 28 attending, we can register them right there at one 5 1 of our events. Educational mailers, and then finally 2 VITA events that we have. So this concludes my 3 outreach plan for the year. And I'd be happy to 4 answer any questions anyone has. 5 MR. RUNNER: Okay. Member Harkey? 6 MS. HARKEY: Do these overlap, or are they 7 in conjunction -- I'm assuming they're in 8 conjunction with the Member events in their 9 district? 10 MR. LUZZI: That's correct. 11 MS. HARKEY: All right. Okay. Thank you. 12 MR. HORTON: Mr. Chair? Mr. Runner? 13 MR. RUNNER: I'm sorry. Mr. Horton? 14 MR. HORTON: I would encourage us to also 15 take a look at the technology industry. There's 16 every-changing things that are occurring. The 17 most recent Lucent case certainly will have 18 some evolution, that we also take a look at new 19 legislation as the legislation evolves and is 20 related to the Board of Equalization that we do 21 outreach to the industry, the preparers, as well as 22 the accountants and so forth and those individuals who 23 are impacted as it evolves. So we continue to monitor 24 that. 25 MR. LUZZI: Okay. 26 MR. HORTON: And that we continue to 27 utilize the professional development for that 28 purpose to make sure that our staff is keenly aware 6 1 of how the laws affect them and so forth. 2 And then we have other areas, such as the 3 nonprofit and so forth, that all the Members are 4 participating in and making sure of that. So just 5 in summary, I would take a look at the 32 tax and 6 fees that we administer and have -- and make a 7 determination to what extent we need to make sure 8 that individuals in those related industries are 9 informed and educated about the current law, changes 10 in the law, that need to comply with the law. 11 MR. RUNNER: Okay. Member Ma? 12 MS. MA: I have a question about the 13 statewide BOE VITA section where it says, the last 14 sentence, the BOE will plan, organize, and market 15 the California Earned Income Tax Credit through VITA 16 events and district office tax preparation dates. 17 Are we preparing tax returns in district 18 offices? 19 I thought we were like partnering with 20 outside agencies to do it and not doing it directly 21 through our district offices. 22 Mr. LUZZI: We do partner with other 23 entities, United Way, and then we also have the 24 volunteers that volunteer to prepare taxes. They're 25 at various locations, university campuses, 26 sometimes at a district office. 27 MR. RUNNER: Okay. But when they're in a 28 district office, that would be on a voluntary basis. 7 1 Right? 2 MR. LUZZI: That's correct. 3 MR. RUNNER: That's not -- that's not like 4 all of a sudden so you can go into the BOE office 5 while it's open? 6 MR. LUZZI: Right. Correct. No, they're 7 hosting a VITA event or like that. 8 MR. RUNNER: That would be like one of 9 conference rooms would be available on a -- 10 MR. LUZZI: That's correct. 11 MR. RUNNER: -- on a -- on a Saturday. 12 Right? 13 MR. LUZZI: Yes. They're not walking into 14 a district office -- 15 MR. RUNNER: Right. 16 MR. LUZZI: -- to have BOE prepare. No. 17 MS. MA: Okay. 18 MR. LUZZI: That just happens to be the 19 location of that particular VITA event. 20 MR. RUNNER: Okay. Other questions? 21 I think there was one item that I -- that 22 I -- that I believe wanted to be added on to the key 23 topics, and that was property tax. 24 MR. LUZZI: That's correct. 25 MR. RUNNER: So I think if we can just -- 26 because I think there was some discussion that there 27 may be Members who would like to go ahead and use 28 that as a key topic as they're dealing with 8 1 outreach. 2 MR. LUZZI: Okay. And if you're in 3 agreement, we can just go ahead and modify the plan 4 and add that to key topics. 5 MR. RUNNER: I think we're okay with that. 6 Yes. 7 MS. MA: Yeah. And then also key 8 industries, I mean, restaurants, slash, bars 9 perhaps. 10 MR. LUZZI: Okay. 11 MS. MA: Because we do hear a lot of cases. 12 MR. LUZZI: That's a good point. 13 MR. HORTON: This may -- Mr. Chair? 14 MR. RUNNER: Mm-hmm. 15 MR. HORTON: This may be implied, but we 16 want to at the same time make sure we deal with 17 the cultural diversity issues as it relates to 18 communities that traditionally speak different 19 languages, have different cultures and perspective 20 as it relates to sales tax to make sure that we are 21 providing them the maximum assistance in order to 22 comply with the law as well as an understanding as 23 well. 24 MR. LUZZI: And we had done some 25 non-English telephone town halls, and we would like 26 to do a non-English webinar this year also in 27 addition to telephone town halls and publications. 28 MR. HORTON: Yeah. 9 1 MR. RUNNER: I would be okay if -- I mean, 2 I think the Chair kind of was pretty specific there 3 in regards to cultural diversity and outreach on tax 4 issues. I think I would be okay with the staff 5 adding a line that encapsulates that thought -- 6 MR. LUZZI: Okay. 7 MR. RUNNER: -- within the plan. 8 MR. LUZZI: Will do. 9 MR. RUNNER: Okay. Any other discussion? 10 MR. HORTON: Mr. Chair, I'd like to just 11 point out the webinars have been going on for the 12 last -- I don't know -- ten years or so. 13 MR. LUZZI: Right. 14 MR. HORTON: So we are refining it. I 15 don't want the public to think we just did one. 16 MR. LUZZI: No. We -- you're correct. 17 Yeah. I stand corrected. The agency now has the 18 ability to, through data connections, do their own 19 rather than going off of someone else to do one. 20 You're correct. Yes. I should have clarified. 21 MR. HORTON: Excellent. Well done. 22 MR. RUNNER: Okay. Any other discussion? 23 I think it's sufficient for us just to 24 accept this report. I don't think we need to take 25 a formal action. 26 Okay. Thank you. 27 MR. GILMAN: Thank you, Chair and Members, 28 thank you. 10 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Los Angeles ) 6 7 I, Gloria A. Apiecionek, Certified 8 Shorthand Reporter for the State of California, 9 certify that on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, I 10 recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to the best of my 11 ability, the proceedings in the above-entitled 12 hearing; that I transcribed the shorthand writing 13 into typewriting; and that the preceding pages 1 14 through 10 constitute a complete and accurate 15 transcription of the shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated March 4, 2016 18 19 20 21 __________________________________ 22 GLORIA A. APIECIONEK, CSR #12776 23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 25 26 27 28 11