by Jack Lee
To ad to some of my disappointment on election day I received a notice from the Franchise Tax Board that said bluntly, “Notice of State Income Tax Due”. This was for my tax year 2007 and they further said, “The proposed assessment for the tax year 2007 is now final and must be paid. Failure to pay the amount due within 15 days may result in the assessment of a collection fee. My tax due $58,240.98.
I thought I had 07 all taken care of, but apparently the state has another idea and they generously gave me until Nov. 16 to pay up or else! Oh, these bloodsuckers! Hey, should I just write them a check for this chump change and forget it or should I protest and see if they will cut me some slack? Hmmmm…what to do? I know, since I don’t have anywhere close to $58k in my checking account at the moment, I’m about $56k short – I’ll protest! I think I have a pretty good case too. You see in both 2006 and 2007 I had a negative income, that means I lost money in those years and no its not a result of tricky bookkeeping. I honestly lost money. I hate to think what my taxes might have been if I actually earned any money.
ONLY our tax folks using the new math could calculate that a citizen with no income owes $58 240.98 tax due. But, and here’s the really bad part, you know I’ll have to jump through all sorts of hoops to convince them its their blatantly obvious error, right? These guys are ready to file a lien against my home per gov. code section 7171…good grief!
Soaps, you got any good deals on property in AZ?
Jack I’ve been meaning to comment on this unfortunate turn of events. The thing that makes this so incredibly unjust is that the taxpayer must prove he is right and they are wrong. They most likely have no proof that you didn’t report your taxes accurately and yet they are not required to actually make a case. It’s outrageous!
Failure to pay, as you say, results in a lein on your property and/or worse, penalties and fees for every day you fail to fork over the money they claim you owe.
At the same time if after months of fighting thr big bureaucratic monster they discover you are right you will not get a swift refun, you will not be given compensation in the form of penalties and interest…hell, you won’t even get an apology!
Sure sorry this is on your plate during this very difficult time…we too lost money over the last few years. Still hanging on by a thread, still paying our employees…not loking forward to higher healthcare fees, cap and tax reprcussions, and whatever else Sacto decides to dish out. And the left wonders whay we are so vociferously verbal!
Thanks Tina, its frustrating. The state said they guessed at my tax liability due to my stock trades. I traded over two million dollars worth of stock in 07, but that is the gross, not the net. You have to look at profit and loss and they didn’t. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Well I guess the fact that it’s a DUMB error on their part which will be easy to prove is a blessing. I we should be able to bill them when they are wrong for the time…maybe they would do a little less “guessing” if they had to pay for your trouble they cause folks!!!