BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1559|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1559
Author: Dodd (D), et al.
Amended: 6/21/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/15/16
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach,
Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: State Board of Equalization: returns and payment:
extension: disaster
SOURCE: State Board of Equalization
DIGEST: This bill allows the Board of Equalization (BOE) to
extend the period to file a return or pay a tax up to three
months in the case of a natural disaster.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Creates the five-member BOE, composed of four members elected
by district and the State Controller, to equalize rates and
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assessment practices among counties, and charges it with
administering the Sales and Use Tax, locally-imposed
transactions and use taxes, several excise taxes, and more
than 30 other fee programs.
2)Requires, generally, tax or fee payers to remit funds to BOE
before the end of the month following the close of the
reporting period, which is usually the calendar quarter.
3)Imposes penalties for failure to file returns and pay taxes
and fees, generally 10 percent of the tax due, plus monthly,
simple interest based on the tax due from the date the tax was
due to the date it was paid.
4)Authorizes BOE to extend the period to file a return or pay
tax for one month for good cause, provided that the taxpayer
files a request within or before the extension period. If
granted, taxpayers are usually still liable for one month's
interest, but don't pay a penalty, and can file the return and
remit the tax one month late.
5)Allows BOE to also relieve interest when it finds the
taxpayer's failure to file the return or pay the tax was due
to disaster, and occurred notwithstanding the exercise of
ordinary care in the absence of willful neglect, so long as
the taxpayer files a statement to that effect under penalty of
perjury. BOE regulation defines "disaster" as fire, flood,
storm, tidal wave, earthquake or similar public calamity, but
doesn't require the disaster to result from natural causes.
6)Permits BOE to also relieve the taxpayer from failure to file
penalties if it finds that the failure is due to reasonable
cause, and occurred notwithstanding the exercise of ordinary
care in the absence of willful neglect, again so long as the
taxpayer files a statement to that effect under penalty of
perjury.
This bill:
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1)Allows BOE to extend the period to file a return or pay tax up
to three months in the case of a natural disaster. Any person
seeking an extension must apply to BOE within or before the
period for which the extension applies.
2)Applies the change to the Sales and Use Tax, the Motor Vehicle
Fuel Tax, Use Fuel Tax, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax,
Alcoholic Beverage Tax, Timber Yield Tax, Energy Resources
Surcharge, Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge, Hazardous
Substance Tax, Integrated Waste Management Fee, Oil Spill
Fees, Underground Storage Tank Fee, Diesel Fuel Tax Laws, as
well as the state's general purpose statute that guides BOE
administration of several fees, the Fee Collections Procedures
Law.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/1/16)
State Board of Equalization (source)
Board of Equalization Member Fiona Ma
Board of Equalization Member George Runner
California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce
California Society of Enrolled Agents
Castro Valley/Eden Area Chamber of Commerce
City of Lakeport
Kern County Board of Supervisors
Lake County Board of Supervisors
Midtown Area Merchants Association
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Yolo County Board of Supervisors
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/1/16)
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None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "under
limited circumstances, individuals and businesses are permitted
to defer state and local taxes and fees to assist them in
recovering from a disaster such as a wildfire. Temporary relief
from paying taxes and fees helps those individuals and
businesses focus their limited resources where they are needed
most - to restore their livelihood. However, the one month
deferral allowed under current law is not much more than
tinkering on the impacted taxpayer's financial margins. AB 1559
revises current law by changing the one month deferral for
paying of specified fees and taxes per filing period to three
months per filing period in the case of a declared disaster.
This would grant disaster impacted taxpayers a more significant
and meaningful amount of time to restore their business
activities and get back on their feet."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines
Prepared by:Colin Grinnell / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
8/3/16 19:20:47
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