California Tax Tribunal Rejects Couple’s Bid for Interest Relief

The California Franchise Tax Board properly rejected a couple’s request for a refund of more than $440,000 in interest, a state tribunal said in a ruling posted Monday, rejecting their overpayment argument.

Although James L. O’Hara and Cynthia L. Weldon transferred income tax overpayments to subsequent years, they still owe interest on a 2017 deficiency, Administrative Law Judge Josh Lambert wrote for the California Office of Tax Appeals. He declined their request to recompute the interest using the use-of-money doctrine, under which taxpayers aren’t charged interest on subsequent assessments when the government has possession of more money than it’s owed ...