California Tax Board Can’t Erase Appeal Rights By Issuing Refund

California’s Office of Tax Appeals has jurisdiction over a taxpayer’s refund appeal even after she received a full refund, but her case is dismissed as moot, according to an opinion released Monday.

Kaija Jones’ refund claim was “perfected"—meaning all amounts due had been paid—when the Franchise Tax Board denied it in May 2023, giving her a valid right to appeal, Administrative Law Judge Teresa A. Stanley said in an opinion marked as pending precedential. The agency can’t retroactively eliminate that right to appeal by later granting a refund, which is why the OTA has jurisdiction, but her appeal is moot ...