The Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) was established in 2017 as California’s new administrative appeals forum. Born from controversy, the agency was designed to function as an independent and impartial tribunal. Two years in, taxpayers have a better idea about how the OTA will shape California’s corporate tax landscape, but questions still remain. We recently published a three-part series on the OTA in Law360 discussing how the OTA has approached corporate tax issues thus far and identifying the questions yet to be answered.

• Part one of the series examines a number of cases involving the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and discusses the level of deference afforded to the agency in various circumstances.
• Part two of the series considers three encouraging corporate taxpayer wins that demonstrate the OTA’s well-reasoned analysis and fair treatment of taxpayers and tax agencies alike.
• Finally, part three of the series reviews cases addressing the sourcing of income from pass-throughs to nonresidents, and highlights how the OTA’s interpretation of the corporate tax provisions involved may impact California corporate taxpayers in the years to come.

To provide more background on the agency itself, this alert re-introduces the OTA and the appeals process, providing a refresher on the events leading to the establishment of the state’s new independent tax appeals forum, a description of how the process works and insight on the impact the OTA already is having on California’s tax landscape.

Read the full Legal Alert here.