CA Franchise Tax Board (FTB) nightmare (2024)

I'm hoping a fellow CA resident can make a helpful suggestion.

This past summer I got a notice from FTB stating that I owed several $k because we had no health insurance in 2020, which isn't true. I called FTB and was told that a checkbox on the tax return had inadvertently been left unchecked. To resolve the matter, I just needed to obtain 1095's from my healthcare provider and send them in.

The 1095's took two months to arrive, thus two more notices with additional interest. A fourth notice arrived a few days after the 1095's had been sent to FTB, so I figured they'd just crossed in the mail. In November I received a 'final notice before levy and lean'. I called FTB (4 hour callback wait) and a very nice person investigated and could see the 1095's were logged and looked good, but informed me that the processing had a 3 month backlog. All they could do is put a 90-day hold on my account preventing further action. It was recommended I obtain an online login so I could check the balance on a regular basis and see it go to zero when the processing finally caught up. I would get no notice in the mail.

I just checked today and the balance is still there (60 days into the 90 day hold). The trouble is I have a 2021 quarterly estimated payment due in 10 days. If it gets applied to 2020 instead of 2021 this would compound the nightmare.

Though I really don't want to, at this point I'm tempted to just pay the bill and hope that a refund will eventually come my way. I suspect I'm not the only one in this situation.

K72 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 12:27 pmI'm hoping a fellow CA resident can make a helpful suggestion.

This past summer I got a notice from FTB stating that I owed several $k because we had no health insurance in 2020, which isn't true. I called FTB and was told that a checkbox on the tax return had inadvertently been left unchecked. To resolve the matter, I just needed to obtain 1095's from my healthcare provider and send them in.

The 1095's took two months to arrive, thus two more notices with additional interest. A fourth notice arrived a few days after the 1095's had been sent to FTB, so I figured they'd just crossed in the mail. In November I received a 'final notice before levy and lean'. I called FTB (4 hour callback wait) and a very nice person investigated and could see the 1095's were logged and looked good, but informed me that the processing had a 3 month backlog. All they could do is put a 90-day hold on my account preventing further action. It was recommended I obtain an online login so I could check the balance on a regular basis and see it go to zero when the processing finally caught up. I would get no notice in the mail.

I just checked today and the balance is still there (60 days into the 90 day hold). The trouble is I have a 2021 quarterly estimated payment due in 10 days. If it gets applied to 2020 instead of 2021 this would compound the nightmare.

Though I really don't want to, at this point I'm tempted to just pay the bill and hope that a refund will eventually come my way. I suspect I'm not the only one in this situation.

FTB has live chat. I had better luck with live chat than with calling. Every communication there is recorded in writing on your acount. Calling, who knows what gets logged, if anything. What have you got to lose? Try it?

IIRC, the FTB payment site has a way to tell them which year you want to payment applied to. Am I remembering wrong?

I would wait it out to the 89 day mark, then get another hold put on the account.

nalor511 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 12:29 pmFTB has live chat. I had better luck with live chat than with calling. Every communication there is recorded in writing on your acount. Calling, who knows what gets logged, if anything. What have you got to lose? Try it?

So for no luck with live chat. After being 1st in line for 15 minutes, just after the person came on the chat abruptly ended. I tried a 2nd time and was 1st in line for 25 minutes. I made two exchanges with the person, then the chat abruptly ended. I tried a 3rd time and get a message saying "MyFTB chat is not available at this time". Sigh.....

Decided to call instead and am currently in the cue for a call back "after more than 3 hours". Fun, fun, fun.

quantAndHold wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 1:44 pmIIRC, the FTB payment site has a way to tell them which year you want to payment applied to. Am I remembering wrong?

We are supposed to write "2021 Form 540ES" on the check, so hopefully it would be properly applied.

K72 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 1:49 pm

nalor511 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 12:29 pmFTB has live chat. I had better luck with live chat than with calling. Every communication there is recorded in writing on your acount. Calling, who knows what gets logged, if anything. What have you got to lose? Try it?

So for no luck with live chat. After being 1st in line for 15 minutes, just after the person came on the chat abruptly ended. I tried a 2nd time and was 1st in line for 25 minutes. I made two exchanges with the person, then the chat abruptly ended. I tried a 3rd time and get a message saying "MyFTB chat is not available at this time". Sigh.....

Decided to call instead and am currently in the cue for a call back "after more than 3 hours". Fun, fun, fun.

Reddit backend is down/up right now, I assume there is something going on with AWS backend. Try live chat again in 30 minutes, way better than being on hold. But, your call, trying the phone again seems gluttony for punishment

nalor511 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 1:51 pmReddit backend is down/up right now, I assume there is something going on with AWS backend. Try live chat again in 30 minutes, way better than being on hold. But, your call, trying the phone again seems gluttony for punishment

Thanks. Now I can't do anything on the FTB site (Due to System Maintenance, this account information is currently unavailable. For further assistance, contact us during business hours). Seems like anything I do about this is gluttony for punishment. I guess it's time for an Amazon Prime movie...

K72 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 1:56 pm

nalor511 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 1:51 pmReddit backend is down/up right now, I assume there is something going on with AWS backend. Try live chat again in 30 minutes, way better than being on hold. But, your call, trying the phone again seems gluttony for punishment

Thanks. Now I can't do anything on the FTB site (Due to System Maintenance, this account information is currently unavailable. For further assistance, contact us during business hours). Seems like anything I do about this is gluttony for punishment. I guess it's time for an Amazon Prime movie...

It'll come back, lots of backend things having problems this week

nalor511 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 2:24 pmIt'll come back, lots of backend things having problems this week

Third time is a charm. This time the person in the chat was able to completely resolve the issue. Balance now shows zero! As luck would have it, the FTB phone callback came within 2 minutes of the chat ending and I was able to confirm zero balance yet again.

Thanks so much for your suggestion!

K72 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:09 pm

nalor511 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 2:24 pmIt'll come back, lots of backend things having problems this week

Third time is a charm. This time the person in the chat was able to completely resolve the issue. Balance now shows zero! As luck would have it, the FTB phone callback came within 2 minutes of the chat ending and I was able to confirm zero balance yet again.

Thanks so much for your suggestion!

You're welcome

The difference between the callback and the chat being, the chat is definitely logged in your account in case things should mess themselves up again, and any rep will be able to see it (in writing), so should hopefully resolve things for good!

Not over yet. I tried logging in today and got the following message: "This account information is not available in MyFTB at this time. Wait 10 business days before logging in again."

I was able to get in a chat and was told that yesterday's transaction (to clear the penalty) is under review. I was assured this was normal. We'll see....

[1/25/2022 update: it finally cleared and shows a zero balance ]

K72 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:29 pmNot over yet. I tried logging in today and got the following message: "This account information is not available in MyFTB at this time. Wait 10 business days before logging in again."

I was able to get in a chat and was told that yesterday's transaction (to clear the penalty) is under review. I was assured this was normal. We'll see....

I can see that my 1095B form is in their online system, and hope that it takes less than 3 months to process.
The FTB site was partially down for scheduled update over the holidays, and now is unavailable for another week.
At least they are sorry, very sorry I would bet it is down until after Cesar Chavez Day.

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