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(a) The Franchise Tax Board may by notice, served personally or by first-class mail, require any employer, person, officer or department of the state, political subdivision or agency of the state, including the Regents of the University of California, a city organized under a freeholders’ charter, or a political body not a subdivision or agency of the state, having in their possession, or under their control, any credits or other personal property or other things of value, belonging to a taxpayer or to an employer or person who has failed to withhold and transmit amounts due pursuant to this article, to withhold, from the credits or other personal property or other things of value, the amount of any tax, interest, or penalties due from the taxpayer or the amount of any liability incurred by that employer or person for failure to withhold and transmit amounts due from a taxpayer under this part and to transmit the amount withheld to the Franchise Tax Board at the times that it may designate. However, in the case of a depository institution, as defined in Section 19(b) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C.A. Sec. 461(b)(1)(A)), amounts due from a taxpayer under this part shall be transmitted to the Franchise Tax Board not less than 10 business days from receipt of the notice. To be effective, the notice shall state the amount due from the taxpayer and shall be delivered or mailed to the branch or office reported in information returns filed with the Franchise Tax Board, or the branch or office where the credits or other property is held, unless another branch or office is designated by the employer, person, officer or department of the state, political subdivision or agency of the state, including the Regents of the University of California, a city organized under a freeholders’ charter or a political body not a subdivision or agency of the state.
(b) (1) At least 45 days before sending a notice to withhold to the address indicated on the information return, the Franchise Tax Board shall request a depository institution to do either of the following:
(A) Verify that the address on its information return is its designated address for receiving notices to withhold.
(B) Provide the Franchise Tax Board with a designated address for receiving notices to withhold.
(2) Once the depository institution has specified a designated address pursuant to paragraph (1), the Franchise Tax Board shall send all notices to that address unless the depository institution provides notification of another address. The Franchise Tax Board shall send all notices to withhold to a new designated address 30 days after notification.
(3) Failure to verify or provide a designated address within 30 days of receiving the request shall be deemed verification of the address on the information return as the depository institution’s designated address.
(c) (1) Notwithstanding Section 8112 of the Commercial Code and Section 700.130 of the Code of Civil Procedure, when the Franchise Tax Board, pursuant to this section or Section 18670.5, issues a levy upon, or requires by notice, any person, financial institution, or securities intermediary, as applicable, to withhold all, or a portion of, a financial asset for the purpose of collecting a delinquent tax liability, the person, financial institution, or securities intermediary, as defined in Section 8102 of the Commercial Code, that maintains, administers, or manages that asset on behalf of the taxpayer, or has the legal authority to accept instructions from the taxpayer as to the disposition of that asset, shall liquidate the financial asset in a commercially reasonable manner within 90 days of the issuance of the order to withhold. Within five days of liquidation, the person, financial institution, or securities intermediary, as applicable, shall remit to the Franchise Tax Board the proceeds of the liquidation, less any reasonable commissions or fees, or both, which are charged in the normal course of business.
(2) If the value of the financial assets to be liquidated exceeds the tax liability, the taxpayer may, within 60 days after the service of the order to withhold upon the person, financial institution, or securities intermediary, instruct the person, financial institution, or securities intermediary as to which financial assets are to be sold to satisfy the tax liability. If the taxpayer does not provide instructions for liquidation, the person, financial institution, or securities intermediary shall liquidate the financial assets in a commercially reasonable manner and in an amount sufficient to cover the tax liability, and any reasonable commissions or fees, or both, which are charged in the normal course of business, beginning with the financial assets purchased most recently.
(3) For purposes of this section, a financial asset shall include, but not be limited to, an uncertificated security, certificated security, or security entitlement as defined in Section 8102 of the Commercial Code, a security as defined in Section 8103 of the Commercial Code, or a securities account as defined in Section 8501 of the Commercial Code.
(d) Any corporation or person failing to withhold the amounts due from any taxpayer and transmit them to the Franchise Tax Board after service of the notice shall be liable for those amounts. However, in the case of a depository institution, if a notice to withhold is mailed to the branch where the account is located or principal banking office, the depository institution shall be liable for a failure to withhold only to the extent that the accounts can be identified in information normally maintained at that location in the ordinary course of business.
(Amended by Stats. 2005, Ch. 349, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2006.)