What Is the CDFTA Settlement Process Like? So CDTFA settlement process when dealing with the sales tax audit it used to be a very good Avenue to resolve cases unfortunately nowadays it's been late a little bit more difficult and here's why so the problem is is if you go through settlement you can't resolve things and then you go through Appeals cases will naturally progress to something called the office of tax appeals which is California's version of a Tax Court and recently cbt fa has been so good at disposing of taxpayer cases and Tax Court but the issued guidance to their own settlement division which basically states don't settle cases let them go forward to Appeals now it will still give some measure of reduction through the settlement division usually about 10% sometimes as much as fifteen but settlement is no longer as reliable as an option as it once was so unless you have new documents or new evidence and we've actually had some pretty good victories in settlement in light of the changes but it's very difficult to get things pushed through and get your tax payer in a position where they're gonna be happy so the important thing.

When going through the settlement is it's not as viable an option as it once was and it's no longer our preferred option so we've actually within the last few months have changed our approach on CDTFA settlement cases and are placing more of a priority and either through working things out on the district level or through the appeals process so I just bring that up for you to evaluate in the context of your audit because settlement can be extremely challenging settlement officers are not the easiest sometimes although we have a pretty good relationship between their office and ours but it's is a very difficult process and it's not as flexible as some of the other settlement programs certainly not the IRS and even not even some of the other California state divisions that you may have encountered or listened to during the course of these videos so seed ETF a settlement is kind of the outlier or the black sheep and all this and you should evaluate that accordingly when making a decision .