Lennane v. Franchise Tax Board

Opinion

LAMBDEN, J.

Section 19717 of the Revenue and Taxation Code (unspecified section references are to that code) grants the court in a tax refund action the discretion to award taxpayers their reasonable litigation costs if they prevail and the position of the State of California in the proceeding was “not substantially justified” (subd. (c)(2)(A)(i)). 1 We hold in this refund action against the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) that prevailing parties James P. and Susan K. Lennane (taxpayers) were properly denied litigation costs in appellate litigation because, as the superior court found, FTB’s…