Franchise Tax Board of California v. Gilbert P. Hyatt, et al. (538 U.S. 488)

U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 23, 2003 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)

Citation
538 U.S. 488 · 123 S. Ct. 1683
Decided
April 23, 2003
Term
October Term 2002
Vote
9–0
Majority author
Justice O'Connor
Issue area
Interstate Relations
Disposition
Affirmed
Outcome
Petitioning party lost
Ideological direction
Unspecifiable

Opinion excerpt

Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. We granted certiorari to resolve whether the Nevada Supreme Court’s refusal to extend full faith and credit to California’s statute immunizing its tax collection agency from suit violates Article IV, §1, of the Constitution. We conclude it does not, and we therefore affirm the judgment of the Nevada Supreme Court. I Respondent Gilbert P. Hyatt (hereinafter respondent) filed a “part-year” resident income tax return in California for 1991. App. to Pet. for Cert. 54. In the return, respondent represented that as of October 1, 1991, he had ceased to be a California resident and had become a resident of Nevada. In 1993, petitioner California Franchise Tax Board (CFTB) commenced an audit to determine whether respondent had underpaid state income taxes. Ibid. The audit focused on respondent’s claim that he had changed residency shortly before receiving substantial licensing fees for certain patented inventions related to computer technology. At the conclusion of its audit, CFTB determined that respondent was a California resident until April 3, 1992, and accordingly issued notices of proposed assessments for income taxes for 1991 and 1992 and imposed substantial civil fraud penalties. Id., at 56-57, 58-59. Respondent protested the proposed assessments and penalties in California through CFTB’s administrative process. See Cal. Rev.…

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