Local News in Brief : Taxing Questions in Mail

The Franchise Tax Board is mailing more than 80,000 questionnaires to Southern California taxpayers as part of a program to detect unreported income from real estate transactions.

Statewide, more than 130,000 surveys are being mailed to request information from taxpayers who sold or exchanged real property during 1986, according to Jim Reber of the Franchise Tax Board in Sacramento.

Taxpayers will have 60 days to respond to the information requested by the board to avoid being penalized and possibly being assessed an additional tax on unreported income.

In a pilot program last year, about 70,000 questionnaires were issued to taxpayers who sold or exchanged real property in Los Angeles County during 1985. Tax assessments totaling more than $44 million were issued as a result, Reber said.

The pilot program proved successful, so the tax board decided to expand it to include 17 counties this year, Reber said.

California loses an estimated $150 million to $200 million in revenue each year from the nonreporting or under-reporting of real estate sales, he said.