Petitions: One and Done

Once you have filed a timely Petition for Redetermination, you do not need to keep submitting Petitions each year. At first, HJTA advised people to submit a new Petition each year. This was in case the Court only allowed refunds for years when people filed a Petition. But now, the Court has confirmed that people protesting the Fire Tax only need to file one timely Petition. If we win, that timely Petition will make you eligible for refunds for the first year you filed and all following years.

If you did not protest the Fire Tax the first year you paid it, you may still be able to protest it! Correspondence with the BOE and CalFire has indicated that a Petition for Redetermination may be submitted to protest all the years the Fire Tax has been paid. The staff persons with whom we corresponded may not be the final authority on this question, but according to them you may check all the boxes on the form for the years you have paid. Please note that Petitions for Redetermination must still be postmarked within 30 days of the date on your bill. Petitions received outside of this time period may be considered invalid. If you have any uncertainty about whether you filed a timely Petition the first year you paid the Fire Tax, you may submit a Petition the next time your receive your bill and check the boxes for all the years you paid. Updated Petitions for the 2015-2016 billing cycle are available on our website at www.FireTaxProtest.org.

Please be aware DoNotReply@FireTaxProtest.org is not monitored.  If you have any questions, you are invited to visit the FAQ section of our website here.