Chip Inventor Scores Another Win in California Tax Fight (1)

Microchip inventor Gilbert P. Hyatt’s 25-year tax fight with the California Franchise Tax Board appears to be over.

The state’s new Office of Tax Appeals denied the FTB’s request for new hearings Jan. 15, a year and a half after a previous panel decided mostly in Hyatt’s favor.

This means the State Board of Equalization’s August 2017 rulings in the case will stand. And instead of owing $55 million in tax on patent royalties plus penalties and interest that accrued since 1992 as the FTB argued, Hyatt owes $1.9 million in tax for 1991 plus interest.

The saga began when ...