Great-West Life Assurance Co. v. State Board of Equalization

The Great-West Life Assurance Company appeals from the judgment entered against it in two consolidated actions brought to recover refunds of taxes paid to respondent, the State Board of Equalization (the Board). (Rev. & Tax. Code, § 13103.) We modify and affirm the judgment.

Factual and Procedural Background

(1) Introduction and Procedural History

Each insurer in California is required to pay a tax on the gross premiums it receives each year. (Cal. Const., art. XIII, § 28 [former § 14-4/5]; Rev. & Tax. Code, §§ 12221, 12202, 12202.1.) Appellant is an insurance company which issues, inter alia, certain employee benefit policies in California.

Beginning in October 1981, the Board issued a series of deficiency assessments against appellant for underpayments of taxes on its gross premiums for the tax years 1978 to 1987.

Appellant paid the disputed amounts, then filed petitions for refund, the first of which the Board denied at a public hearing on December 8, 1988. Appellant then filed suit in superior court for refunds of the approximately $6 million it had paid, claiming that it had been denied equal protection by the Board’s ruling. Following a court trial on…