(A) No refund shall be made of any tax collected pursuant to this article, except as provided in section.
(B) No refund of any tax collected pursuant to this article shall be made because of cessation of the cannabis business activity, discontinuation, dissolution, or other termination of the cannabis business.
(C) Whenever the amount of any tax or penalty under this article has been overpaid, paid more than once, or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the county under this article, it may be refunded to the claimant who paid the tax; provided a written claim, stating under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California the specific grounds upon which the claim is founded, is filed with the Treasurer-Tax Collector within one calendar year of the date of payment. The claim shall be on forms furnished by the Treasurer-Tax Collector.
(D) Any person entitled to a refund of cannabis business activities taxes paid hereunder may elect, in writing, to have such refund applied as a credit against such person's taxes which will become due for the next fiscal year quarter.
(E) In the event that the cannabis business activities tax was erroneously paid and the error is attributable to the county, the county shall refund the amount of tax paid up to one calendar year from when the error was identified, provided, in no case shall a claim for payment be made more than three years from the date of the actual payment of the tax.
(F) The Treasurer-Tax Collector, his or her designee, or any other county officer charged with the administration of this article, shall have the right to examine and audit all the books and business records of the claimant in order to determine the eligibility of the claimant to the claimed refund. No claim for refund shall be allowed if the claimant refuses to allow such examination of claimant's books and business records after request by the Treasurer-Tax Collector, his or her designee, or any other county officer charged with the administration of this article, to do so.
(G) The Treasurer-Tax Collector may collect a fee adopted by the Board of Supervisors to pay for the cost of examination and audit should the books and records be provided in a form insufficient to allow the Treasurer-Tax Collector to make a determination on the claim for the refund.
(H) No refund of any tax collected pursuant to this article shall be made because of the discontinuation, dissolution, or other termination of a cannabis business.
(Measure C Initiative, adopted 2018)