Board of Equalization

Now it became way to easy to do your appl because it right on their eb site and they have desk tops to fill up your appl and staff is super helpfull

Wow~you must fill your own seller’s permit online with the guiding assistance of a BOE employee demystifying completing the online application form. Ironically, completing the form online took at least one hour!
The BOE employee informed me that the online application became available just less than a month ago, so as complicated as completing the form was, it was worse before the online system became available.
Now, please do not confuse the two offices, Suite 303=BOE and 305=Franchise Tax Board; each office operates two different functions, so do not become confused! Franchised Tax Board handles all businesses’ California State tax payments.

After reading other reviews, I expected this process to be excruciating. I arrived and found no line at reception and checked in. Thinking it would take a few minutes, I popped into the hall to return a phone call and was immediately called to a window. After I went over the application with the woman at the window, she said it would take about 25 minutes to finalize the certificate and get all the info packet together.
I hadn’t realized the Franchise Tax Board is within eyesight of the reception desk, so I popped over to take care of another errand after telling the receptionist where I’d be. No line there either, walked right up which was inconvenient because I wasn’t ready for her! She was nice enough to let me sit at the window while I finished the form. While I was there the woman from the BoE window came over to FTB, looking for me to confirm my date of birth. After completing my task at FTB, I returned to BoE where I was called back to the window within about 10 minutes. I realized I had put the wrong date of operation on my application and she was nice enough to immediately reissue the permit with the new date and then hand-​updated the date on the material in the packet.
Everyone was friendly, including the two different receptionists. Everything went faster than I expected. Everyone was helpful and accommodating. While I was there I did see other people come in and have a hard time, but it was largely their own fault. They were unprepared, didn’t have ID, they didn’t stand where the line was clearly marked, they sat at closed windows so reception couldn’t see them, they didn’t fill out the form before they went up to the window, they asked questions about things that are OBVIOUSLY not the BoE’s area of expertise (how to file a DBA) etc. I’m sure this place gets busy, especially around tax time, but at 2pm on a Thursday in May, it’s a cakewalk.

1. They get paid regardless.
2. Where are you going to complain if they don’t care and give you bad advice? The supervisor who they sit down to thanksgiving dinner with? That’s a joke.
3. They have full authority to screw you in talk back to them.
4. Well suck it up or get a job there.
Just the truth. =)

This office of the BOE is a typical government bureaucracy office.
The receptionist here is even surlier than the meanest DMV worker. I watched 3 separate people tell her «I hope you have a better day» because she’s such a raging biotch.
I’ve been here 3 times and its like pulling teeth to get helped at all. much less helped in a timely fashion.
Each time I’m here I watch people behind their little windows type away ignoring people in the lobby.
Worst customer service in government ever.

Well, this process wasn’t as quick as I expected. No, I didn’t expect it to be QUICK, I’m not an idiot. This is a government office, after all. But I didn’t expect to walk up to an empty window and wait there, wondering if anyone actually worked in the office. 5 minutes later, a woman walked up to the window and asked me what I needed. I told her, «I need to get a seller’s permit.» She told me that the wait for a seller’s permit was a minimum 1 hour wait because they had no one there to do it. Um, what?
Luckily, it only took 45 minutes for the entire process. I waited only a half hour to talk to someone, and the woman I talked to was very nice. She wished me luck, too, which is always nice.
As an aside, I have to say right now that I AM VERY EXCITED! These are exciting times!
NOTE: This process is free. The only thing it will cost you is time and the fee for the parking lot across the street.