Section 18674.

(a) Any employer or person required to withhold and transmit any amount pursuant to this article shall comply with the requirement without resort to any legal or equitable action in a court of law or equity. Any employer or person paying to the Franchise Tax Board any amount required by it to be withheld is not liable therefor to the person from whom withheld unless the amount withheld is refunded to the withholding agent. However, if a depository institution, as defined in 12 U.S.C. Sec. 461(b)(1)(A) withholds and pays to the Franchise Tax Board pursuant to this article any moneys held in a deposit account in which the delinquent taxpayer and another person or persons have an interest, or in an account held in the name of a third party or parties in which the delinquent taxpayer is ultimately determined to have no interest, the depository institution paying those moneys to the Franchise Tax Board is not liable therefor to any of the persons who have an interest in the account, unless the amount withheld is refunded to the withholding agent.

(b) In the case of a deposit account or accounts for which this notice to withhold applies, the depository institution shall send a notice by first-class mail to each person named on the account or accounts included in the notice from the Franchise Tax Board, provided that a current address for each person is available to the institution. This notice shall inform each person as to the reason for the hold placed on the account or accounts, the amount subject to being withheld, and the date by which this amount is to be remitted to the Franchise Tax Board. An institution may assess the account or accounts of each person receiving this notice a reasonable service charge not to exceed three dollars ($3).

(c) Any employer or person required under this article to withhold payments from a taxpayer may file an action in interpleader when a bona fide dispute has arisen as to priority of lien between the tax levied under this part and that of a federal taxing agency.

(Added by Stats. 1993, Ch. 31, Sec. 26. Effective June 16, 1993. Operative January 1, 1994, by Sec. 83 of Ch. 31.)