Before a refund is issued, staff will determine if any other delinquent accounts with a current, undisputed outstanding balance are due and will apply any credit balance or refund to other accounts where allowed by law.

Refunds most frequently result from state income tax refunds or lottery-winning interceptions made near the time a payment is made directly to the City. Account balances are not updated with the state in real-time, so amounts paid are not immediately reflected. Payments and other changes in account balances are reported to the state monthly. Resulting refunds cannot be processed until intercepted monies are actually received from the State Franchise Tax Board. Intercepted amounts are generally received within 60 days from the date of interception.

Once requested, refunds are usually issued within three (3) weeks.

To request a refund or obtain information regarding the status of a prior refund request, please contact staff by telephone at 619-744-3100 or email at collections@sandiego.gov