Phew, after wasting around 45 minutes, I finally was able to create an FTB account. Here's what I learned, in case it helps anyone else. In following these, I was thinking like a former software engineer who's worked for a security/password management software company. Use a browser without any plugins that can mess things up. Since I have plugins in Chrome, I used Safari, since I don't have any plugins installed for that browser. Create the account during business hours (9-5, MF). I first tried creating an account on a Friday evening after work. Who knows, maybe some backend computer system was down and there was no one to fix it. The last password requirement ("Does not contain more than 3 consecutive or repeating characters" is a challenging one, since it's not clearly worded. It turns out that ANY letter recurring more than three times in the entire password will be rejected. So, this password 1a2a3a4b5c6d7d8e9f0gH! will be rejected, since a lowercase "a" is present 3 times. Given the above password rules, try using AI to generate some passwords, using this prompt: Please generate five options for passwords that meet these criteria: 15 to 20 characters Upper and lower case letters A number A special character Does not include English dictionary words Does not contain more than 3 consecutive or repeating characters 5. For the question, "Enter the numeric portion of your previous address", if you live at, say, 123 3rd Street apartment 456, only enter "123". Don't enter "3" (for 3rd Street) or "456" for your apartment number. 6. For the "last four digits of a previous phone number question", I searched my contacts list to see if there was some number that I rarely used, since as a land line that was provided for free by my Internet provider. It turned out that they listed my now-deceased father's cell phone. He has the same name as me, so I was worried this would trip me up. I stated "none of the above", meaning that my dad's cell phone was not one that I used. Turns out I gave the correct answer. 7. I used the same email address as my California DMV account, in case that was helpful to ensure their algorithm had one additional datapoint to verify my identity. It shouldn't take so much effort to create an account, but I hope this can help someone else down the line. More on reddit.com

The question here is whether the refund is higher or lower, your explanation isn’t entirely clear. Either way, the FTB adjusted your tax refund, and if you agree with it, no action is required on your part. This won’t affect your next year’s return. More on reddit.com

Call Collections department 800-689-4776 You will talk to an automated voice assistance, just say " I want to talk to a representative" It will ask for you SSN and then put you on a queue to talk to a representative. More on reddit.com

Did you figure this out? More on reddit.com