What will happen if I can’t pay the restitution?

It depends who you owe the restitution to.

If the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) is in charge of collecting your restitution debt, here are some steps you can take to possibly make your financial situation easier:

    Set Up a Payment Plan: Contact the FTB to discuss your options for paying your debt in installments instead of all at once;
    Manage Your Payments Online: Set up an online account to instantly view your current balance, make payments, and keep records of the debt you have already paid.
    Get Your Payments Reduced: If the FTB is taking too much money out of your paycheck (called “wage garnishment”) and you don’t have enough to live on, you can claim financial hardship and ask the FTB to reduce the amount being taken out of each paycheck. [2279] (Note: The FTB can only lower the amount taken from each payment, but cannot reduce the total amount of debt that you owe.) (See PG. 663 for more information on wage garnishment.)
    Dispute the Amount You Owe: If you disagree with the AMOUNT of debt you owe, you will need to contact the local court or county collection agency listed on your demand notice (the document notifying you that you owe money) directly. The FTB can help you lower the amount you pay each month, but it CANNOT answer questions or make changes to your total debt orders.

The California FTB employs representatives to help you. You can call the FTB at (916) 845-4064 during normal weekday hours (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.) or visit the FTB’s website at: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/Court_Ordered_Debt/index.asp.

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    Cal. Franchise Tax Board, Court–Ordered Debt (COD)—Frequently Asked Questions (Debtor), https://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/Court_Ordered_Debt/faq_debtor.shtml#q3; see also Cal. Franchise Tax Board, Nontax Debt Collections, https://www.ftb.ca.gov/aboutFTB/ND_2011_12.pdf (rev’d Aug. 1, 2012).