2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 47 — Revenue and taxation
RS 47:114 — Returns and payment of tax

§114. Returns and payment of tax

A. Quarterly returns. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, every employer required to deduct and withhold any tax under this Sub-part and every person who deducts and withholds any amount from any wage payments under the authority of this Sub-part shall make a calendar quarterly return to the collector on a form prescribed by him and shall pay therewith the tax required to be paid under this Sub-part for each calendar quarter, which payment shall in no event be less than the amount actually withheld.

B. Return for periods less than a calendar quarter. Every employer required to deduct and withhold any tax under this Subpart and every person who deducts and withholds any amount from any wage under the authority of this Subpart shall make returns and shall pay the tax as follows:

(1) When the amount deducted or withheld any calendar month from the combined wages of all employees is an amount equal to or greater than five hundred dollars but less than two thousand dollars, the return shall be filed monthly with the secretary on a form prescribed by him and the amount withheld shall be paid therewith.

(2) When the amount deducted or withheld within any calendar month from the combined wages of all employees is an amount equal to or greater than two thousand dollars, the return shall be filed semimonthly with the secretary on a form prescribed by him, and the amount withheld during the semimonthly period shall be paid therewith; the secretary shall have the authority to determine, in his discretion, whether an employer or other person required to make returns under this Subpart shall file returns on a monthly, semimonthly, or quarterly basis. At the request of an employer, the secretary may permit the employer to make returns on a monthly or semimonthly basis.

C. Annual return, estimated tax. The collector may permit a withholding tax return to be submitted on a calendar year basis under the following conditions:

(1) The employer reasonably estimates that tax to be withheld during the calendar year will be less than one hundred dollars and,

(2) The employer was required to withhold less than one hundred dollars during the preceding calendar year and,

(3) All required withholding returns for the preceding calendar year were timely filed and,

(4) The employer remits the tax estimated to be due for the ensuing calendar year to the collector not later than February 28 of such year.

Tax due in excess of the amount previously paid by estimate will be remitted with the calendar year return.

The collector is authorized to issue a refund to the employer for any excess of payment by estimate over tax liability as finally determined for the calendar year.

D. Date for filing returns. (1) The due date for filing the returns required under this Subpart other than those required under Subsection E shall be as follows:

(a) Returns required or permitted to be filed on a calendar quarterly basis or a calendar year basis are due on the last day of the month following the close of the reporting period.

(b) Returns required or permitted to be filed on a monthly basis are due on the last day of the month following the close of the monthly period.

(c) Returns required or permitted to be filed on a semimonthly basis are due on the fifteenth day of the calendar month for taxes withheld on wages paid during the period between the sixteenth day and the last day of the previous calendar month, and due on the last day of the calendar month for taxes withheld on wages paid during the first fifteen days of the same calendar month.

(2) All funds not timely remitted shall bear interest at the rate provided for in R.S. 47:1601 from the due date for filing until paid.

E. Jeopardy returns. If the collector in any case believes that the collection of the tax required to be withheld under this Sub-part is in jeopardy for any reason, he may require the employer to make a return and pay the required tax at any time.

F. Annual or final returns. (1) On or before the first business day following February 27 of each year for the preceding calendar year or on or before the thirtieth day after the date on which the final payment of wages is made by an employer who has ceased to pay wages, an employer shall file with the secretary of the Department of Revenue an annual or a final return, as the case may be, on a form prescribed by him, to which return shall be attached copies of the receipts required to be furnished under R.S. 47:112(L) for the period covered thereby. The secretary may grant a reasonable extension of time, not exceeding thirty days, for filing the aforesaid annual or final return.

(2)(a)(i) The secretary may require all employers who must submit copies of two hundred fifty or more receipts to file the forms on magnetic media or other electronic means.

(ii) The secretary may require the following employers to file both their annual or final returns and their receipts on magnetic media or by other electronic means at the following times:

(aa) For returns and receipts due on or after January 1, 2008, those employers who are required to file returns with two hundred fifty or more receipts.

(bb) For returns and receipts due on or after January 1, 2010, those employers who are required to file returns with two hundred or more receipts.

(cc) For returns and receipts due on or after January 1, 2012, those employers who are required to file returns with one hundred fifty or more receipts.

(dd) For returns and receipts due on or after January 1, 2014, those employers who are required to file returns with one hundred or more receipts.

(ee) For returns and receipts due on or after January 1, 2016, those employers who are required to file returns with fifty or more receipts.

(b) The secretary may prescribe the types of media and record layout to be used in the submission of the returns and receipts consistent with the Internal Revenue Code requirements.

(c) These reporting requirements may be waived by the secretary for an employer if hardship is shown by the employer in a request for waiver.

(3) A penalty of five dollars for each receipt required to be furnished under R.S. 47:112(L) and required to be submitted with the annual or final return shall be imposed for the delinquent submission of or the failure to submit the annual or final return and receipts in the form required by the secretary. The total penalty imposed pursuant to this Subsection shall not exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars for each annual or final return. This penalty shall be an obligation to be collected and accounted for in the same manner as if it were part of the tax due, and can be enforced either in a separate action or in the same action for the collection of the tax. If the failure to timely submit the annual or final return before the deadline is attributable, not to the negligence of the taxpayer, but to other cause set forth in written form and considered reasonable by the secretary, the secretary may remit or waive payments of the whole or any part of the specific penalty provided for such failure. In any case where the penalty exceeds five thousand dollars, it can be waived by the secretary only after approval by the Board of Tax Appeals.

G. Repealed by Acts 1972, No. 30, §1.

H. Use of prescribed forms. The collector shall prescribe the forms to be used in compliance with the provisions of this Sub-part.

I. Governmental employers. If the employer is the United States, a state, territory, or political subdivision thereof, or any agency or instrumentality of any one or more of the foregoing, the return of the amount deducted and withheld upon any wages may be made by any officer or employee of the United States, or of such state, territory, or political subdivision, or of such agency or instrumentality, as the case may be, having control of the payment of such wages or appropriately designated for that purpose.

J. Withholding from federal employees. The collector is hereby designated as the proper official to make requests for and enter into agreements with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States to provide for the compliance with this Sub-part by the head of the department or agency of the United States in withholding of state income taxes from wages of federal employees and paying the same to this State. The collector is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to make requests for and to enter into such agreements.

K. Certain information returns not required. On and after January 1, 1962, the annual returns or reports required by the collector under the provisions of this Sub-part shall be in lieu of such returns required under R.S. 47:164A as would furnish identical information.

Added by Acts 1960, No. 342, §1. Amended by Acts 1964, No. 174, §1; Acts 1971, No. 9, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1972; Acts 1971, No. 10, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1972; Acts 1972, No. 522, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 1972; Acts 1981, No. 744, §1; Acts 1982, No. 853, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 1982; Acts 1983, No. 558, §1, eff. April 1, 1984; Acts 1983, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 5, §1, eff. Jan. 2, 1984; Acts 1984, No. 11, §1, eff. June 1, 1984; Acts 1988, No. 48, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 1988; Acts 1997, No. 658, §2; Acts 2001, No. 788, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2006; Acts 2001, No. 1032, §15; Acts 2006, No. 452, §1, eff. June 15, 2006.