2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 47 — Revenue and taxation
RS 47:337.51 — Notice of assessment and right to appeal or arbitration

§337.51. Notice of assessment and right to appeal or arbitration

A. Having assessed the amount determined to be due, the collector shall send a notice by certified mail to the taxpayer against whom the assessment is imposed at the address given in the last report filed by said taxpayer, or to any address obtainable from any private entity which will provide such address free of charge or from any federal, state, or local government entity, including but not limited to the United States Postal Service or from the United States Postal Service certified software. If no report has been timely filed, the collector shall send a notice by certified mail to the taxpayer against whom the assessment is imposed at any address obtainable from any private entity which will provide such address free of charge or from any federal, state, or local government entity, including but not limited to the United States Postal Service or from the United States Postal Service certified software. This notice shall inform the taxpayer of the assessment and that he has thirty calendar days from the date of the notice to (a) pay the amount of the assessment; (b) request mandatory arbitration pursuant to R.S. 47:337.51.1 or; (c) pay under protest in accordance with R.S. 47:337.63 and file suit as provided for in that Section or request mandatory arbitration pursuant to R.S. 47:337.51.1.

B. If any dealer shall be aggrieved by any findings or assessment of the collector, he may, within thirty days of the receipt of notice of the assessment or finding, do any of the following:

(1)(a) File an appeal from the decision of the collector directed to any state, city, or federal court of competent jurisdiction.

(b) Pay under protest in accordance with R.S. 47:337.63, and either file suit as provided for in that Section, or make a written request for mandatory arbitration pursuant to R.S. 47:337.51.1.

(c) Mail a written request for mandatory arbitration pursuant to R.S. 47:337.51.1 without payment under protest.

(2) This Section shall afford a legal remedy and right of action in any state, city, or federal court having jurisdiction of the parties and subject matter for a full and complete adjudication of any and all questions arising in the enforcement of the local ordinance and this Chapter as to the legality of any tax accrued or accruing or the method of enforcement thereof.

C.(1) No assessment made by the collector shall be final if it is determined that the assessment was based on an error of fact or of law. An "error of fact" for this purpose means facts material to the assessment assumed by the collector at the time of the assessment to be true but which subsequently are determined by the collector to be false. "Error of law" for this purpose means that in making the assessment the collector applied the law contrary to the construction followed by the collector in making other assessments.

(2) The determination of an error of fact or of law under this Subsection shall be solely that of the collector, and no action against the collector with respect to the determination shall be brought in any court, and no court shall have jurisdiction of any such action, it being the intent of this Subsection only to permit the collector to correct manifest errors of fact or in the application of the law made by the collector in making the assessment; however, all reductions of assessments based on such errors, except estimated assessments made due to the failure of the taxpayer to file a proper tax return, must be approved and signed by the collector. Estimated assessments made due to the failure of the taxpayer to file a proper tax return may be corrected by the acceptance of the proper tax return and must be approved by the collector or his designee.

Acts 2003, No. 73, §1, eff. July 1, 2003; Acts 2010, No. 1003, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2011.