2017 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. Every employer required to deduct and withhold any tax under this Subpart and every person who deducts and withholds any amount from any wage payments under the authority of this Subpart shall make a calendar quarterly return to the secretary on a form prescribed by him.

            B. Date for filing quarterly returns. The due date for filing the quarterly returns required under this Subpart shall be the last day of the month following the close of the calendar quarterly reporting period.

            C. Payment. 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 pay the tax shown due on the return as prescribed by the secretary. The tax paid shall in no event be less than the amount actually withheld.

            D. Annual returns. (1) Every employer shall also be required to file an annual return on a form prescribed by the secretary. The annual return shall consist of a reconciliation of all previously filed quarterly returns for the calendar year and copies of the receipts required to be furnished under R.S. 47:112(L) for that reporting period.

            (2) The secretary may grant a reasonable extension of time, not exceeding thirty days, for filing the annual return.

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

            E. Date for filing annual returns. An employer shall file an annual return with the secretary on or before January thirty-first of each year for the preceding calendar year.

            F. Penalty provision. (1) A late penalty shall be imposed for delinquent submission of, or failure to submit quarterly returns, annual returns, and receipts required to be furnished by R.S. 47:112(L) in a form prescribed by the secretary.

            (2) The penalty described in this Subsection shall be five dollars for each quarterly return, annual return, or receipt required to be furnished under R.S. 47:112(L). The total penalty imposed pursuant to this Subsection shall not exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars for each annual period. 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.

            (3) If the failure to timely submit the annual return is attributable, not to the negligence of the taxpayer, but to other causes 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. Until December 31, 2015, in any case where the penalty exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars, it can be waived by the secretary only after approval by the Board of Tax Appeals. Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S. 47:1508, beginning January 1, 2016, waivers of all penalties exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars shall be subject to oversight by the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs. This provision shall not apply to any penalty the secretary remits or waives in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act regarding the remittance or waiver of penalties under the department's voluntary disclosure program.

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

            H. Use of prescribed forms. The secretary shall prescribe the forms to be used in compliance with the provisions of this Subpart. The secretary shall also promulgate rules and regulations to prescribe the forms and any alternative technological, mathematical, or date-driven methods for filing, signing, and submitting any return, report, statement, or other document required under this Section. The secretary may also 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.

            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. 47:164(A) 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; Acts 2012, No. 107, §1, eff. July 1, 2012; Acts 2014, No. 198, §1, eff. July 1, 2014; Acts 2015, No. 128, §1, eff. July 1, 2015; Acts 2016, No. 662, §1, eff. June 17, 2016.

            NOTE: See Acts 2016, No. 662, §3, regarding applicability.