2003 Legislative Session…

 

   Local Sales Tax Bills which were enacted in the 2003 Regular Legislative Session…

 

   HB  830/Act 3          Hammett - Requires the secretary of the Department of Revenue to remove or reduce interest on refunds issued to a taxpayer in error.

 

   HB 1066/Act 43       Hammett – Provides for an increase in the threshold for filing quarterly

                                    Tax returns.

 

   HB 1250/Act 170     Triche – Increases the criminal penalty for tax evasion if the tax exceeds

                                    a certain amount.

 

   HB 1621/Act 141     Hammett – Provides for direct payment numbers for private, non-profit,

                                    tax-exempt organizations.

 

   HB 1750/Act 46       Daniel – Relative to local sales and use taxes, provides for the taxable nature of cellular, PCS, or wireless telephones and electronic accessories

                                    physically connected with such telephones.

 

   HB 1886                  Tucker – Provides relative to the annual baseline collection rate for tax

                                    increments within certain economic development districts.

 

   SB 49/Act 182         Dupre – Authorizes the purchase of a four-year wholesale/retail dealer’s license and a four-year transport license for seafood.

 

   SB 340                     Irons – Provides relative to political subdivisions who enter into sales and use tax collection agreements.

 

   SB 551/Act 73         Jones – Enacts the Uniform Local Tax Code (UTC) by gathering various provisions applicable to local sales and use taxes from Titles 47, 33, and other titles and placing them in a separate Chapter of Title 47; requires local sales tax to be administered.

 

   SB 591/Act 224       Dardenne – Provides relative to cooperative endeavors and requiring the State Bond Commission to approve such public contracts.

 

 

(continued from page I)

 

SB 791/Act 791       Barham – Provides that tangible personal property shall not include buildings or other constructions permanently attached to the land for state and local tax purposes.

 

SB 1067/Act 250     Dupre – Provides for endorsement of a commercial fisherman’s license as certified.

 

----------------------------------------- LATA ------------------------------------

 

Local sales tax changes…

 

   Although these local changes actually took place early in the year they should be noted.

 

Caddo Parish - Parish increased its rate to from 3.25% to 3.35%.  Accordingly, the total state and local sales tax rate in the Cities of Blanchard, Greenwood, Oil City, Mooringsport and Rodessa, increased to 8.35%; the total rate in Town of Vivian increased to 7.85%; the total rate in the City of Shreveport increased to 8.6%; the total rate in the remaining of the parish has been increased to 7.35%.

 

Grant Parish - The Town of Creola enacted a sales tax at the rate of 2%. Accordingly, the total state and local sales tax rate in Creola increased to 9%.

 

Livingston Parish - School District #22 enacted a sales tax at the rate of 0.5%. Accordingly, the total state and local sales tax rate in the portion of the Town of Watson (in school district) has been increased to 9%.

 

Rapides Parish - Parish increased its rate from 2.5% to 3%. Accordingly, the total state and local sales tax rate in the Cities of Alexandria, Ball, Glenmora, LeCompte and Pineville increased to 8.5%; the total rate in the Cities of Boyce & Woodworth increased to 8%; the total rate in the Town of Forest Hill increased to 7.5%; the total of the remaining of the parish has been increased to 7%.   

 

------------------------------------- LATA ----------------------------------------

 

Attorney fees…

 

   The attorney fees at issue amounted to 28% of the remainder of a common settlement fund after payment of the claims of the named plaintiffs in several suits. Those attorney fees were calculated under the “fund doctrine” or common fund doctrine,” which allows the award of attorney fees, even in the absence of a contract, for successfully maintaining an action for the

 

 

(continued from page II)

 

creation, preservation, protection or increase of a fund in which persons other than the attorneys’ own clients may share, or from which they may benefit.

   Accordingly, although the named plaintiffs had already paid separate fees to the attorneys involved, the attorneys were entitled to fees from the remainder of the settlement fund because

their actions clearly resulted in the creation, preservation, protection and increase in the fund for the benefit of all of the taxpayer beneficiaries.

   Without the efforts of the attorneys, no fund would have been created for the non-party beneficiaries to receive tax refunds. The amount of the award in issue was justified by the vast amount of work performed by the attorneys in numerous appeals and extended settlement negotiations over the course of six years, as well as their skill, ingenuity and diligence displayed in the creating, preserving and increasing of the settlement fund.

                                                                                                                                               (Avants v Kennedy, App, 1^st Cir)

 

--------------------------------- LATA -------------------------------------

 

Natural gas compression…

 

   Tax did not apply to the portion of natural gas mixture that a the company obtained from its customer’s wells and consumed in its engines during the compression of the rest of the mixture for the customer, because the customer was required to furnish the mixture for the company’s engines free of charge.

   Although there was a transfer of possession of the mixture consumed for sales tax purposes, there was no associated sales price and thus no sales tax was due. There was consumption for use tax purposes, the mixture consumed did not have a cost price and thus no use tax was due.

   This case was like Bel Oil Corp v Fontenot, which held that a gas gathering tax violated the prohibition by the Constitution against taxes on natural gas in addition to severance taxes, rather than Columbia Gulf Transmission v Broussard, which held that use tax on compressor fuel was not barred by state law or the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The engine gas in the case at hand was in an unpurified form, consumed at the wellhead, and not metered. The Columbia Gulf case involved the consumption of gas that was metered and in a more refined stage.

                                                                                                 (Hanover Compressor v Department, LA App, 3^rd Cir)

 

------------------------------- LATA ---------------------------------

 

Revenue Sharing agreement…

 

   The Department has issued a private letter ruling that sales and use tax did not apply to a revenue sharing agreement for leased property, under which a leasing company paid usage fees to the owner of tangible personal property from the company’s rental of that property to its industrial customers in Louisiana. The arrangement between the leasing company and the owner did not meet the definition of a lease or rental of tangible personal property and, therefore, was not subject to tax.

 

 

   The contract between the leasing company and the owner was similar to the arrangement in Tent-It Company of Alexandria v McNamara. Both the owner here and the owner in that case retained control over the property and supplied it, at their discretion, as it became available. In return, the leasing company here and the leasing company in that case shared the rental payments collected from their customers with the owners as “usage fees,” and no fee was paid unless the property was rented to a customer.

   Since the leasing companies did not have the enjoyment of the property “during a certain time,” they were not leasing or renting the property from the owners. Ultimately, there was no taxable transfer to the leasing companies. (La PLR #03-002)

 

 

Title ________________________ Representing______________________________________

 

Arrival Date __________________ Guest Name if applicable____________________________

 

 

Annual Conference Golf Tournament

-Four person scramble -

 

Name __________________________________ Address_______________________________

 

Representing ____________________________________Phone #________________________

 

 

MEMBERSHIP INVITATION AND APPLICATION

 

Name _____________________________________Title_______________________________

 

Representative of ___________________________ Dept/Div ___________________________

 

Mailing Address _________________________City ________________State_____Zip_______

 

Phone _______________________ Fax _________________ E-Mail _____________________

 

Annual Dues: $100

Payable to: Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators, P.O. Box 398, Vidalia, Louisiana 71373