RS 51:2457

§2457. Filing claim to receive Quality jobs rebate; determination; repayment A. Payroll rebate. (1) After the end of the fiscal year of an employer for which an employer has qualified to receive a payroll rebate, the employer shall file an application for the annual rebate as required in R.S. 51:2456 with Louisiana Economic Development. (2) The application shall contain a sworn statement by a duly authorized officer of the employer concerning with respect to the employer's fiscal year: (a) That the employer remained a qualified employer under the provisions of R.S. 51:2453(2)(b) and (c), and shall state the nature of the employer's qualification. (b) The total number of and the gross payroll of: (i) New direct jobs created which were paid a total of at least eighteen dollars per hour. (ii) New direct jobs created which were paid a total of at least twenty-one dollars and sixty-six cents per hour. (c) The number of full-time employees working an average of thirty or more hours per week in new direct jobs. (d) That the employer had or maintained a net overall increase in employment statewide for each new direct job and the number of such net overall increase, in the case where an employer has contracts covering multiple locations. (e) That employees holding the new direct jobs: (i) Were paid wages in cash, which met the other requirements of R.S. 51:2453(5). (ii) Were domiciled in the state of Louisiana, if required. (iii) Were not previously on the employer's payroll. (iv) Were not previously on the payroll of the employer's parent entity, subsidiary, or affiliate, or previously on the payroll of the business whose physical plant and employees were substantially the same as those of the employer. (v) Did not exist as of the date that the employer filed the application for a contract with Louisiana Economic Development pursuant to R.S. 51:2455. (vi) Were not jobs created as a result of job shifts due to the gain or loss of an in-state contract to supply goods and services. (vii) Were not jobs retained following the acquisition of all or part of an in-state business by the employer. (f) That the employer has offered the basic health benefits plan or the health insurance coverage as defined in R.S. 51:2453(2)(a) to the individuals it employs in new direct jobs including coverage for basic hospital care and for physician care, as well as offered the health insurance coverage as follows: (i) That the employer has offered a basic health benefits plan that is in compliance with federally mandated healthcare requirements or, if no federally mandated healthcare requirements exist, is determined to have a value of not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per hour for full-time employees. (ii) That the employer has offered health insurance coverage for the dependents of full-time employees. (g) That the employer: (i) Did not default on or otherwise not repay any loan or other obligation involving public funds. (ii) Has not declared bankruptcy under which an obligation of the employer to pay or repay public funds or monies was discharged as part of such bankruptcy. (iii) Is not in default on any filing or payment with or to the state or any of its agencies or political subdivisions in which such assessment or judgment is final and nonappealable and remains outstanding. (h) That the employer meets the requirements of R.S. 51:2453(2)(b) and is not excluded by R.S. 51:2453(2)(c). (3) The department may request such additional information from the employer as may be necessary to determine whether the application is correct and whether the employer is eligible for the annual rebate for that year, or may request that the employer revise its application. (4) Upon approval of the application for the annual rebate, the application shall be forwarded to the Department of Revenue for payment. The Department of Revenue shall make payment of the rebate after offset, if applicable, under R.S. 47:1622. The rebate shall be considered a refundable overpayment for the purpose of such offset. (5) If the actual verified gross payroll for the employer's fiscal year for which the employer is applying for his third annual rebate does not show a minimum of fifteen new direct jobs and is not of an amount which equals or exceeds a total of six hundred seventy-five thousand dollars of new direct jobs payroll, or, where applicable according to R.S. 51:2455(E)(1), does not show a minimum of five new direct jobs and is not of an amount which equals or exceeds two hundred twenty-five thousand dollars of new direct jobs payroll, the tax liability for the tax period in which the failure to show such minimum occurs shall be increased by the amount of rebates previously allowed. If at any other time during the ten-year period when the employer applies for a rebate at the end of the employer's fiscal year, the actual verified gross payroll for such fiscal year does not show the minimum required new direct jobs or the minimum required new direct jobs payroll in accordance with R.S. 51:2455(E)(1) the rebates shall be suspended and shall not be resumed until such time as the minimum required new direct jobs and the minimum required new direct jobs payroll in accordance with R.S. 51:2455(E)(1) are verified. No rebate shall accrue or be paid to the employer during a period of suspension. (6) An employer that has qualified pursuant to R.S. 51:2455 is eligible to receive rebates under this Chapter only in accordance with the provisions under which it initially applied and was approved. If an employer that is receiving rebates expands, it may apply for additional rebates based on the gross payroll anticipated from the expansion only, pursuant to R.S. 51:2455. B. Issuance of state sales and use tax rebate. (1) Qualifying purchases of material used in the construction, addition, or improvement of a building made on or after the effective date of the contract shall be eligible for the rebate and shall be included in the application for payment of the rebate of sales and use taxes. (2) Application for the final payment of the rebate of state sales and use taxes granted pursuant to this Section shall be filed no later than six months after Louisiana Economic Development signs a project completion report and it is received by the Department of Revenue, the political subdivision, and the business, or no later than thirty days after the end of the calendar year in the case of customer-owned tooling used in a compression-molding process. The project completion report shall not be signed until the project is complete and the contract has been approved by the board and the governor. (3) Requests for rebates of state sales and use taxes pursuant to this Section shall be processed by the Department of Revenue as follows: (a) A properly completed rebate request shall be submitted to the Department of Revenue on forms provided by the Department of Revenue. A properly completed rebate request shall mean a rebate request that is signed and includes the general information required on the face of the request, a copy of the executed incentive contract, a copy of each invoice over fifteen thousand dollars, and all required schedules. The request shall be submitted electronically unless the secretary of the Department of Revenue authorizes submission of the request in an alternate form. (b) Within sixty days of receipt of a properly completed rebate request, the Department of Revenue shall rebate eighty percent of the total amount claimed for rebate in the rebate request. Within six months of the date of filing the rebate request, the Department of Revenue shall audit the rebate request. During the six-month period, the Department of Revenue shall disallow items determined to be ineligible for rebate. Within ten business days following the expiration of the six-month period, the Department of Revenue shall rebate the remaining twenty percent of the amount claimed on the rebate request less any amounts properly disallowed during the six-month audit period. The Department of Revenue shall make the rebates from the current collections of the taxes collected pursuant to Chapter 2, Chapter 2-A, or Chapter 2-B of Subtitle II of Title 47 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as amended. Any sales and use tax rebate issued pursuant to this Section shall be subject to subsequent audit by the Department of Revenue, and any rebate amount determined to be in excess of the amount that should have been allowed shall be subject to collection by the Department of Revenue. (c) Failure of the Department of Revenue to timely pay rebates as provided in this Paragraph shall entitle the taxpayer to interest, which shall begin to accrue six months after the completed rebate request is received at the rate established pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 13:4202. Payments of interest authorized according to the provisions of this Section shall be made from the current collections of taxes collected pursuant to Chapter 2, Chapter 2-A, or Chapter 2-B of Subtitle II of Title 47 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as amended. C. Issuance of project facility expense rebate. (1) Application for the payment of the project facility expense rebate granted pursuant to this Section shall be filed no later than six months after Louisiana Economic Development signs a project completion report and it is received by the Department of Revenue, the political subdivision, and the business. The project completion report shall not be signed until the project is complete and the contract has been approved by the board and the governor. (2) Requests for the project facility expense rebate pursuant to this Section shall be processed by the Department of Revenue as follows: (a) A properly completed project facility expense rebate request shall be submitted to the Department of Revenue on forms provided by the Department of Revenue. A properly completed project facility expense rebate request shall mean a rebate request that is signed and includes the general information required on the face of the request, a copy of the executed incentive contract, and a copy of all required schedules. The request shall be submitted electronically unless the secretary of the Department of Revenue authorizes submission of the request in an alternate form. (b) The Department of Revenue shall make the rebate payment from the current collections of the taxes collected pursuant to Chapter 2, Chapter 2-A, or Chapter 2-B of Subtitle II of Title 47 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as amended. D. Extensions of application filing deadlines. For purposes of filing the application provided for in Subsections B and C of this Section, upon request, the business filing the application shall be granted a thirty-day extension of time in which to file its application, provided the request for extension is received by the Department of Revenue prior to the expiration of the filing period. In addition to the thirty-day extension, the Department of Revenue is authorized to grant the business an additional extension of time, not to exceed sixty days, in which to file its application, provided that the business provides reasonable cause for the granting of the additional extension. E. Issuance Local Sales and Use Tax Rebate. (1) Within ninety days from the date that a properly completed rebate request submitted by a taxpayer is received by the appropriate local taxing authority, the taxing authority shall review the rebate request and issue a rebate to the taxpayer for allowed items and shall notify the taxpayer of any disallowed items. For purposes of this Subsection, a properly completed rebate request shall mean a rebate request that is signed and includes the general information required on the face of the request, a copy of each invoice, and all required schedules. (2) A taxpayer requesting reconsideration of any disallowed item shall do so within sixty days from receipt of the notification of the disallowed items by resubmitting a properly completed rebate request for the disallowed items to the taxing authority for reconsideration. The time periods for reconsideration of disallowed items in a rebate request shall be the same as the time periods for consideration of the initial rebate request. (3) Rebate requests may be submitted electronically with the approval of the local taxing authority. (4) Failure by a local taxing authority to timely process and pay a local sales and use tax rebate in accordance with the provisions of this Subsection shall entitle the taxpayer to interest on the amount of the allowed items contained in the properly completed rebate request. Interest shall begin to accrue on the date the properly completed rebate request or reconsideration of disallowed items in a properly completed rebate request is received by the taxing authority at the rate established pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 13:4202. (5) Sales and use taxes imposed by a political subdivision that are dedicated to the repayment of bonded indebtedness or dedicated to schools shall not be eligible for rebate. All other state and local sales and use taxes shall be eligible for rebate. (6) No governing authority of a political subdivision or sheriff's office shall charge any fee or require any employment practice that conflicts with state or federal law as a precondition to authorizing tax benefits under this Chapter. The governing authority of each political subdivision or sheriff's office shall, after all requirements of this Chapter have been met, promptly rebate any sales and use taxes to the entity entitled to such rebate. F. Violation of terms of the contract. If a collecting agency receives notice that the rebate, or any part thereof, has ceased by reason of a violation of the terms of the contract under which the rebate was granted, then the amount of the rebate for the year in which the violation occurred and for each year thereafter in which the violation is not remedied shall be considered a tax due as of December thirty-first of the year in which the violation occurred, and for each year thereafter in which a rebate is received and the violation is not remedied, and it shall be collected by the collecting agencies in the same manner and subject to the same provisions for the collection of other tax debts. Acts 1995, No. 1238, §1, eff. July 1, 1995; Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 39, §1, eff. May 7, 1996; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 153, §1, eff. May 1, 2002; Acts 2007, No. 387, §1, eff. July 10, 2007; Acts 2011, No. 353, §1, eff. June 29, 2011; Acts 2016, No. 663, §1, eff. July 1, 2016; Acts 2017, No. 386, §3, eff. June 23, 2017; Acts 2018, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 11, §1, eff. June 12, 2018. NOTE: See Acts 2011, No. 353, §2, relative to applicability. NOTE: See Acts 2018 2nd E.S., No. 11, §§2 and 4.