Omitted or wrongly assessed property must be assessed when discovered, and the tax commission has powers to find, report, and enforce collection of those taxes.
§1966. Listing and assessing of omitted property A.(1) If any tract or lot of land or other property shall be omitted in the assessment of any year or series of years, or in any way erroneously assessed, it, when discovered, shall be assessed by the assessor or tax collector for the whole period during which the property may have been omitted or improperly assessed, and shall be subject to the state, parish, municipal, and levee taxes, which have been or may hereafter be assessed against the property in accordance with law. No back taxes for more than three years shall be assessed against omitted or improperly assessed property. Assessments of omitted or improperly assessed property shall appear upon a supplemental roll and be filed in the same manner as regular tax rolls. (2)(a) A notice by mail shall be given that the assessment roll is completed, and that it is exposed for examination in the office of the assessor whether the tax is on movable or immovable property, and that ten days are allowed the parties to make to the assessors any protest they may wish to urge against the assessment. (b) In case of unknown owners, notice shall be published twice during a period of ten days in a daily newspaper published in the city of New Orleans and in other parishes as provided hereafter. (c) Notwithstanding Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph, in case of unknown owners, in any parish which contains a municipality with a population of three hundred thousand or more as determined by the latest federal decennial census, notice shall be published twice during a period of fifteen days in a newspaper or other publication that (i) is domiciled in such parish, (ii) is published in the English language at least weekly, (iii) meets the requirements of R.S. 43:200(3)(a), (b), and (c), and (iv) has maintained a total circulation of at least thirty thousand for at least five consecutive years prior to publishing such notice. (3) In case there is no protest the assessment without any further requisite or formality of any kind shall be final and conclusive on the parties assessed. (4) In the event of any such protest, the decision of the assessors thereon shall be promptly made and be final; the assessment without further formality and requisite of any kind shall be binding and conclusive on the parties assessed; however the parties assessed can appeal to the courts within five days from the decision of the assessor on the protest, which decision shall be deemed notice, and the delay of five days shall begin from the day of entry by the assessors of the words "appeal rejected" on the supplemental roll. B. The tax commission is authorized to inspect the assessment rolls of the various parishes of the state and shall search for taxable property not on the rolls, and when found, shall have same supplementarily assessed for the current and back years, not exceeding three, and have the taxes due thereon collected. All assessors and tax collectors shall advise, aid, and assist the tax commission in the discharge of its duties. The tax commission is authorized to employ and pay for such persons as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Section, and also to pay the actual traveling and other necessary expenses of such persons when performing the duties prescribed. C. The tax commission shall report to the assessors and to the tax collectors any and all property found by it which is not on the assessment roll and which is subject to taxation. The assessors and tax collectors shall assess such property and collect any and all such taxes that may be reported to them. D. In case of the failure of the assessors and tax collectors, on the demand of the tax commission to assess and collect the taxes, as above set forth, the tax commission is authorized in the name of the state, without deposit of advance costs, to institute suit against them on their respective bonds for the amount of all taxes due to the state and parish, as well as to any levee, school, road, drainage or other local district, on such nonassessed property. The attorney general and district attorneys throughout the state shall advise the tax commission in all matters pertaining to the collection of such taxes, and shall represent it in all suits against the assessors and tax collectors on their bonds or otherwise, brought to force the collection of same. E. The tax commission may require assessors to place on the rolls any omitted property at any time before filing them with the tax collector, and may require the same duty of the tax collector after filing, and may require the assessor or tax collector to extend such property for the current and back taxes on the valuation fixed by the tax commission for other property of like kind, or such percentage thereof as is appropriate. H.C.R. No. 88, 1993 R.S., eff. May 30, 1993; H.C.R. No. 1, 1994 R.S., eff. May 11, 1994; Acts 2001, No. 1102, §10; Acts 2012, No. 825, §3, eff. June 14, 2012.