§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 the Department of 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 the employer filed the application for a contract with
the Department of 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 the Department of
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 the Department of
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.