PART III. ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION PROCEDURES

§1561. Alternative remedies for the collection of taxes

            A. In addition to following any of the special remedies provided in the various chapters of this Subtitle, the collector may, in his discretion, proceed to enforce the collection of any taxes due under this Subtitle by means of any of the following alternative remedies or procedures:

            (1) Assessment and distraint, as provided in R.S. 47:1562 through 1573.

            (2) Summary court proceeding, as provided in R.S. 47:1574.

            (3) Ordinary suit under the provisions of the general laws regulating actions for the enforcement of obligations before the Board of Tax Appeals or any court of competent jurisdiction.

            (4) Demand in reconvention, or third party demand, in any court of competent jurisdiction or before the Board of Tax Appeals concerning collection of state taxes due, including any related interest, penalties, costs, and attorney fees due under applicable law.

            B. The collector may choose which of these procedures he shall pursue in each case, and the counter-remedies and delays to which the taxpayer shall be entitled shall be only those which are not inconsistent with the proceeding initiated by the collector, provided that in every case the taxpayer shall be entitled to proceed under R.S. 47:1576 except under any of the following circumstances:

            (1) After he has filed a petition with the Board of Tax Appeals for a redetermination of the assessment.

            (2) When an assessment for the tax in question has become final.

            (3) After the deadline to file an answer or defenses, after he has appeared in, or after he has filed any responsive pleading or defenses in any proceeding or suit involving the same tax obligation pending against him.

            (4) When a third party demand for the same tax obligation is pending against him in a suit by the collector concerning collection of the same tax obligation.

            C. The fact that the collector has initiated proceedings under the assessment and distraint procedure shall not preclude him from thereafter proceeding by summary or ordinary court proceedings for the enforcement of the same tax obligation.

            Amended by Acts 1972, No. 566, §1; Acts 2014, No. 198, §1, eff. July 1, 2014; Acts 2015, No. 210, §1, eff. June 23, 2015; Acts 2019, No. 365, §1, eff. Nov. 18, 2019.