The Louisiana Department of Revenue has now issued Revenue Information Bulletin (RIB) 21-027 granting an automatic state sales/use tax filing extension and corresponding penalty relief to taxpayers in certain Louisiana areas impacted by Hurricane Ida for August 2021 Louisiana state sales/use taxes that were due to be filed on or before September 20, 2021.

The Department’s new RIB was issued late Friday, September 17, 2021.

For eligible taxpayers located in the parishes listed below, the deadline for filing August 2021 sales taxes is extended from September 20, 2021 to November 1, 2021.

To qualify for penalty relief, the taxpayer must file the August 2021 sales tax return and remit the sales tax and any deficiency interest by November 30, 2021. If a taxpayer is unable to remit the sales tax and any deficiency interest by this date, penalty relief will be granted if the taxpayer submits and enters into an Installment Payment Plan Request for sales taxes due by November 30, 2021.

Importantly, however, the tax payment due date remains September 20, 2021.  The Department’s new RIB does not include interest relief.

Also, importantly, this RIB does not apply to local sales/use taxes in Louisiana.  Taxpayers should consult each local tax collector directly to confirm any local sales/use tax filing or payment extension.

The Department’s new RIB specifically explains which taxpayers are eligible for automatic filing extensions and related penalty relief.  Eligible taxpayers include businesses whose principal places of business, critical tax records, or paid tax preparers are located in one of the following parishes:

• Ascension

• Assumption

• East Baton Rouge

• East Feliciana

• Iberia

• Iberville

• Jefferson

• Lafourche

• Livingston

• Orleans

• Plaquemines

• Pointe Coupee

• St. Bernard

• St. Charles

• St. Helena

• St. James

• St. John the Baptist

• St. Martin

• St. Mary

• St. Tammany

• Tangipahoa

• Terrebonne

• Washington

• West Baton Rouge

• West Feliciana

These are the same parishes included in the Department’s prior RIB 21-024 regarding other automatic extensions already previously provided by the Department.  Our prior blog post on that separate RIB is found here.

Automatic extensions are based on the taxpayer’s location address on file with the Department.  If, however, a taxpayer’s location address is not within one of the parishes listed in the RIB, the taxpayer may still be eligible for interest and penalty relief even though an automatic extension did not apply.