Today, the Louisiana Department of Revenue published Revenue Information Bulletin No. 20-012 (May 22, 2020), which provides automatic relief from late filing and late payment penalties (La. R.S. 47:1602) and negligence penalty (La. R.S. 47:1604.1) with respect to state sales tax returns for March 2020 and April 2020, which were due on April 20, 2020 and May 20, 2020, respectively. To qualify for the automatic penalty relief:
• The taxpayer must file the March 2020 and April 2020 state sales tax returns and remit the applicable taxes and related deficiency interest by June 30, 2020.
• If the taxpayer cannot remit the state sales taxes and any related deficiency interest by June 30, 2020, the Department will grant penalty relief if the taxpayer submits and enters into an Installment Request for Business Taxes by June 30, 2020.
• For the March 2020 sales tax period, a taxpayer that received a self-assessment bill from the Department is not required to pay any penalties shown on the bill if the tax and related interest is remitted by June 30, 2020 or the taxpayer submits and enters into an Installment Request for Business Taxes by June 30, 2020).
The Bulletin also notes that if a taxpayer receives “any collection type notice resulting from an unfiled February 2020 [state] sales tax return, the taxpayer may disregard this notice from the Department.”