LaSalle Parish School Board v. Louisiana Machinery Rentals, LLC

92 So. 3d 1232, 12 La.App. 3 Cir. 259, 2012 WL 2016242, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 789
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided June 6, 2012·No. No. 12-259·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

DECUIR, Judge.

|TIn this tax collection case, Louisiana Machinery Rentals, LLC (LMR), appeals a [1234] partial summary judgment enforcing the assessment of the taxing authorities. The taxing authorities, through their designated collector, answered the appeal seeking sanctions against LMR for filing a frivolous appeal.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

LMR is the franchise dealer for Caterpillar. As such, LMR sold, leased and repaired CAT equipment in LaSalle Parish. Through intergovernmental agreements, the LaSalle Parish School Board, the Town of Jena, and the Town of Olla (Plaintiffs) designated the Concordia Parish School Board (Collector) as their sales and use tax collector.

The Collector commissioned an audit of LMR for the Plaintiffs for the period December 1, 2000 through June 30, 2007. The audit revealed deficiencies in LMR’s collection of sales and use taxes. The Collector sent LMR a notice of intent to assess. LMR did not respond to the notice. The Collector issued a notice of assessment on December 24, 2009. LMR declined to respond to the notice, electing to instead send additional audit documentation. The Collector accepted this informal proffer and issued a notice of assessment-extension on February 22, 2010. LMR did not formally respond, instead sending more documentation to the auditors. Based on this additional information, the Collector substantially reduced its assessment and issued a notice of assessment-extension on April 26, 2010. LMR again failed to respond. On June 25, 2010, the Collector initiated these proceedings.

LMR filed a pleading entitled “Exceptions and Incorporated Memorandum, Affirmative Defenses, and Answer to Rule for Payment of Sales Tax” and the case was continued. The Collector filed a supplemental and amending petition. LMR |2urged several dilatory, declinatory and peremptory exceptions, along with numerous affirmative defenses. The Collector filed peremptory exceptions of lack of subject matter jurisdiction and peremption and filed a motion for partial summary judgment.

By agreement of the parties, a hearing was held only on the motion for partial summary judgment. The district court found that the April 26, 2010, assessment was final and granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Collector. LMR appealed and the Collector answered seeking sanctions for frivolous appeal.

DISCUSSION

LMR assigns three errors by the trial court. LMR first alleges that the trial court erred in not finding that the notice of assessment-extension did not comply with the notice requirements of the assessment and distraint provisions of La.R.S. 47:337.51. LMR next alleges that the trial court erred in failing to consider its exception of prescription. Finally, LMR alleges that the trial court erred in granting the motion for partial summary judgment because the affidavit was not based on personal knowledge and there are genuine issues of material fact in dispute. We will consider all three assignments together because they are factually and legally intertwined.

The foundation for our analysis of this case lies in the three remedies available to the tax collector to enforce its assessment. La.R.S. 47:337.45(A) provides that the tax collector may utilize the assessment and distraint procedure outlined in La.R.S. 47:337.48 through La.R.S. 47:337.60, may proceed by summary court procedure un[1235] der La.R.S. 47:337.61, and may proceed by ordinary suit for enforcement of obligations. “The collector may choose which of these procedures he will pursue in each case, and the counter-remedies and delays to |swhich the taxpayer will be entitled will be only those which are not inconsistent with the proceeding initiated by the collector....” LaJR.S. 47:337.45(B). “[T]he fact that the collector has initiated proceedings under the assessment and dis-traint procedure will not preclude him from thereafter proceeding by summary or ordinary court proceedings for the enforcement of the same tax obligation.” Id.

Building on this foundation, we will address LMR’s contention that the trial court erred in failing to find that the notice of assessment-extension did not comply with the assessment and distraint provisions of La.R.S. 47:337.51(A). LMR argues that this determination will clear the way for it to assert its other defenses.

The fifth circuit has recently addressed this argument in Normand v. Randazzo, 11-308, pp. 5-7 (La.App. 5 Cir. 12/28/11), 85 So.3d 707, 709-11, writ denied, 12-285 (La.4/9/12), 85 So.3d 697, as follows:

The Sheriff contends he is not required to comply with La.R.S. 47:337.51 as a condition precedent to the enforcement and collection of sales taxes by a summary proceeding pursuant to La. R.S. 47:337.45 and 47:337.61.
In opposition to the appeal, GCC asserts that the Sheriffs failure to file the affidavit required by La.R.S. 47:1574 caused the burden of proof to shift from the defendant to the plaintiff. Hence, the case is in a different procedural posture from most tax-collection cases.
La.R.S. 47:337.51(A) provides that the tax collector must notify the taxpayer of his remedies. The statute specifically states that the notice from the tax collector “shall inform the taxpayer of the assessment and that he has sixty calendar days from the date of the notice to (a) pay the amount of the assessment; (b) request a hearing with the collector; or (c) pay under protest in accordance with R.S. 47:337.63.”
GCC asserts that because the Sheriff did not provide that notice, the trial court correctly found that the assessment, which is the basis for the rule for taxes, never became final. GCC contends the Sheriff failed to meet the burden of proof at trial.
GCC does not argue that the notice requirement of La.R.S. 47:337.51(A) is a condition required before the tax collector can seek summary relief. GCC asserts, however, that in this case “the collector began with the assessment method and used the alleged ‘formal ^assessment’ as the basis for the summary proceeding; therefore, the tax collector could not simply disregard the notice requirement and file a summary rule for collection.”
“[L]aws regulating the collection of taxes are sui generis and comprise a system to which general provisions of the law have little, if any, relevance.” Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc. v. Kennedy, 2004-1089, p. 22 (La.6/29/05), 914 So.2d 533, 549.
Here, the district court erroneously linked the notice provisions of La.R.S. 47:337.51(A) with the alternative summary proceeding tax enforcement remedy of La.R.S. 47:337.61. La.R.S. 47:337.51(A) is applicable only to the assessment and distraint tax enforcement remedy. The district court cited no authority for its conclusion that a [1236] taxpayer must be given notice pursuant to La.R.S. 47:337.51(A) before the tax collector seeks or obtains relief by summary proceeding under La.R.S. 47:337.61.
Rather, La.R.S. 47:337.45(B) expressly grants the tax collector the right and discretion to enforce and collect sales and use taxes by summary proceeding, notwithstanding the requirements applicable to the assessment and distraint remedy, even when the collector has initiated assessment and distraint procedures.

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LaSalle Parish School Board v. Louisiana Machinery Rentals, LLC, 92 So. 3d 1232, 12 La.App. 3 Cir. 259, 2012 WL 2016242, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 789 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

92 So. 3d 1232 (LaSalle Parish School Board v. Louisiana Machinery Rentals, LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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