TIN, Inc. v. Washington Parish Sheriff's Office

112 So. 3d 197, 2013 WL 1115330, 2013 La. LEXIS 577
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided March 19, 2013·No. No. 2012-C-2056·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

VICTORY, J.*

|,We granted the taxpayer’s writ application to clarify the proper procedure and time period for appeals when the tax collector has failed to act on a refund claim for overpayment of taxes after one year, and to determine whether the taxpayer was required to use the payment under protest procedure in this case in order to obtain a refund. After reviewing the record and the applicable law, we reverse the judgments of the lower courts dismissing the tax refund claims, and remand the case to the district court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On December 16, 2003, Gaylord Container Corporation, through their agent DuC-[199] harme, McMillen & Associates, Inc. (“DMA”), sent a letter to the Washington Parish Sheriffs Office, Sales and Use Tax Department (the “Collector”), requesting a refund of $613,642.97 in use taxes allegedly inadvertently paid from January 1, |22000 through November 30, 2003, on purchases of caustic soda, a sodium-based raw material used in the papermaking process (the “first refund request”).1 In the letter, DMA explained that caustic soda was a processing chemical used in the production of a product for resale, which is excluded from local and state taxation under the raw materials exclusion.2 On March 25, 2004, an attorney for the Collector wrote a letter to DMA stating only “[a]t this time, we must respectfully decline your request for the refund of sales taxes outlined in your correspondence.” No reasons for the refund denial were given.

On December 13, 2004, DMA sent the Collector a refund request (the “second refund request”), this time for $504,715.21 in use taxes paid by Gaylord from January 1, 2001 through November 30, 2003, on purchases of two raw materials used in the papermaking process, caustic soda and sodium hydrosulfide (“NASH”). DMA explained how these chemicals were beneficial to the papermaking process and necessary to the final product, thereby qualifying them for the raw material exclusion. [ .¡Although this time period was fully encompassed by the time period in the first refund request, this refund request expanded on the reasoning of the first refund request and included NASH in addition to caustic soda. Further, DMA stated:

The caustic and NASH exemption claimed herein resembles the claims filed with both The Department of Revenue and Washington Parish last year. We are pursuing caustic through the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals and will do so with NASH if necessary. Our remedy, should the refund is [sic] denied [200] by Washington Parish, is to pursue legal action. This can be a time consuming and costly measure, therefore, DMA would not oppose Washington Parish wait until a ruling-is issued by The State of Louisiana for this very issue.

The Collector did not respond to this refund request.

On December 28, 2006, DMA sent the Collector a refund request (the “third refund request”), this time for $167,400.53 in use taxes paid by Gaylord from December 1, 2003 through December 31, 2004, on raw materials. Purportedly attached was a Power of Attorney and “Schedule of exempt invoices,” listing the raw materials subject to the tax exclusion, but those documents do not appear in the record. The letter explained that “[t]his issue, for prior periods, has been denied by the Louisiana Department of Revenue,” and was “currently pending with the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals.” The Collector did not respond to this request.

On October 24, 2008, DMA sent the Collector a refund request (the “fourth refund request”), for $822,081.46 in use taxes paid by TIN, Inc. (“TIN”)3 from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2007, on raw materials. Attached was a Power of Attorney authorizing DMA to act for TIN for sales and use taxes paid from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2007, and a “Schedule of exempt invoices.” DMA instructed the Collector that “[t]his issue, for prior periods, has been approved by the Louisiana Department of Revenue.” On February 27, 2009, the Collector |4denied this refund request, stating “we have examined the refund claim and by this means respectfully advise you that the claim must be denied in its entirety.” On March 26, 2009, TIN formally requested a redetermination hearing with the Collector seeking the grounds for its disallowance and to have the disallowance reversed. A hearing was held on May 5, 2009 and the Collector declined to reconsider his denial of the fourth refund request. There is no transcript of this hearing in the record.

On May 27, 2009, TIN filed the instant “Petition for Review of Refund Claim Denial,” claiming entitlement to a refund of the use taxes paid from January 1, 2001 through November 30, 2003, December 1, 2003 through December 31, 2004, and January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2007, which were the subject of the second, third, and fourth refund requests. After the district court granted TIN leave to amend its petition so as to avoid having its claims dismissed, TIN filed a First Amended and Supplemental Petition for Review of Refund Claim Denial on December 16, 2009. In its amended petition, TIN fully specified the grounds under which it sought a refund for overpayment of the use taxes which were subject to the second, third and fourth refund requests. No claim was made relative to the taxes referred to in the first refund request. The Collector filed exceptions of no right of action, no cause of action, prescription and peremption, as well as a plea of estop-pel.

The district court found that the refund claims relative to the second and third refund requests were prescribed and per-empted pursuant to La. R.S. 47:1625 and La. R.S. 47:337.81, which provide the time periods under which the tax payer must take some action after the tax collector has denied his claim. La. R.S. 47:1625 applies to tax periods prior to the enactment of the Uniform Local Sales Tax Code [201] (“ULSTC”) in 2003, which in this case encompassed the time period of the second refund request after July 1, 2003. Prior to the enactment of the ULSTC, La. R.S-. 47:337.1, et seq., |5which sought to promote uniformity in the administration of the sale and use taxes imposed by local taxing jurisdictions, individual ordinances in each parish/municipality governed sales tax collection and refunds. Pursuant to a Washington Parish local ordinance, La. R.S. 47:1625 was adopted and thus applies to the tax periods from January 1, 2001 through July 1, 2003, after which La. R.S. 47:337.81 applied. With respect to over-payments and refunds, La. R.S. 47:337.81 is modeled after and is virtually identical to La. R.S. 47:1625. La. R.S. 47:1625 provides in pertinent part:

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TIN, Inc. v. Washington Parish Sheriff's Office, 112 So. 3d 197, 2013 WL 1115330, 2013 La. LEXIS 577 (La. 2013).

112 So. 3d 197 (TIN, Inc. v. Washington Parish Sheriff's Office) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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