§ 47:635 — Reports and payment of taxes by severers

A. The taxes levied by this Part are due and payable monthly. Tax payments and reports are due as follows:
(1) Timber and minerals other than oil or gas. Every person severing any natural resources, other than oil or gas, from the soil or water of the state shall, on or before the last day of the month following the month to which the tax is applicable, submit to the Department of Revenue a statement on forms approved by the department of the business conducted by the severer during the preceding month, showing the kind of natural resources and the gross quantity of each so severed or produced, the names of the owners at the time of severance, the portion owned by each, and any other reasonable and necessary information that the secretary may require for the proper enforcement of the provisions of this Part. The monthly reports shall also include the location of each natural resource and the place or places where produced or severed from the soil or water and contain, or be verified by a written declaration that the report is made under the penalties imposed for perjury.
(2) Oil or gas. Every person severing oil or gas from the soil or water of the state shall on or before the twenty-fifth day of the second month following the month to which the tax is applicable, submit to the Department of Revenue a statement on forms approved by the department, of the business conducted by the severer during the month, showing the gross quantity of oil or gas severed or produced, the names of the owners at the time of severance, the portion owned by each, and any other reasonable and necessary information pertaining thereto that the secretary may require for the proper enforcement of the provisions of this Part. The reports shall also include the location of and the place or places where the oil or gas was produced or severed from the soil or water and contain, or be verified by a written declaration that it is made under the penalties imposed for perjury.
(3) One-time payment. Every person severing oil or gas from the soil or water of the state on or before January 1, 2005, shall remit a one-time payment in an amount equal to the lesser of the average monthly payment due from the severer for the period from July 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005, or the average monthly payment for the period from January 1, 2005, through June 30, 2005. The one-time payment shall be due on or before November 25, 2005. Natural gas severance tax filers whose monthly payments average less than one hundred thousand dollars and who were previously required to file their statements on or before the fifteenth day of the second month following the month to which the tax was applicable are not required to make this one-time payment. The one-time payment required by this Paragraph shall be borne by the parties responsible for remitting severance taxes to the state and not by the responsible parties' royalty and overriding royalty owners.
(a) A severer may apply to the secretary of the Department of Revenue for a reduction in the one-time payment amount if the average monthly remittance computed under this Paragraph is not reflective of the current volumes of production reported by the severer.
(i) The application to remit a lesser amount shall be filed with the department on or before October 1, 2005.
(ii) The decision of the secretary on the application shall be final, and of no right of appeal to any court may be taken from the decision.
(b) If the one-time payment is not paid on or before November 25, 2005, the tax will be delinquent and subject to interest and penalties as provided by R.S. 47:1601 and 1602.
(c) Credit for one-time payment on final returns. If the severer is ceasing operations in the state, the one-time payment amount shall be credited against the amount of tax due on the severer's final return. If the amount due on the final return is less than the amount of the one-time payment, the balance of the payment shall be refunded to the severer, and interest shall begin to accrue from the filing date of the final return until the date that the refund is issued.
(d) Credit for one-time payment. Severers that made the one-time payment required by this Paragraph may take credit for the payment by applying twenty-five percent of the one-time payment amount to severance tax liabilities for each of the following periods:
(i) The October 2006 return that is due December 25, 2006.
(ii) The April 2007 return that is due June 25, 2007.
(iii) The October 2007 return that is due December 25, 2007.
(iv) The April 2008 return that is due June 25, 2008.
B. Except as otherwise provided in this Part, the making of the reports, and the payment of the taxes, shall be by those actually engaged in the operation of severing whether it be the owner of the soil, or other person severing from the soil of another, or the owner of any such natural resources severing from the soil of another.
C. The reporting taxpayer shall collect or withhold out of the value of the products severed, the proportionate parts of the total tax due by the respective owners of the natural resources at the time of severance.
D. The secretary may require any person engaged in severing natural products from the soil or water to furnish any additional information necessary for the purpose of computing the amount of tax due under this Part.
NOTE: See Acts 1989 2nd E.S., No. 15, §3.

Legislative History

Amended by Acts 1950, No. 449, §1; Acts 1958, Ex.Sess., No. 2, §3; Acts 1961, No. 69, §1; Acts 1983, No. 604, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984; Acts 1984, No. 880, §1, eff. Sept. 1, 1984; Acts 1988, No. 47, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1989; Acts 1989, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 15, §1; Acts 1997, No. 658, §2; Acts 2001, No. 1032, §15; Acts 2005, No. 446, §1, eff. for tax periods beginning on or after Oct. 1, 2005; Acts 2006, 1 st Ex. Sess., No. 26, §1, eff. Feb. 23, 2006.