Provides relative to authorized changes of address by the Department of Revenue. (gov sig) (EG NO IMPACT SG EX See Note)

Senate Bill 128 amends seven sections of Title 47 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes governing the Department of Revenue's authority to send notices to taxpayers. The bill modifies language in R.S. 47 sections 818.52(D), 1516.1(B), 1532(A), 1562(A), 1565(A), 1566(B), and 1602(D)(2) by removing the requirement that private entities provide address information to the Department of Revenue free of charge. Under current law, the Department may obtain taxpayer addresses from private entities only if those entities provide the addresses at no cost, or from federal, state, or local government entities including the United States Postal Service and USPS certified software. The bill eliminates the free-of-charge restriction while maintaining the Department's authority to use addresses from private entities alongside government sources. The amendment applies to six categories of Department notices: fuel use violation tickets, in-state debt collection notices, notices of tax determination and amounts due, notices of assessment and appeal rights, notices when tax is in jeopardy, and notices of penalties for untimely returns or nonpayment and underpayment of taxes.

The practical effect of this legislation is to expand the Department of Revenue's options for locating taxpayers to deliver legally required notices. Currently, the Department must limit private entity address sources to those willing to work without compensation, which may restrict the pool of address databases available. Removing this constraint allows the Department to contract with commercial address verification services, data brokers, and other private entities that charge fees for access to their records. Taxpayers will be affected indirectly if the Department uses paid address services to locate them for notification purposes, potentially improving the Department's ability to ensure notices reach their intended recipients. The change may also increase costs to the Department if it chooses to use paid services, though the bill does not specify budgetary implications or require the use of such services.

This amendment operates within the existing statutory framework governing Louisiana tax administration and collection procedures. The statutes being modified establish the Department's notice requirements across multiple tax and penalty contexts, and they already contemplated use of non-government address sources as an alternative to relying solely on addresses from the taxpayer's last filed report. The modification preserves the existing hierarchy of address sources, maintaining the taxpayer's last known address and government entities as options while expanding the private entity category. The change does not alter the notice methods required, the timeframes for sending notices, or the substantive rights of taxpayers to appeal or contest assessments. The effective date provision ties implementation to gubernatorial action consistent with Article III, Section 18 of the Louisiana Constitution.