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Sales-tax collector flags $8 million filing that produced $1.4 million remittance, urges audits
Summary
St. Charles Parish sales-tax collector reported a major discrepancy between reported taxable activity and actual collections for one large project and recommended audits and continued monitoring; officials cautioned many construction purchases may be taxed elsewhere.
Paul Johnson, the parish’s sales-tax collector, told the Budget Review Committee that parishwide sales-tax collections generally match expectations but highlighted a notable discrepancy on a single large project: "based on what they filed in their filings, we should have gotten $8,000,000 in taxes... we only got 1.4." She said large equipment and material purchases often occur early in a project and may be taxed where title transfers, reducing the parish’s apparent receipts.
Johnson said the office analyzes collections year-to-date by NAICS categories and that about 32% of sales tax comes from retailers while 68% comes from business and industry. She described open litigation tied to bad-debt and interpretation disputes and said the parish pursues audits when filings and permits indicate uncollected amounts. "We do follow-up with an audit when people file a permit or have a project," she said, noting audits are subject to statute-of-limitations windows.
Committee members pressed for examples and Johnson described shipments through the Port of New Orleans and intra-state fabrication as common reasons taxable sales may be recorded in a different parish. The committee agreed to monitor the flagged account and consider additional follow-up audits and legal action if warranted.
