Louisiana Interest and Penalties

 In general, you will be charged interest and penalties if you do not pay all amounts due on or before the due date.

1. A 2021 calendar year return is due on or before May 15, 2022.

2. Returns for fiscal years are due on or before the 15th day of the fifth month after the close of the taxable year.

3. If the due date falls on a weekend or legal state holiday, the return is due the next business day.

Interest – If your income tax is not paid by the due date, you will be charged interest on the unpaid tax until the balance is paid in full. The interest rate is variable and the 2020 interest rate is posted on LDR’s website on Form R-1111, Interest Rate Schedule - Collected on Unpaid Taxes. To compute the DAILY INTEREST RATE, multiply the 2020 monthly interest rate by 12 then divide the result by 365 and carry out to seven places to the right of the decimal. Example: Assume the 2022 monthly interest rate is 0.5833 percent, multiply 0.00583 by 12 then divide the result by 365 to get the daily interest rate of 0.0001917

Delinquent Filing Penalty – A delinquent filing penalty will be charged for failure to file a return on or before your due date, or your approved extension date. The penalty is five percent of the tax for each 30 days or fraction thereof during which the failure to file continues. The maximum delinquent filing penalty that can be imposed is 25 percent of the tax due.

Delinquent Payment Penalty – If you fail to pay the tax due by the due date, a delinquent payment penalty of 0.5 percent of the tax not paid by the due date will accrue for each 30 days, or fraction thereof, during which the failure to pay continues. This penalty cannot exceed 25 percent of the tax due. Use the worksheet below to calculate that penalty.

Underpayment Penalty – Louisiana imposes an underpayment penalty on an individual’s failure to sufficiently pay income tax throughout the year by withholding or declaration payments. In order to determine if an underpayment penalty is due and to compute the amount of the underpayment penalty, you must complete Form R-210R, Underpayment of Individual Income Tax Penalty Computation, and attach the completed form to your return. See Revenue Information Bulletin 04-004 for the definition of farmer for purposes of applying underpayment penalty.