Tax Amnesty Temporarily Shut Down After Clerical Error

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's tax amnesty program is on hold until December because an incorrect batch of letters went out advertising the program.

The Department of Revenue announced Tuesday that the program was suspended until Dec. 1 and will run until Dec. 31.

Revenue Secretary Tim Barfield says some letters sent to taxpayers notifying them about their eligibility for the program went to an old list of delinquent taxpayers. People who no longer owe taxes received amnesty letters, while others eligible for the program didn't get notified.

Barfield says the two-week delay of the program that had started Monday allows time for corrected letters to be mailed.

The delay isn't expected to lessen tax collections, but Barfield says it will cost up to $200,000 to send new letters and rework the program dates.