By now, businesses in the French Quarter should have been mailed a flyer by the City of New Orleans pertaining to the sales tax increase of 0.2495% on taxable items sold or delivered into the French Quarter Economic Development District effective on January 1, 2016.
If you are located within or deliver into the French Quarter, you will need to file the new Form 8071, at the new applicable tax rates:
- general sales tax formally at 5% will, now be 5.2495%
- food for further consumption and prescribed medications (Column B on the sales tax form) formally at 4.5% will now be 4.7495%
Don’t forget:
- To make the appropriate rate changes to your cashiering system from 5% to 5.2495% and 4.5% to 4.7495%. (If your cashiering system only goes to the third decimal point, you will need to round up to 10%. Any additional tax collected will still need to be reported to the City of New Orleans.)
- The taxes should be reported in the following way: All gross sales and purchases for use taxed at 5% and 4.5% should be reported in Section s, and only taxable sales and purchases for use, taxed at 0.2495% made in the French Quarter Economic Development District should be reported in Section F.
- The first payment is due by February 20, 2016. (The City encourages you to file online at nola.gov, parishefile.com, or salestaxonline.com as 8071 forms are not being accepted by mail. Please, allow 48 hours for your profile to sync with the bank before filing.)
For information on what this tax will be used for, visit: http://www.nola.gov/fqedd/
If you have any questions contact the City of New Orleans Department of Finance at 504-658-1673 or 504-658-1623.