HR 389

ENROLLED
2026 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 389
BY REPRESENTATIVE WYBLE
  A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Department of Revenue to study the benefit that a dealer receives
       from vendor's compensation for state and local sales and use taxes and excise taxes
       as compared to the costs a dealer incurs for paying interchange fees assessed on the
       tax portion of a sale and to report findings of this study to the House Committee on
       Ways and Means no later than January 31, 2027.
       WHEREAS, in recognition of the public function that dealers perform when they
collect and remit sales and use taxes, R.S. 47:306(A)(3)(a) and (b) authorizes a dealer to
retain one and five hundredths percent of the state or local sales and use tax due for
accounting for and timely and accurately remitting the tax, capped at seven hundred and fifty
dollars a month, more commonly known as "vendor's compensation"; and
       WHEREAS, dealers who collect and remit certain excise taxes, including the tobacco
tax (R.S. 47:851(B)(4)(b)), the tax on beverages of low alcoholic content (R.S. 26:345), the
gasoline and diesel fuel taxes (R.S. 47:818.22(A)), the special fuels tax (R.S.
47:818.119(A)), the hazardous waste disposal tax (R.S. 47:823(E)), and the oil spill
contingency fee (R.S. 30:2485(B)), may also receive compensation for accounting for and
timely and accurately remitting those excises taxes; and
       WHEREAS, consumers have increasingly begun to rely on payment cards, such as
credit cards, debit cards, and check cards, for the purchase of goods and services; and
       WHEREAS, when a consumer uses a payment card, the dealer typically incurs an
interchange fee from the payment card provider, which is calculated as a percentage of the
amount charged to the customer; and
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HR NO. 389  ENROLLED
       WHEREAS, calculating the interchange fees typically includes the tax portion of a
sale, resulting in dealers paying an interchange fee not only on the price of the goods or
services being sold, but also on the taxes that dealers collect on behalf of the state and its
political subdivisions; and
       WHEREAS, accurate estimates of the costs dealers incur when paying interchange
fees assessed on the tax portion of a sale as well as a comparison of those costs to the
amount of vendor's compensation that dealers may retain for accounting for and timely and
accurately remitting state and local sales and use taxes and excise taxes are needed.
       THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Department of Revenue to study
the benefit that a dealer receives from vendor's compensation for state and local sales and
use taxes and excise taxes as compared to the costs a dealer incurs for paying interchange
fees assessed on the tax portion of a sale and to report findings of this study to the House
Committee on Ways and Means no later than January 31, 2027.
       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report shall include a short history of
vendor's compensation, including why it was created and how it has changed, the best
available estimate of the amount of state and local sales and use taxes and excise taxes
collected in transactions using payment cards, the best available estimate of interchange fees
attributable to taxes collected and remitted by dealers, the amount of vendor's compensation
dealers receive in accordance with present law over the same period of time, and a
comparison of those amounts, including the extent to which vendor's compensation offsets
costs attributable to interchange fees.
       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Department of Revenue.
  SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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