A.  This Section shall be known as the Annual Louisiana Sales Tax Holidays Act.

B.(1)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, the sales tax levied by the state of Louisiana and its political subdivisions whose boundaries are coterminous with those of the state shall not apply to the first two thousand five hundred dollars of the sales price or cost price of any consumer purchases of tangible personal property that occur on the first consecutive Friday and Saturday of August each year.

(2)  For purposes of this Section,”consumer purchases” shall mean purchases of items of tangible personal property other than vehicles subject to license and title. Consumer purchases shall not include the purchase of meals furnished for consumption on the premises where purchased, including to-go orders.

C.  This provision will apply if and only if during the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section, one of the following occurs:

(1)  Title to or possession of an item of tangible personal property is transferred from a selling dealer to a purchaser.

(2)  A customer selects an eligible item from the selling dealer’s inventory for layaway that is physically set aside in the selling dealer’s inventory for future delivery to that customer.

(3)  The customer makes final payment and withdraws an item from layaway that might have been placed before the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section.

(4)  The customer orders and pays for an eligible item and the selling dealer accepts the order for immediate shipment, even if delivery is made after the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section, provided that the customer has not requested delayed shipment.

D.  Eligible items that customers purchase during the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section with “rain checks” will qualify for exemption, regardless of when the “rain checks” were issued.  However, issuance of “rain checks” during the exemption period will not qualify items for exemption if the otherwise eligible items are actually purchased after the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section.

E.(1)  When a customer purchases an eligible item during the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section and exchanges the item without additional cash consideration after such time period for an essentially identical item of different size, color, or other feature, no additional tax is due.

(2)  When a customer after the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section, returns an eligible item that was purchased during such time period and receives credit on the purchase of a different item, the appropriate sales tax is due on the purchase of the new item.

F.  Articles that are normally sold as a unit must continue to be sold in that manner and cannot be priced separately in order to bring the individual items below the two thousand five hundred dollar eligibility threshold.  Items that are advertised as “buy one, get one free” or “buy one, get one at a reduced price” cannot be averaged in order for both items to fall under the two thousand five hundred dollar eligibility threshold.

G.  For a sixty-day period after the time period provided for in Paragraph (B)(1) of this Section, when a customer returns an item that would qualify for an exemption, no credit or refunds of sales tax shall be given unless the customer provides a receipt or invoice that shows that the state sales tax was paid, or the retailer has sufficient documentation that shows that the tax was paid on the specific item.  This sixty-day period is not intended to change a dealer’s policy concerning the time period during which returns will be accepted.

Acts 2005, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 9, §1, eff. Nov. 28, 2005; Acts 2007, No. 244, §1, eff. July 6, 2007.