For every one of Louisiana's 64 parishes
Doing business in Louisiana. Free help, any hour.
No appointment and no office hours. Ask Miles, Bizer's AI business agent, and get an answer now. Underneath these pages the parish rules are written down, dated, and free to read.
Common questions
- How do I register an LLC in Louisiana?
- What sales tax do I charge in my parish?
- Which Louisiana grants might fit my business?
- What does an occupational license cost?
- Start a business — the whole sequence, in order
- Grow a business — hire, expand, win work
Forming an LLC gets $25 more expensive on 1 October 2026
Under Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session the Secretary of State filing rises from $100 to $125, and the annual report from $30 to $35. Same filing, more money. Read the sequence.
How help usually works: Book a consultant
- Request an appointment, then wait for an opening
- An hour at a time, during business hours
- Worksheets and handouts you fill in yourself
- General advice, then you go and do the work
How this works: Ask Miles
- An answer the moment you ask, at any hour
- On your phone, in plain language, no account needed to start
- Every parish rate written down, dated, and free to look up
- Signed in, Miles remembers your business and does the work with you
Start it. Grow it. Look it up.
Start a business
From idea to registered and open, in the order Louisiana actually makes you do it.
- Pick the entity and check the name is free
- File the articles with the Secretary of State
- Get an EIN from the IRS, free and in minutes
- Register with your parish collector, separately
Grow a business
Already open. What changes when you hire, cross a parish line, or bid for work.
- Your first employee, and the four registrations it triggers
- Charging the right rate on out of parish work
- Hudson, SEBD and SAM.gov, for contract work
- Paying for the growth
Sales tax by parish
The number most people came here for, by parish and by town, with the column you file it under.
- Every jurisdiction, with its return column
- State and local split out, not just the total
- The date each rate was checked
- The rate follows the job site, not your office
Rates on file for 63 of Louisiana's 64 parishes
452 taxing jurisdictions, each with the column you file it under, from 8.00 to 12.99 percent. Checked 27 August 2026. Cameron is not on file yet.
The parishes with the most jurisdictions to keep straight: Lafayette (21), St. Landry (20), East Baton Rouge (18), Natchitoches (18), Caddo (17), Calcasieu (15), Livingston (15), Webster (15), Ouachita (14), Ascension (13), Rapides (13), St. Martin (13). See every parish.
Louisiana money you might be leaving on the table
The state's programs, and which ones a small firm can actually use.
- LED programs and the state's SSBCI money (State capital) — Louisiana Economic Development runs capital and credit programs for small firms. What is open, what closed in 2025, and what replaced it.
- Hudson Initiative and the Veteran Initiative (Certifications) — The state's small and veteran owned certifications. Free to apply, and they matter on state work and on the state funded parts of big projects.
- Selling to the state and the feds (Contracts) — SAM.gov, state vendor registration, LaPAC, and the one page capability statement buyers ask for by name.
Guides and news
Written to be acted on, and free to anyone.
- SpaceX is building a spaceport at Pecan Island (Starbase Louisiana) — What a build like it actually buys, and the number that matters.
- Doing business in Pecan Island (Parish guide) — Rules, sales tax, contracting, and what the area is going to need.
- Bizer in Louisiana: help that does the work (Getting started) — What this is, what Miles can actually do, and what it costs.
Louisiana's business rules, without the appointment
No office hours, no cost, no account needed to ask.
Rather work through it with a person?
Find a Bizer advisor near you. The first conversation is free.
Checked 29 August 2026
Sales tax is collected locally, and that is what catches people out
Louisiana does not run one statewide rate. The state takes 5.00 percent, and each parish adds its own, split again across the towns inside it. Three consequences follow, and they are the same in every parish:
- The rate follows the job, not your office. Work performed in an unincorporated part of a parish is taxed at the parish rate. Work inside a town is taxed at that town's rate.
- You register twice. The state portion with the Department of Revenue, the local portion with the parish collector. Registering with the state does not register you locally.
- Verify the exact address. Rates inside one parish can differ by several points.
Charging one flat rate across parish and town lines is among the most common findings in a Louisiana contractor audit.
The occupational license nobody mentions
It is a separate annual tax on gross receipts, unrelated to sales tax, and nothing in the state formation process brings it up. 40 of Louisiana's 64 parishes levy it outside their towns, most towns levy their own inside the town line, and nine parishes levy none at all. It starts around $50 a year for a small retailer, is due 1 January, and is delinquent from 1 March.
That is the main reason a plain LLC costs about $150 in its first year rather than the $100 filing fee people budget for. The start a business guide has the full schedule.
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