Start a business in Louisiana

Forming the company is the easy part. What catches people out in Louisiana is that registering with the state does not register you with your parish, and the parish is where most of the tax actually lives.

Checked 27 August 2026

This is the whole sequence, in the order it has to happen, with what each step costs and which office you are dealing with.

A deadline. Under Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session, from 1 October 2026 the Secretary of State filing rises from $100 to $125 and the annual report from $30 to $35.

The sequence

1. Pick the entity and check the name is free. Most small Louisiana businesses form an LLC. A sole proprietorship needs no filing at all, but gives you no liability separation. Search the Secretary of State's commercial database before you settle on a name. Free to search.
2. File the articles of organization. Online with the Secretary of State. This creates the company and gives you a charter number. $100 now, $125 from 1 October 2026.
3. Get an EIN from the IRS. The federal tax number, needed to open a business bank account and run payroll. Issued immediately online, free, and anyone charging you for it is selling you nothing.
4. Register with the Louisiana Department of Revenue. If you sell goods or taxable services you register for state sales tax here. This also covers state withholding if you will have employees. Free.
5. Register with your parish sales tax collector, separately. This is the step people miss. Louisiana collects the local portion locally, so registering with the state does not register you with your parish, and the local portion is usually larger than the state's 5 percent. Free, and not optional. Find your rate in the rate tables.
6. Buy an occupational license, if your parish or town levies one. A separate annual tax on gross receipts, nothing to do with sales tax. 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. From $50 a year for a small retailer.
7. Insurance, and workers compensation if you hire. Louisiana requires workers compensation cover once you have employees, with no minimum headcount exemption for most trades. The certificate is often what unlocks the first contract.
8. Check whether your trade needs a state license. Contractors above the threshold, food service, alcohol, cosmetology, real estate and dozens of other trades are licensed by their own board. Doing the work without it is the expensive mistake.

What it actually costs

A plain LLC with no trade licence, formed today:

• Articles of organization, Secretary of State: $100
• EIN, IRS: $0
• State tax registration, Department of Revenue: $0
• Parish tax registration, parish collector: $0
• Occupational license for a small retailer, parish or town: from $50
• Annual report every year after, Secretary of State: $30
• The same filing from 1 October 2026: $125 and $35

So the floor is around $150 in the first year for a small retailer in a parish that levies a licence, and $100 where none is levied. Anything quoted well above that is a service fee, not a government fee.

The occupational license, explained properly

It is an annual tax on gross receipts, set in state law at R.S. 47:354 to 47:357, so the schedules are the same statewide even though whether it is levied is a local decision. A retailer pays $50 under $50,000 of gross sales, $120 at $150,000, $500 at $500,000, climbing to $6,200 above $5.5 million. Wholesalers, service businesses, lenders and commission agents each have their own table.

It is due 1 January and delinquent from 1 March. Late costs 5 percent per 30 days up to 25 percent, plus interest. The schedule is a statutory maximum and a few jurisdictions adopt less, so confirm with the collector before you pay.

The four things people get wrong

• Thinking state registration covers the parish. It does not. Two registrations, two offices, two returns.
• Charging your own parish rate on out of parish work. Louisiana sales tax follows the job site. Work performed in another parish is charged and remitted at that parish's rate, to that parish's collector.
• Missing the occupational license entirely. It is invisible until a notice arrives, because nothing in the state formation process mentions it.
• Letting the annual report lapse. $30 a year keeps the company in good standing, and falling out of it is what stops a loan or a contract months later.

Where to go next

• Look up your exact rate
• Paying for it
• Growing once you are open

Sources

Filing fees and the 1 October 2026 increase: Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session, Louisiana Secretary of State. Occupational license schedules and deadlines: R.S. 47:341 to 47:357 and the Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators directory. Fees change and trades differ, so confirm with the office named before you file or pay.