Register your business in Louisiana

LLCs and corporations file with the Commercial Division¹ of the Louisiana Secretary of State². A sole proprietorship has no formation filing on the fee schedule. Partnerships do have one. The filing creates the company. Licenses and permits is the step that covers permission to do the work.

What’s different in Louisiana

• The fee schedule changed on October 1, 2026, under Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Legislative Session. An LLC’s articles are $125. A business corporation’s articles are $95. A foreign LLC application is $185. A foreign corporation’s certificate of authority is $155¹.
• The annual report follows your anniversary, not a shared calendar date. It is $35 for an LLC or a business corporation. A nonprofit’s report is $10¹.
• An LLC is revoked after three consecutive years of missed annual reports, not after one miss. Notice comes first. The name is then held for three years so another business cannot take it as an LLC, corporate, or trade name⁷.
• A DBA and a trade name are different filings. A DBA is not filed with the Secretary of State. A DBA is filed with the clerk of court in the parish. A trade name with the Secretary of State is $95¹. Trade names conflict with limited liability companies and corporations³.
• The registered agent can be a person or a company. An LLC or corporation authorized to transact business in Louisiana can serve if it meets the conditions in step 4.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Pick an entity compares them. The Secretary of State will not choose for you. The filings FAQ points you to free business counseling from SCORE³.
2. Check the name on the business filings search. An LLC name must include L.L.C., L.C., or Limited Liability Company. A corporation name must include Inc., Corp., Ltd., Co., Incorporated, Corporation, Limited, or Company. A corporation cannot use bank, banker, banking, savings, safe deposit, trust, trustee, building and loan, homestead, casualty, redevelopment corporation, electric cooperative, or credit union unless the corporation is a bank holding company. A name with a form of bank or trust needs a waiver from the Office of Financial Institutions. A corporation cannot use the word insurance except for an independent insurance agency or brokerage. An LLC cannot be formed to do banking or insurance underwriting, or to operate a homestead or building and loan association². A revoked name is not available until 3 years after the revocation date³. Search the web and the federal trademark database too. The office calls a database search preliminary.
3. Reserve the name only if you are not ready to file. It is $25 and lasts 120 days². File it with the Commercial Division.
4. Choose a registered agent. For an LLC, the agent is a Louisiana citizen who lives in the state, a partnership or professional law corporation authorized to practice law here, or a corporation or LLC authorized to transact business here whose articles let it act as an agent for service of process and that has filed the names of at least two people at its Louisiana address who can accept process¹¹. For a corporation, it is an individual who lives in Louisiana, or a corporation or other eligible entity that keeps an office here, is authorized by its own documents to act as an agent for service of process, and has filed the names of at least two people at its Louisiana address who can accept process⁹. The office is a municipal address, not a post office box only⁶. A later change of agent for an LLC is $30¹.
5. File the formation document. geauxBIZ reaches the Secretary of State, the Department of Revenue, and Louisiana Works, in one registration⁵. The Commercial Division also takes mail, express mail, fax, and walk-in filings, and it files online for original filings, several amendments, and annual reports. At the counter, priority service while you wait is $60, or $35² for 24-hour processing. Both are on top of the filing fee.
6. Put the anniversary on a calendar. The first annual report is due the following year, on the anniversary, not in a few weeks. Details are below and on Stay compliant.

By structure

LLC

File Articles of Organization, form 365, for $125¹. The articles cannot be filed unless the initial report is filed with them. The form includes a notary acknowledgment, with the notary's name and number typed or printed. It contains only the minimum the law requires. The form says to get legal and tax advice before you add the rest. What you receive is a certificate of organization. If the articles are filed within five working days after acknowledgment, excluding legal holidays, existence begins as of that acknowledgment⁴.

A supplemental initial report, filed later, is form 366 at $30. The $125¹ formation fee already covers the initial report filed with the articles.

The annual report is $35¹, due on or before the anniversary of the day the company was organized. It is signed by a manager if managers run the company, or by a member if the members do. The addresses on it are a municipal address, not a post office box only⁶.

The secretary of state revokes the articles after three consecutive years of missed annual reports. The statute requires at least thirty days' written notice to the last registered agent before the revocation. The filings FAQ says to file the report within 30 days after the notice, or 60 days if the company is a foreign corporation or LLC³. Reinstatement is within three years of the revocation, with an application, the current annual report, and the reinstatement fee. The fee schedule does not list an LLC reinstatement fee.* Ask the Commercial Division what it is before you file. After revocation, the name is held for three years so another business cannot take it as an LLC, corporate, or trade name⁷.

Corporation

File Articles of Incorporation, form 399, for $95¹. The name must include Inc., Corp., Ltd., Co., Incorporated, Corporation, Limited, or Company. A business corporation cannot use bank, banker, banking, savings, safe deposit, trust, trustee, building and loan, homestead, casualty, redevelopment corporation, electric cooperative, or credit union unless the corporation is a bank holding company. It cannot use the word insurance except for an independent insurance agency or brokerage².

The annual report is $35¹, due on or before the anniversary of the day the corporation was incorporated¹². A dissolved corporation keeps filing until its existence is terminated. S corporation status is a federal election on Form 2553¹³. Louisiana’s treatment of that election is on Get your tax IDs. This page does not pick the election.

Nonprofit

File articles on form 395 for $95. The name cannot contain bank, banking, banker, savings, trust, deposit, insurance, mutual, assurance, indemnity, casualty, fiduciary, homestead, building and loan, surety, security, guarantee, cooperative, state, parish, redevelopment corporation, electric cooperative, or credit union². The annual report is $10¹. Past formation, the rest of this series is written for for-profit businesses.

Partnership

The fee schedule lists a Louisiana partnership registration at $125. A limited liability partnership registration is form 975 at $155. A foreign partnership registration is $185¹. Use the form that matches the kind of partnership you have.

Sole proprietorship

No formation filing. You still register for the taxes that apply on Get your tax IDs, and you still check local licenses. A name other than your own is the trade name or the parish DBA below.

Business names

A DBA is not filed with the Secretary of State. A DBA is filed with the clerk of court in the parish³. Ask that clerk what the parish charges. The Secretary of State’s schedule does not print a DBA fee.

A trade name, trademark, or service mark registered with the Secretary of State is form 309 at $95¹. Trade names conflict with limited liability companies and corporations³. The applicant can be a person, a corporation, an LLC, or a partnership. That registration is not a substitute for the federal trademark search.

Formed in another state

A foreign LLC files an Application of Foreign Limited Liability Company (form 972) for $185. A foreign corporation files an Application of Foreign Corporation for Certificate of Authority (form 326) for $155. Include a certificate of good standing or existence from your home state. It must be less than 90 days old³. You still need a Louisiana registered agent. A foreign LLC’s annual report is due on or before the anniversary of the day it qualified in Louisiana⁸, and the fee is $35¹. If you are not sure the work counts as transacting business, check with a legal professional. Forming in another state covers the tradeoffs.

What you get back

You receive a certificate of organization⁴ for an LLC, and a filing you can use for your EIN and your bank. geauxBIZ can also open the state tax account and the unemployment account. Those are separate steps on Get your tax IDs. If an LLC is revoked, reinstatement is within three years of the revocation, with an application, the current annual report, and the reinstatement fee, and its name is held for three years so another business cannot take it as an LLC, corporate, or trade name⁷.