Stay compliant in Louisiana

Louisiana’s recurring dates are an annual report on your own anniversary, income tax in May for calendar-year filers, sales tax on the 20th where you collect it, and employer accounts if you have people on the payroll. The revocation notice goes to your registered agent, so keep that address current.

What’s different in Louisiana

• The company filing is every year, on the anniversary, not on a shared due date. An LLC and a corporation do not file on the same day unless they were formed on the same day.
• One missed report does not revoke an LLC, but it affects good standing. An LLC that is delinquent on its annual report may not engage in commercial business operations with Louisiana state agencies while not in good standing. Revocation follows three consecutive years of missed annual reports and notice. The name is then held for three years so another business cannot take it as an LLC, corporate, or trade name².
• There is no state income-tax holiday from the flat rates. Individuals are at 3%¹⁴. C corporations are at 5.5%⁶.
• Workers’ compensation starts with one employee. Unemployment tax is the employer’s. No state minimum wage law¹².

Do this

1. File the annual report by the anniversary. For an LLC, the fee is $35 and the report is due on or before the anniversary of the day the company was organized¹. For a business corporation, the fee is $35 and the report is due on or before the anniversary of the day the corporation was incorporated³. A nonprofit pays $10⁴. File it in geauxBIZ. The commercial search will also offer a printable form when the report is due, or up to four weeks before. You file even if nothing changed.
2. If a revocation notice arrives, use the deadline on the notice. The statute revokes an LLC after three consecutive years of missed annual reports and 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 LLC⁵. Missing that window revokes the charter, and reinstatement costs more than the report. Reinstatement of an LLC 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 name².
3. Replace a registered agent who leaves. The company has to keep one continuously. A change for an LLC is $30⁴. The office is a municipal address, not a post office box only¹. The revocation notice is mailed to the last agent on the records. If that address is dead, you will not see the notice.
4. File individual income tax if you are in the group that has to file a federal return. That group is Louisiana residents, part-year residents, and nonresidents with Louisiana-source income who have to file a federal return. The rate is 3%¹⁴ for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2025. The return is due May 15 of the following year⁷. An LLC taxed as a corporation federally is generally taxed as a corporation in Louisiana. An LLC taxed as a partnership federally is generally treated as a partnership⁶.
5. File corporation income tax if you are a C corporation, and check the Louisiana return if you elected S status. The return is due the 15th day of the fifth month after the accounting period ends. The due date is May 15 for a calendar-year filer. The rate is 5.5%. You can get an automatic six-month extension to file if a federal extension was requested on time. An extension to file is not an extension to pay. Estimated tax is due when the amount after credits can reasonably be expected to be $1,000 or more. Louisiana does not follow the IRS on every S corporation point. An S corporation may still have to file a Louisiana corporation income tax return⁶.
6. File sales tax if you are registered to collect it. State returns are due on or before the 20th of the month after the month or quarter being reported. The state rate is 5%⁸. Local sales and use taxes are added on top of the state tax¹⁵. Who registers with the state, who registers with the parish, and who uses the remote-seller commission is on Get your tax IDs. Closing the account is a separate step if you stop selling. Do not leave a registration open and silent.
7. If you have employees, keep the unemployment account current. Reports are due the last day of the month after the quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. File them online. The 2026 wage base is $7,000. The 2026 base depends on the balance in the Louisiana Unemployment Trust Fund. The rate notice for the account is the figure to use. The tax is paid by the employer, not the employee, and it is not deducted from wages. A new employer pays the weighted average rate for employers in the same industrial classification, not one rate printed for every new employer. Interest after the due date is 1%⁹ a month or a fraction of a month. The penalty on late tax is five percent a month or part of a month on the unpaid tax and interest, up to twenty-five percent in total¹⁰. Report new hires no later than twenty days after the hire or rehire. The report covers the hiring of any person you expect to pay, and the return of an employee who was laid off, furloughed, separated, granted leave without pay, or terminated¹³.
8. Carry workers’ compensation if you have even one employee. Coverage is required with one employee, including part-time, full-time, temporary, and seasonal workers. Buy it from an insurer authorized in Louisiana, from an approved group fund, or by qualifying as a self-insurer. The coverage FAQ says you may not need a policy with no employees in some cases. The FAQ lists a sole owner who is not a corporation, a partnership, and a one-or-two-person corporation, each with no employees of any kind, no unpaid volunteers (family members included), and no subcontractors. The examples do not name a limited liability company. The FAQ points the rest to R.S. 23:1035. Owners and certain corporate officers can exempt themselves only if they own at least 10 percent, and only in writing to the insurer¹¹.
9. Pay at least the federal minimum wage if the federal law covers the worker. No state minimum wage law. $7.25¹² an hour is the federal rate the U.S. Department of Labor prints for those employers. Some workers are outside that law. Check the Wage and Hour page before you set a rate. Overtime is a federal rule on that same site when no exemption applies.
10. Renew the other credentials on their own dates. A contractor registration, an alcohol permit, and a local occupational license do not renew on the company anniversary. Those rules are on Licenses and permits.

Employer rules

Unemployment, from the employer guide: register within 30 days of the first wage payment. File quarterly, the last day of the month after the quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. The 2026 wage base is $7,000. The tax is paid by the employer, not the employee, and it is not deducted from wages⁹.

New hires: no later than twenty days after the hire or rehire, to the Department of Children and Family Services¹³.

Workers’ compensation: coverage is required with one employee, including part-time, full-time, temporary, and seasonal workers¹¹. The no-employee examples are on the coverage FAQ. They are not a blanket exemption for every owner.

Minimum wage: No state minimum wage law. Covered employers pay the federal $7.25¹² an hour.

What you get back

A filed annual report, an income-tax filing if you are in the group that has to file, sales-tax filings where you are registered, and current employer accounts. If an LLC is revoked, the reinstatement window is within three years of the revocation, with an application, the current annual report, and the reinstatement fee, and the name is held for three years so another business cannot take it as an LLC, corporate, or trade name².