Learn the steps to form an LLC in Louisiana – from choosing your name to filing your Articles of Organization. $1 + $100 state fee. Start today.
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Filing fee: $100 by mail (Articles of Organization + Initial Report, notarized); $105 online via geauxBIZ. Rises to $125 on October 1, 2026
Processing time: 3-5 business days online; 1-2 weeks by mail. 24-hour expedite +$30, 2-4 hour priority +$50
State agency: Louisiana Secretary of State, Commercial Division (geauxBIZ portal)
Annual report due: Your LLC’s anniversary date each year — $30 ($35 from October 2026). No late fee, but three straight missed years and the state revokes your LLC.
State tax rate: Flat 3% income tax on pass-through income and 5% state sales tax — though local add-ons average another ~5%, the highest combined rate in the nation; no franchise tax on pass-through LLCs
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Forming an LLC in Louisiana takes 5 steps: choose and check your business name, appoint a Registered Agent with a physical Louisiana address, file Articles of Organization (with the required Initial Report) online or by mail, draft an operating agreement, and get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. The state filing fee is $100.
Louisiana’s 2025 tax reform made it a genuinely attractive place to run a small business: pass-through LLC income is now taxed at a flat 3% — one of the lowest rates in the country — the old graduated brackets are gone, and the franchise tax is fully repealed for 2026 onward (it never applied to pass-through LLCs anyway). An LLC gives you personal liability protection and pass-through taxation without the administrative overhead of a corporation.
Ongoing state paperwork is light — a $30 annual report filed on your anniversary date — and formation runs through the geauxBIZ portal in a few business days. Louisiana is the country’s only civil-law state, which shows up in its paperwork traditions: paper filings must be notarized and include the registered agent’s notarized acceptance, which is why most people simply file online. If you’re planning to file, note that all state filing fees rise on October 1, 2026 — forming before then saves $25.
Louisiana doesn’t legally require you to reserve your name before filing, but the geauxBIZ workflow nudges you to: you reserve the name first for $25, and that $25 is credited toward your formation when you complete it online. The reservation holds your name for 60 days, extendable twice by 30 days each — many guides wrongly say a flat 120 days, so plan around the 60.
Your LLC name must be distinguishable from other registered businesses in Louisiana and must include “Limited Liability Company,” “L.L.C.,” or “L.C.” It can’t contain “doing business as” or “d/b/a,” and names containing words like “engineer” or “surveyor” need advance clearance from the state licensing board. Check the Secretary of State’s business database before you file to avoid a rejection.
Every Louisiana LLC must have a registered agent — a person or entity designated to receive legal notices and government documents on behalf of the business. The agent must have a physical street address in Louisiana (a P.O. box doesn’t count) and be available during regular business hours. Louisiana adds a unique wrinkle: on paper filings, the agent must sign a notarized affidavit accepting the appointment; filing online through geauxBIZ captures the acceptance electronically instead.
You can serve as your own registered agent if you have a physical Louisiana address and can be there during business hours. Many business owners use a professional registered agent service instead — it keeps your personal address off public records and ensures someone is always available to receive documents.
The Articles of Organization is the document that legally creates your Louisiana LLC, and it’s filed together with an Initial Report — a companion document listing your registered office, registered agent, and initial members or managers that few other states require. You file both with the Secretary of State through geauxBIZ ($105 online, approved in about 3-5 business days) or by notarized paper filing ($100, 1-2 weeks). Expedited review is $30 extra for 24-hour service or $50 for 2-4 hour priority handling.
Two Louisiana-specific rules to know: paper filings — the Articles, the Initial Report, and the agent’s acceptance — must all be notarized, with the notary’s ID number shown, and if your registered office sits in one of 14 parishes (including Orleans, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Caddo, and St. Tammany) filing online is mandatory — mailed paperwork is rejected. When in doubt, geauxBIZ is the safe path.
Louisiana doesn’t require you to file an operating agreement with the state, but you should have one. It’s the internal document that defines how your LLC is managed — who owns what, how profits are distributed, and how decisions get made. Without one, Louisiana’s default LLC statutes fill in the gaps, which may not reflect what you actually want — a real consideration in the country’s only civil-law state, where default rules can differ from what owners expect.
Your operating agreement should specify whether the LLC is member-managed or manager-managed. In a member-managed LLC, all owners share day-to-day authority. In a manager-managed LLC, a designated manager handles operations while other members retain economic rights. A written agreement is the version that holds up when disputes arise.
An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a 9-digit federal tax ID issued by the IRS. Your Louisiana LLC needs one to open a business bank account, hire employees, and file federal taxes. Applying online at irs.gov is free and issues your EIN immediately after you complete the application.
To use the IRS online application, the responsible party must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), and the business must have its principal place of business in the United States. The IRS does not charge a fee for issuing an EIN.
Louisiana LLCs file one report with the Secretary of State: an annual report due each year by your LLC’s anniversary date, filed through geauxBIZ. It costs $30 now ($35 from October 1, 2026) and takes a few minutes. Beyond the Initial Report filed at formation, there’s no franchise tax on pass-through LLCs and no annual LLC tax.
Louisiana has no general state business license, but most parishes and cities levy an occupational license tax, so check locally before opening — and sellers register free with the Department of Revenue while filing local sales taxes separately with each parish. That local layer matters: on top of the 5% state sales tax, local rates average about 5% more, the highest combined rate in the nation. There’s no late fee for a missed annual report, but your LLC immediately loses good standing, and after three straight unfiled years the state revokes it — you then have only three years to reinstate ($75 plus back reports) before the name is gone for good.
The required Louisiana state fee is $100 for the Articles of Organization filed by mail, or $105 online through geauxBIZ (a small card-processing fee) — and it rises to $125 on October 1, 2026, so filing sooner saves money. The annual report is $30 ($35 from October 2026), and the optional name reservation is $25, credited toward an online formation. There’s no additional state fee to get your EIN; the IRS issues EINs for free.
Yes. Louisiana allows a single person to form and own an LLC – this is called a single-member LLC. You can complete the Articles of Organization and Initial Report online through geauxBIZ without an attorney or a notary — notarization is only required for paper filings. You’ll still need a registered agent with a physical Louisiana address, but that can be yourself if you qualify.
No. Louisiana charges a $100 Articles of Organization fee ($125 from October 2026) – that’s a required state fee you can’t avoid. What you can avoid is paying extra for formation help. We handle your Louisiana LLC filing for $1; you only pay the required state fees.
Yes. Every Louisiana LLC files a $30 annual report ($35 from October 2026) by its formation anniversary date each year, through geauxBIZ. There’s no late fee, which lulls people — but a delinquent LLC immediately loses good standing, and after three consecutive unfiled years the state revokes it. Reinstatement costs $75 plus the missed reports, and it’s only possible within three years of revocation; after that, the LLC and its name are gone.
Yes, every Louisiana LLC is required to have a registered agent. A registered agent is a person or entity that receives legal notices and official government documents on behalf of your LLC. The agent must have a physical street address in Louisiana — not a P.O. box — and be available during regular business hours. On paper filings the agent’s acceptance must be notarized; online filings handle it electronically. You can serve as your own registered agent or use a professional service.
The mistakes that come up most often are mailing paper filings from one of the 14 parishes where online filing is mandatory (the filing bounces), skipping notarization on paper documents — the leading rejection cause — and missing the anniversary-date annual report: with no late fee, owners often don’t notice until the LLC is out of good standing, and three missed years means revocation. Sellers also underestimate the local tax layer: parish sales taxes average about 5% on top of the state’s 5%, filed separately with each parish, and most parishes require an occupational license too.
Online filings through geauxBIZ are typically approved in 3-5 business days. Notarized paper filings take 1-2 weeks or more including transit. If speed matters, Louisiana’s expedite options are cheap: $30 for 24-hour processing, or $50 for priority handling in about 2-4 hours (walk-in at the Baton Rouge office).
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