Louisiana › Start a business
How to start a business in Louisiana
The whole sequence in order, with what each step costs and which office you are dealing with. Including the parish registrations that the state formation process never mentions.
Fees checked 27 August 2026 · next change 1 October 2026
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.
This is the whole sequence, in the order it has to happen, with what each step costs and which office you are dealing with. Every fee here carries the date it was checked.
The sequence
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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 it gives you no liability separation. Search the Secretary of State’s commercial database before you settle on a name.
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File the articles of organization
Filed online with the Secretary of State. This is the step that creates the company and gives you a charter number.
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Get an EIN from the IRS
The federal tax number. You need it to open a business bank account and to run payroll. It is issued immediately online.
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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.
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Register with your parish sales tax collector, separately
This is the step people miss. Louisiana collects the local portion of sales tax locally, so registering with the state does not register you with your parish. The local portion is usually larger than the state’s 5 percent. Find your parish, its rate and its collector in the rate tables.
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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, and most towns levy their own inside the town line. Nine parishes levy none at all. Check yours in the parish guides.
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Insurance, and workers compensation if you hire
Louisiana requires workers compensation cover once you have employees, and there is no minimum headcount exemption for most trades. Contractors, food businesses and anyone on a client’s premises will also be asked for general liability before they are allowed to start.
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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 state board. This is separate from everything above, and doing the work without it is the expensive mistake.
What it actually costs to start
A plain LLC with no trade license, formed today:
| Step | Office | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of organization | Secretary of State | $100 |
| EIN | IRS | $0 |
| State tax registration | Dept of Revenue | $0 |
| Parish tax registration | Parish collector | $0 |
| Occupational license, small retailer | Parish or town | from $50 |
| Annual report, every year after | Secretary of State | $30 |
| Same filing from 1 October 2026 | Secretary of State | $125 and $35 |
So the floor is around $150 in the first year for a small retail business in a parish that levies a license, and $100 where none is levied. Anything you are quoted well above that is a service fee, not a government fee.
The occupational license, explained properly
It is an annual tax on your 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 at under $50,000 of gross sales, $120 at $150,000, $500 at $500,000, and it keeps 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 the figure with the collector before you write the cheque.
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. Falling out of good standing is what stops a loan or a contract months later, and it is discovered at the worst possible moment.
What to do next
Find your parish
Sales tax, occupational license and who collects each, for all 64 parishes.
Look up your exact rate
All 447 taxing jurisdictions with the return column and the local and state split.
Paying for it
What funding actually exists in Louisiana in 2026, and what quietly ended last year.
Sources and dates
- Filing fees and the 1 October 2026 increase: Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session, Louisiana Secretary of State. Checked 27 August 2026.
- Occupational license schedules and deadlines: R.S. 47:341 to 47:357, and the Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators occupational license directory covering all 64 parishes.
- Sales tax registration and rates: Louisiana Department of Revenue and each parish collector, via the Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators.
Fees change and trades differ. Confirm with the office named before you file or pay.
Start it properly, in one conversation
Tell Miles what you are opening and where. You will get the entity, the registrations, the parish rate and the license position for your address, free.
Free, no account needed. Answered by Miles, Bizer’s Louisiana business AI agent.