How to Start an LLC in Louisiana

Louisiana handles LLC formation through the Secretary of State's Commercial Division, and nearly everything runs through one portal: geauxBIZ. The filing itself has a quirk that generic guides tend to miss. You never file the Articles of Organization by themselves. Louisiana requires an Initial Report to go in with the articles as a single package, and the state fee for that package is $100 today. Pay by card on geauxBIZ and a $5 statutory convenience fee brings your online total to $105. One more date for the calendar: under Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session, the articles fee rises to $125 on October 1, 2026.

What Louisiana Actually Makes You File

The formation document is the Articles of Organization for a Louisiana limited liability company, form #365 on the Secretary of State's forms list. The authority is La. R.S. 12:1304(A), which lets one or more persons capable of contracting form an LLC "by filing the articles of organization and the initial report with the secretary of state."

That last clause is the part worth reading twice. The Initial Report names your registered office and registered agent, and it travels with the articles as one submission. Articles without the report are an incomplete filing in Louisiana. Most other states have nothing like this, which is exactly why out-of-state templates trip people up here.

The Louisiana LLC Filing Fee

• $100 is the state fee for the Articles of Organization and Initial Report package, current through September 30, 2026
• $105 is what a geauxBIZ filing totals today, because card payments carry a $5 statutory convenience fee
• $125 is the state fee starting October 1, 2026, per Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session

Filing by mail at the $100 fee is still available, and some parishes are required to file business documents online through geauxBIZ, a rule in place since 2018.

Steps to Form a Louisiana LLC

1. Pick a name and check it. The name needs "Limited Liability Company," "L.L.C.," or "LLC" in it, and it has to be distinguishable from every entity already on record with the Louisiana Secretary of State. Run the search inside your geauxBIZ account before you print business cards.
2. Line up a registered agent. Every Louisiana LLC names a registered agent and a registered office in the state on its Initial Report. Louisiana treats that registered office as the LLC's domicile for all purposes, so this choice carries more legal weight here than in most states.
3. File the Articles of Organization and Initial Report together. Submit form #365 with the Initial Report through geauxBIZ ($100 fee plus the $5 card convenience fee) or by mail to the Commercial Division ($100). The report includes the agent's acceptance, so have your agent squared away before you start.
4. Write an operating agreement. Louisiana never asks you to file it, but banks ask for it, courts read it in disputes, and without one the default rules of the Louisiana LLC law decide questions you would rather decide yourself.
5. Get an EIN from the IRS. Free, direct from IRS.gov, usually issued on the spot. No third party needed for this one.
6. Calendar the annual report. Louisiana LLCs file every year, on or before the anniversary of organization, and geauxBIZ only opens the filing window 30 days before that date. The report runs $30 by mail or $35 online. Details on the annual requirements page.

Keeping the LLC in Good Standing

Louisiana does not pile on late fees the way some states do. What it does instead is quieter and worse: miss the anniversary deadline and the LLC drops out of good standing immediately, and roughly three consecutive unfiled years leads to revocation of the articles under La. R.S. 12:1308.1 and 12:1339. Keep an agent on file, hit the 30-day window every year, and none of that touches you. The full fee picture lives on our fee schedule.

File It Yourself or Hand It to Us

Filing direct with the Louisiana Secretary of State works fine if you have the time. If you would rather not babysit a state portal, our formation service is $199, it covers preparing and filing the articles and Initial Report package, and it includes your first year of registered agent service. After year one the agent service renews at $99 per year. State fees are billed at whatever Louisiana charges on your filing date.

Form Your Louisiana LLC