Annual Filing Requirements for Louisiana LLCs

Learn about the annual report and tax filing obligations for Louisiana limited liability companies.

To establish and operate a Louisiana limited liability corporation (LLC), you must prepare and submit a number of paperwork with the state. This article discusses the most significant Louisiana LLC continuous reporting and state tax filing obligations.

Report Annual

The state of Louisiana requires you to submit an annual report for your limited liability company. Your yearly report may be filed online at the SOS website. You may also go online and print a printed yearly report to send in. The annual report is submitted on or before the anniversary date of the founding of your LLC. The filing cost is now $30.

State Corporation Tax

Most LLCs are pass-through tax corporations when it comes to income taxes. In other words, the burden for paying federal income taxes is passed via the LLC to the individual LLC members. LLCs do not pay income taxes by default; only its members do. Some states charge LLCs a separate tax or fee for the privilege of conducting business in their jurisdiction. Louisiana, on the other hand, is not one of those states.

However, in certain situations, the owners of an LLC elect to have their firm taxed as if it were a corporation. This decision is made by submitting IRS Form 2553 to the IRS. (The form is available on the IRS website.) When an LLC elects to be taxed as a corporation rather than as a pass-through entity, the firm must submit a separate tax return. Louisiana, like almost every other state, taxes corporate revenue. The Louisiana corporate income tax is levied on taxable income in Louisiana at a modest series of marginal rates. The tax is due to the Department of Revenue in the state (DOR). To pay the tax, use the state’s company income tax return (CIFT-620).

Employer Taxes in the State

Do you have workers in your LLC? If this is the case, you must pay employer taxes. Some of these taxes are paid to the federal government (the IRS) and are not addressed in this section. (However, it is important to understand that federal employer tax duties begin with getting a federal employer identification number (EIN).) However, Louisiana employers must additionally pay state taxes.

To begin, you must withhold and pay employee income taxes to the DOR. Begin by registering your company with the DOR, either online (at the Louisiana Taxpayer Access Point) or in person (Form R-16019). After registering, you must submit withholding taxes on a regular basis (for example, monthly or quarterly) using any variation of Form L-1. Each year, you’ll also need to utilize Form L-3 to balance your LLC’s tax withholding.

You’ll also need to register to pay state unemployment insurance (UI) taxes. The Louisiana Workforce Commission is in charge of these taxes (LWC). These taxes must be registered for online at the LWC website. Then, each quarter, you must go online to declare your earnings and pay your unemployment insurance taxes.

Taxes on Sales and Use

If your LLC sells items to clients in Louisiana, you must collect and remit sales tax. This implies you’ll have to register with the Department of Revenue for this reason and then make periodic sales tax payments for products sold. You may sign up online or by mail using Form R-16019 (Application for Louisiana Revenue Account Number). You will be issued a seller’s permit after you have registered. Then, on a regular basis (such as monthly or quarterly), you must file sales tax reports with the DOR. This may be completed on paper (Form R-1029) or online.

Other States Registration

If you want to do business in states other than Louisiana, your LLC may need to be registered in any or all of those states. The exact states concerned will determine if you are needed to register: each state has its own regulations for what defines conducting business and whether registration is required. For registration reasons, having a physical presence (a business location) in a state, recruiting personnel in a state, or soliciting business in a state (through telephone, print advertisements, mail, or the Internet) are sometimes considered conducting business. Obtaining a certificate of authority or comparable document is normally required for registration.