Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in Louisiana costs $100 through 2026-09-30; $125 effective 2026-10-01 to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($30 through 2026-09-30; $35 effective 2026-10-01). Five-year total: At least $250 over five years — one or more components (commonly the franchise/minimum tax) is unverified, so treat this as a floor, not a total.
What it actually costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $100 through 2026-09-30; $125 effective 2026-10-01 |
| Annual/biennial report | $30 through 2026-09-30; $35 effective 2026-10-01 |
| Franchise / minimum tax | not verified |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: At least $250 over five years — one or more components (commonly the franchise/minimum tax) is unverified, so treat this as a floor, not a total. Publication cost is excluded from this figure — it’s county-driven where it applies, not state-driven, so a single number would be wrong for most filers.
Expedited filing: $30 for 24-hour processing; $50 priority (processed while you wait)
The trap worth knowing before you file
Post-2026-10-01 figures read directly from the SOS’s own PDF: https://static.sos.la.gov/shared/fee_changes_2026.pdf . Expedite tiers and the $5 card convenience fee from https://www.sos.la.gov/business-services/file-business-documents . STATUTE UNREACHABLE: legis.la.gov serves its statute index through JavaScript __doPostBack links (Laws_Toc.aspx) and its Law.aspx pages only by opaque numeric ID; louisiana.public.law does not resolve and law.justia.com returns HTTP 403. Annual-report due-date basis and franchise-tax status are therefore honest gaps rather than guesses.
Source
La. SOS Commercial Division fee schedule; Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session (fee increase effective 2026-10-01). Read 2026-08-06 from official. Formation-service sites were not used as a source for this figure.
Once the LLC exists, an operating agreement is what actually runs it
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If the LLC already exists somewhere else
Everything above prices forming a new Louisiana LLC. A company that already exists in another state does not have to be dissolved and re-formed: Louisiana takes it in as the same legal entity by the route its own code captions conversion, La. R.S. 12:1308.3, and Louisiana does not publish that filing as a single fee, so this page gives no number for it — it is in any case separate from the formation costs above. Going the other way, the same section carries the company back out to another US state. Either way the move needs both ends to allow it — the state being left as well as the state being joined — which is where most published advice goes wrong.
How to Move an LLC to Another State · LLC Domestication by State: All 51 Jurisdictions, With the Statute
The cost of falling behind is not just fees. Louisiana revokes after three consecutive missed annual reports and then gives you exactly three years to reinstate — and a company that is merely delinquent is already barred from doing business with the state. See reinstating a Louisiana LLC.
Louisiana LLC Annual Report: Annual Organization-Date Deadline and Required Signer
Use these official filing checkpoints when reconciling the recurring-cost estimate on this page.
- A Louisiana LLC's annual report is due each year on or before the anniversary date of organization.
- A manager signs for a manager-managed company, a member signs for a member-managed company, or an agent may sign.
- The report states the municipal addresses of the registered office and registered agents, plus managers or members based on the management structure.
Match the entity’s formation or registration record, filing mode, and current status to the controlling rule before submitting; use the official filing authority for the current interface.
Compare LLC reporting systems across all jurisdictions, then verify this state’s rule in the official source.
Moving an LLC you already own is a different question from what it costs to form a new one here: Louisiana’s statute calls the mechanism conversion, at La. R.S. 12:1308.3. See how to move an LLC to Louisiana.
Looking for the annual-report due date and fee instead? See Louisiana LLC annual report.
Electing S-corp status for this LLC changes the tax picture too. Louisiana just changed a real trap: before 2026, an S-corp could default to C-corp taxation without a separate filing. See what Louisiana charges at the entity level.
Related: Louisiana’s registered agent requirements, including who can serve and what happens if you don’t have one.
Related: Louisiana’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.