Louisiana businesses register with the Louisiana Department of Revenue to get a Louisiana Revenue Account Number and Sales Tax Registration Certificate. Sellers with a physical presence also register with each parish's sales tax collector. Remote sellers with more than $100,000 in Louisiana sales can register once with the Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers instead of with LDR and each parish.
You need to register for Louisiana sales tax if you qualify as a "dealer" under Louisiana law. Per the Louisiana Department of Revenue (LDR), dealers must apply for a sales tax certificate, collect the tax from customers, and file returns.
Louisiana doesn't call it a permit. Registering gets you a 10-digit Louisiana Revenue Account Number and a Louisiana Sales Tax Registration Certificate.
Since Jan. 1, 2025, Louisiana has taxed digital products, and LDR lists prewritten computer software access services among taxable services. That can include SaaS in Louisiana.
If you have no physical presence in Louisiana, you have to register once you cross the Louisiana economic nexus threshold: more than $100,000 in gross revenue from sales delivered into Louisiana in the previous or current calendar year. Louisiana has no transaction-count threshold.
Remote sellers can register once with the Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers instead of with LDR and each parish. The Commission collects state and local tax for every parish, and its process is covered in its own section below.
You must apply to the Commission no later than 30 calendar days after you pass the $100,000 threshold. Once the Commission approves your application, you must start collecting no later than 60 days after you passed the threshold.
For example, if you cross the threshold on June 1, apply by July 1, and start collecting by July 31. Louisiana law doesn't allow extensions of the 30-day and 60-day deadlines.
Sellers under the threshold can register voluntarily. If you crossed the threshold in the past and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement may reduce the penalties on back taxes.
Sellers without a physical presence who are under the threshold can also register with LDR as a Direct Marketer and collect voluntarily at a single flat combined rate, instead of the actual rate for each delivery address. Once you pass $100,000, register with the Commission.
Any physical nexus in Louisiana makes you a dealer, and there's no minimum threshold. You register with LDR for state sales tax and with the sales tax collector in each parish where you do business.
Any of these activities, whether permanent or temporary, direct or through an agent or subsidiary, create physical nexus:
Register before you start operating, since new businesses should not collect Louisiana sales tax unless they're registered.
Warning: Do not register for a sales tax account unless your business is required to collect Louisiana sales tax. Registering too early, or when you sell only nontaxable goods or services, may create filing requirements even when no tax is due.
Louisiana's marketplace facilitator law makes the marketplace the dealer for the sales it facilitates once its own Louisiana sales exceed $100,000. The marketplace registers with the Commission and collects state and local tax on those sales.
The Commission counts storing property in a third-party facility as physical presence. If you're an Amazon FBA seller or keep inventory in a Louisiana warehouse, the marketplace collects on marketplace sales. You register with LDR and your parishes to collect on your direct sales.
LDR treats anyone who holds property in the state for resale as a dealer who must apply for a sales tax certificate. If all your sales go through a marketplace, check with LDR before deciding not to register.
Numeral’s Louisiana sales tax nexus guide covers the threshold rules in more detail.
LDR’s portal is called the Louisiana Taxpayer Access Point or LaTAP. You'll need a LaTAP login and account. Gather the following information before you start.
The sales tax section of the application asks:
If you have an FEIN, you must include a copy of your IRS FEIN letter, such as Notice CP 575 or Letter 147C, with your Form R-16019, according to the Form R-16019 instructions.
Which path you take depends on whether you have a physical presence in Louisiana:
Most businesses register online through LaTAP. LDR's Starting or Buying a Business page tells new businesses to register their LDR tax accounts there.
You can also register on paper with Form R-16019, Application for Louisiana Revenue Account Number. Mail it to LDR's Central Registration Section at P.O. Box 1469, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-1469.
On the LaTAP home page, select Sign Up under New to LaTAP? Skip this step if you already have a LaTAP account.
The Sign Up screen asks for your name, a username, and an email address, which you confirm with Verify Email. It also asks for a phone number and type. The next screen sets up your account security.
Log in to LaTAP and select Register My Business in the registration section.
Follow the prompts to enter your business information, addresses, owners and officers, and contact details.
When the application asks which tax accounts to register, choose sales tax and answer the sales tax questions. You can add other accounts, such as withholding, in the same application.
Review your entries, then submit the application. Save any confirmation number LaTAP gives you.
Once LDR processes your registration, you get an email with your Louisiana Revenue Account Number.
If you didn't give a valid email address, LDR mails the number within 4 to 6 weeks. LDR also mails your Sales Tax Registration Certificate, which you can print from LaTAP.
The state account doesn't cover local sales tax. Apply for a local account number with the collector in each parish where you have a location or make taxable sales.
You can apply through the Parish E-File local registration application or directly with each parish. The parish registration section below explains how this works.
LDR doesn't list a fee to register for a state sales tax account. Neither Form R-16019 nor LDR's LaTAP registration guide includes a fee or a payment step.
The Remote Sellers Commission doesn't list a registration fee on its website. Parish occupational licenses are a separate local tax, covered below.
LDR doesn't publish a standard processing time for online applications. LaTAP emails your account number once the application is processed, and if you didn't give a valid email address, LDR mails it within 4 to 6 weeks.
For paper applications from special event vendors, allow 2 to 3 weeks. The Remote Sellers Commission says that, in general, most applications are approved automatically within 24 to 48 hours.
The Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers administers state and local sales tax on remote sales. It's part of LDR but runs its own registration and filing system.
Registering with the Commission replaces state and parish registration. Remote sellers don't have to register with the state and each parish unless they have a physical presence.
Remote sellers already registered directly with LDR and the parishes may stay registered that way, or switch to the Commission.
Go to the Commission's website and select Click here to Register and File Returns. It opens the Commission's filing system, where you create an account and submit your application.
After approval, you collect state and local tax at the actual rate for each delivery address. You file one monthly return with the Commission by the 20th of the following month, covering the state and every parish.
If you're a remote seller already registered directly with LDR and the parishes, you can move to the Commission:
Keep remitting to the state and parishes until the Commission approves your application.
Louisiana's parishes, cities, and school boards levy their own sales taxes, and state and local governments each collect their own. If you have a physical presence, you need a local account with each parish collector, in addition to your LDR account.
Louisiana law requires each parish to use a single tax collector or a central collection commission for all the local sales taxes in that parish. So you register once per parish, not once per city or district. The Louisiana Uniform Local Sales Tax Board lists all 64 parishes with their collectors.
Parish E-File, LDR's free online system for state and parish sales tax, includes an application to register a local account number. It lets you apply for the parish where your business is located and any parish you deliver into, in one application.
Each parish office still issues its own account number. Until it arrives, Parish E-File lists the account as "Applied for," and you can file your first return for that parish.
After that, update the account number under Return Setup before you file the second return. Parish E-File can file sales tax returns for all parishes except Cameron.
An occupational license isn't a sales tax registration, but many Louisiana businesses need one. Parishes and municipalities can levy an occupational license tax on businesses in their area, and the sheriff or city often collects it.
The Louisiana Uniform Local Sales Tax Board publishes occupational license collectors for each parish and municipality.
Once you're registered, charge Louisiana sales tax: the 5% state rate plus the local rate where the sale takes place. Remote sellers start once the Commission approves their application.
You file Louisiana sales tax returns by the 20th of the month after each period. You still have to file a return for a month with no sales or purchases. If you don't, LDR bills you an assessment for that period.
Since Jan. 1, 2026, all state sales tax returns and payments must be electronic, except for a few exceptions, such as the special events return. You can file through LaTAP or Parish E-File, which offers one combined state and local return per location.
After you register, you can apply for a Louisiana resale certificate in LaTAP to buy inventory without paying tax. Resale certificates are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.
Your Sales Tax Registration Certificate doesn't expire. Keep your account details current in LaTAP if you move, add a location, or close one.
Registration rules differ by state, and several require regular renewal.
It's on your Louisiana Sales Tax Registration Certificate. You can also find it in your LaTAP account profile, on your resale certificate, and on LDR correspondence.
It's a 10-digit LDR account number, which is different from your FEIN.
It depends on your business type. LaTAP's sole proprietor screen asks for your Social Security number instead of an FEIN.
Other organization types enter an FEIN. LDR's Form R-16019 instructions note that the IRS requires one for partnerships, corporations, nonprofits, and sole proprietors with employees.
Yes, Louisiana tracks each location separately. The LaTAP application asks whether you're registering multiple locations, and each physical location needs an account with each parish where it makes sales.
Yes. All vendors at special events, whether they live in Louisiana or not, must register with LDR for a state sales tax account.
Use Form R-16019, enter the event in the business description, and check Sales/Use Tax and Fairs, Festivals, and Other Special Events. Email it to special.events@la.gov, fax it, or mail it at least 2 to 3 weeks before the event. Contact the local taxing authority too, since parish tax applies separately.
It depends on where your business and inventory are. If you have no physical presence in Louisiana, Amazon collects the tax on its sales, and those sales don't count toward your $100,000 threshold.
If you're based in Louisiana or store inventory there, Amazon still collects on marketplace sales. You register with LDR and your parishes for any direct sales, such as through your own website. If Amazon is your only channel, check with LDR, since it treats anyone holding property in Louisiana for resale as a dealer.
Yes. You cannot use the seller's Louisiana Revenue Account Number and must register your own tax accounts before you start operating.
You can also become personally liable for the seller's unpaid sales tax. Louisiana law requires buyers to withhold enough of the purchase price until the seller shows that the taxes are paid.
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