Louisiana Sales Tax

Whether your business is based in Louisiana or you just sell to customers who live there, it’s important to understand the state’s sales tax laws to ensure you’re fully compliant. Whether you need to collect sales tax in Louisiana depends on a number of factors, including the type of product or service you sell and how significant of a physical presence you have in the state.

Louisiana Sales Tax Rates

A different state tax rate applies to certain items sold or rented in Louisiana as well. For instance, the rental of automobiles for less than 29 days is taxed at a rate of 3%, with 2.5% going towards state sales tax and 0.5% allocated as a local tax. The New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority tax is another example of a specialized kind of sales tax that applies only to food service establishments serving food in Orleans Parish or at the New Orleans International Airport. It must be collected at a rate of 0.5% or 0.75% based on the business’s total revenue from the previous year, and it’s added to the total sales tax rate for the region.

Tax Sourcing

Louisiana is a Destination-Based Sourcing state for almost all retail transactions.

• General Rule: Tax is sourced to the location where the customer receives the product.
• Combined Return Requirement: Starting in February 2026, all state and local sales must be reconciled to the same destination to ensure the “Gross Receipts” on the state portion match the sum of the local portions.

Louisiana Nexus

You only need to collect sales tax in Louisiana if you have a significant presence, or nexus, there. This is true of most states, although the precise definition of a nexus can vary from one state to another.

Physical Nexus

In Louisiana, you are considered to have a physical nexus if you:

• Sell, rent, or lease tangible personal property in the state
• Provide taxable services within the state
• Store property in the state for resale, lease, or rental
• Have a physical office or store in the state
• Employ a full- or part-time salesperson or agent who operates in the state
• Deliver goods to customers in the state using your vehicle

Economic Nexus

Remote sellers must register if they meet either of the following thresholds in the current or previous calendar year:

• Gross Sales: More than $100,000 in retail sales into Louisiana; OR
• Transaction Count: 200 or more separate transactions into the state.
• The $50,000 “Notice & Reporting” Rule: If you exceed $50,000 but haven’t hit the $100,000 collection threshold, you are technically required to send “Use Tax Notices” to your customers and the state, which is why most sellers choose to register voluntarily at $50,000.

Marketplace Facilitators

Marketplace facilitators (Amazon, eBay, etc.) must collect and remit both state and local taxes on behalf of their sellers.

Remote Seller Commission: Remote sellers who only sell via marketplaces should register with the Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers rather than the Department of Revenue.

What is Taxable in Louisiana

Tangible Goods

Most physical items are taxable at the 5% state rate plus local rates.

• Exemptions: Unprepared groceries (food for home consumption) and prescription drugs are exempt from state tax but remain taxable by most parishes at the local level.

Services

Louisiana taxes a specific list of “Services” (LA R.S. 47:301(14)), including:

• Furnishing of sleeping rooms/hotels.
• Admissions to places of amusement or athletic events.
• Furnishing of storage or parking privileges.
• Printing and related services.

Shipping and Handling

Shipping and delivery charges are generally taxable if they are part of the sale of a taxable item, regardless of whether they are separately stated.

Digital Goods and Services

Digital Products: Effective January 1, 2025, digital books, music, and streamed movies are fully taxable at the state and local levels.

SaaS: Software as a Service is taxable in Louisiana as a “prewritten computer access service.”

Exemption: There is a specific state-level exemption for digital products/SaaS sold exclusively for commercial purposes (B2B), though some parishes may still attempt to tax it.

Exemptions

Medications and groceries are exempt from sales tax in Louisiana, including all foods and beverages intended for home preparation and consumption. Some prepared meals are exempt from sales tax if furnished to patients, inmates, students, or staff members of educational, religious, medical, or mental institutions.

Sales Tax Holidays

Louisiana has one confirmed holiday for 2026:

• Second Amendment (September 4–6, 2026): Exempts firearms, ammunition, and specific hunting supplies.

Registration and Filing

In order to collect and remit sales tax in Louisiana, you need to register with the state and obtain a sales tax certificate. Business registration can be done online through the Louisiana Department of Revenue website, and there is no registration fee. You will need to obtain a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) to register, and you should complete your registration process before making any taxable sales.

When you register, the Department of Revenue will assign you a filing frequency based on the volume of taxable sales you expect to make. In general, smaller businesses will have to file sales tax returns quarterly, while larger, higher-volume businesses will be required to file and pay monthly.

Due Dates

If you file and pay your Louisiana state sales tax returns quarterly, they will be due on the 20^th of the month following the close of the reporting period, as outlined below.

Period	Due Date
January – March (Q1)	April 20
April – June (Q2)	July 20
July – September (Q3)	October 20
October – December (Q4)	January 20

When filing monthly, your returns and payments will be due on the 20^th of the following month.

Period	Due Date
January	February 20
February	March 20
March	April 20
April	May 20
May	June 20
June	July 20
July	August 20
August	September 20
September	October 20
October	November 20
November	December 20
December	January 20

For instances in which a due date falls on a weekend or a holiday, returns and payments will be due on the next business day.

Penalties and Interest

Failure to file and pay your Louisiana state sales taxes on time once you’ve received your sales tax certificate from the state will incur a penalty of 5% of the tax due for each month it’s late, up to a maximum of 25%. Interest will also be added to your total due, with the current rate at 0.9375% per month. The rates for previous years can be found here. In addition, a negligence penalty may be assessed, along with an examination fee.

Resources

• Louisiana Department of Revenue
• Frequently Asked Questions – Louisiana Department of Revenue
• General Sales and Use Tax – Louisiana Department of Revenue

Louisiana Sales Tax Software

With so many factors impacting when you need to collect sales tax from your Louisiana customers and at what rate, you must stay on top of things to ensure you’re always compliant with local tax rules and regulations. This is compounded by the fact that rates and other elements of state sales tax laws can change at any time, and so you need to keep up to date with those changes as well.

The challenges of staying on top of all of this are compounded further if you do business in more than one state, so it can be very helpful to have software designed to help you in these situations. TaxTools is just such a program, and its ability to track changes to local sales tax rates, provide up-to-date information on sales and payments, and organize data separately for each state you make sales in will greatly streamline your accounting processes. TaxTools integrates smoothly with all eCommerce platforms, so you won’t need to change anything else about how you do business to take advantage of its benefits.

If you’re ready to see how TaxTools can help you streamline your sales process and improve the overall efficiency of your business, click here to learn more or sign up for a free trial today.

Last updated April 2026