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After you form your Louisiana LLC, you need to comply with city and parish license and permit requirements.
Your requirements are determined by the industry you are in and where your business is located.
Not complying with license and permit requirements is risky and can result in penalties and fines, or worse, not being able to conduct business in Louisiana.
Types of licenses & permits you may need in Louisiana
Below are some license and permit examples:
- City business licenses/tax permits
- Building permit
- Health permit
- Occupational permit
- Signage permit
- Alarm permit
- Zoning permit
- Alcohol & tobacco permit
- Liquor license
- Sales and use tax permit
- Seller/reseller permit
Do it yourself in Louisiana
geauxBIZ Business License Checklist
You can create a business license checklist for your LLC using the geauxBIZ portal: https://geauxbiz.sos.la.gov/
- Click the “Sign in or Create Account” button
- Login or create a geauxBIZ account
- Click the “Getting Started” button at the top
- Select “Produce a list of possible federal, state and local licenses and permits required for your business” and click “Next“
- Click “Start Business Checklist“
- Enter your name and mailing address
- Work your way down the list: select your Sector, then Subsector, and so on
- If you can’t find your specific industry, or need help, you can contact the US Census Bureau (who administers the NAICS Codes) at 1-888-756-2427. This page also has answers to frequently asked questions
- Select your parish and location, then click “Submit Request“
- On the next page, you’ll be able to read/download a PDF which will give you a list of all the agencies and departments you may need to contact
Note: Your PDF checklist will mention “An assumed business name must be registered with” and then it will give you the phone number of your local Parish Clerk of Court. Please disregard this as it’s misleading. If you formed a Louisiana LLC and you’re doing business under that name (and not a different alias), then you can disregard this. You only need to do this if you’re “doing business as” under a name different than your LLC.
State Business License and Permits Resources Page
The state also has links to different agencies and departments where you may need business licenses and permits for your LLC. Please see geauxBIZ: Create a business license checklist.
Our Recommendation
There are nearly 20,000 licensing and permit jurisdictions in the United States and each has its own rules and regulations.
If you want to save time, we recommend hiring a professional service company (like IncFile) to do the research for you.
They will provide you with a comprehensive package of all the licenses, permits and tax registrations required for your Louisiana LLC, as well as the necessary application forms:
Next Step
After you’ve researched and obtained the proper licenses and permits for your Louisiana LLC, you can then proceed to the next lesson: Louisiana LLC Taxes.
References
Matt holds a Bachelor's Degree in business from Drexel University with a concentration in business law. He performs extensive research and analysis to convert state laws into simple instructions anyone can follow to form their LLC - all for free! Read more about Matt Horwitz and LLC University.
LOUISIANA LLC GUIDE
Follow the lessons below to form your Louisiana LLC.