How to Register a Contracting Company in Louisiana

Settle the name before you file anything

The name you file is the name that will follow you through the contractor licence, the insurance certificate, the bank account, the contract and the invoice, so decide it once. The Secretary of State will do a preliminary name availability search, and you can also check availability yourself on its website by typing the proposed name without the corporate ending. Treat the result as preliminary: the office states that many rules govern name availability and that a more thorough search happens once documents are submitted for filing. A revoked corporation or company name is not available until three years following the revocation date.

If you need time between choosing a name and filing, you can reserve it. A name reservation form filed by fax or mail with a check or money order reserves the name for 120 days and costs $25. The office notes you would only need to reserve if you were waiting an extended period to file or were concerned someone else might file the same name first, since filing your articles or trade name makes the name unavailable to others anyway.

Understand the three different name concepts before you pick one, because Louisiana treats them differently. A trade name is a word or group of words used to identify a business and distinguish it from others; trade names do conflict with LLCs and corporations, and registering one costs $75. A DBA is not filed with the Secretary of State at all: the office states DBAs are filed at the parish level with the local Clerk of Court. And for contractor licensing purposes, LSLBC states it does not recognise DBAs, assumed names or fictitious names as legal business entities and that they will not appear on the licence.

Official sources: Louisiana Secretary of State Business Filings FAQ; Louisiana Secretary of State Forms and Fee Schedule; LSLBC Frequently Asked Questions

File the entity through geauxBIZ

geauxBIZ is the state's official portal for creating, maintaining and closing a Louisiana business. On the create side it handles filing the business itself for corporations, LLCs, partnerships and non-profits, registering a trade name or trademark, registering with the Louisiana Department of Revenue, and registering with Louisiana Works. On the maintain side it handles annual reports, renewals, amendments and reinstatements, and on the close side dissolutions, terminations, withdrawals and cancellations. It also offers a business licence checklist that produces a list of possible federal, state and local licences and permits based on a short questionnaire. You must create an account and sign in to file or view your businesses.

The published fees are specific. Articles of Organization for a Louisiana limited liability company, form 365, are $100. Articles of Incorporation for a Louisiana business corporation, form 399, are $75. A Supplemental Initial Report for an LLC, form 366, is $25. A Change of Registered Office or Agent for an LLC, form 983, is $25, as is a Change of Members and/or Managers, form 983A. Certified copies are $15. Amended articles, mergers, dissolutions and certificates of correction are $100 for an LLC and $75 for a corporation.

Every registration needs a registered agent with a physical Louisiana address. The Secretary of State explains that the agent is designated to receive legal documents served on the business and has an obligation to forward them, and that the agent can be almost anyone of legal age who is a legal Louisiana resident, including an organiser, an LLC member, an employee, an attorney or an accountant. Their name and address are public. If you already run a business registered in another state and are qualifying it in Louisiana, you file the appropriate Application for Certificate of Authority together with a certificate of good standing or existence from your home state that is less than 90 days old.

Official sources: Louisiana geauxBIZ; Louisiana Secretary of State Forms and Fee Schedule; Louisiana Secretary of State Business Filings FAQ

Register for tax, then keep the entity in good standing

Tax registration runs through the same portal. geauxBIZ includes registration with the Louisiana Department of Revenue and with Louisiana Works as part of starting a business. On the sales tax side, the state general sales tax rate is 5 percent, and the Department of Revenue states that sales tax returns and payments "are due on or before the 20th of the month following the close of the calendar month or calendar quarter of the reporting period". Whether you must collect turns on whether you qualify as a dealer under the definition at R.S. 47:301(4), which the Department reproduces in full on its general sales and use tax page and which reaches sellers who maintain a business location in the state, hold property in the state for resale, furnish taxable services in the state, or operate through resident or nonresident salesmen or agents.

The annual report is not optional and the consequence is severe. The Secretary of State states that the yearly filing of an annual report is a requirement and that failure to file will result in the revocation of your charter, after which a reinstatement form is required and the filing fees "will be significantly higher than that of an annual report". The report is $30 for a Louisiana LLC or business corporation and can be filed online. If your annual report is due or past due you can also make registered agent, member, manager, officer and director changes on the annual report filing itself rather than filing separate change forms.

Keep the record accurate between filings. Changes of registered office or agent, and changes of members, managers, officers or directors, each have their own form and a $25 fee. A stale registered agent address is a common and avoidable way for a business to miss service of legal documents entirely.

Official sources: Louisiana geauxBIZ; Louisiana Department of Revenue General Sales and Use Tax; Louisiana Secretary of State Business Filings FAQ; Louisiana Secretary of State Forms and Fee Schedule

Then, and only then, go to the contractor board

The Board could not be clearer that registration is not authorisation. It states that registration with the Louisiana Secretary of State "does not qualify you to perform construction work in Louisiana" and "only gives your company the authority to operate a business in Louisiana and also generally for state sales tax purposes". It says the same about local licensing: an occupational licence from your city or parish "is NOT a contractor's license" and only gives authority to operate a business in that city or parish. A state contractor licence or registration is required where the total project value, including labour and materials, exceeds the applicable threshold.

The sequence matters because of the name rule. LSLBC will licence the entity exactly as it appears on official records, and the statute requires you to bid, contract, conduct all business transactions and perform work in that name. If you form the LLC under one name, order signage and insurance under another, and then apply to the Board, you will be reconciling documents instead of bidding work. The Board also requires LLC, corporation and limited partnership applicants to be registered with the Secretary of State, so the entity filing genuinely comes first.

The one crossover worth planning for is the qualifying party. LSLBC accepts an LLC member or manager as a qualifying party on production of the original Articles of Organization and Initial Report identifying them as such, or the operating agreement if those documents do not, and accepts a corporate incorporator, stockholder or officer on production of the Articles of Incorporation, or the by-laws or meeting minutes. If you know who will qualify the licence, make sure the formation documents name them clearly. That is a five-minute decision at formation and a document hunt afterwards.

Official sources: LSLBC Frequently Asked Questions; LSLBC Contractors Licensing Law and Rules (Blue Book); LSLBC Types of Licenses

Recheck the official source before you file or sign

Louisiana contractor law changed materially in 2026 and the Board's own public pages have not all caught up, which is the strongest possible argument for opening the source yourself rather than trusting any summary, including this one. Act 757 of 2026 added a residential roofing threshold and raised the liability insurance requirement, both effective August 1, 2026, and Acts 481 and 757 brought water well and environmental well or hole work under licensing at a project value of $1 or more effective July 1, 2026.

Before you file an application, sign a contract, or buy an insurance policy, open the Board's current page for your licence type, confirm the threshold, the classification wording, the insurance limit and the certificate rules, and keep a dated copy of what you read. The Board's own memorandum says it "is intended to provide general notice of statutory changes" and that "The applicable statutes and regulations control in the event of any conflict or question of interpretation." Where a page and a statute disagree, the statute wins, and where you cannot tell, call the Board at the number on its contact page before you commit money.

Official sources: LSLBC Memorandum: 2026 Statutory Changes (Act 757); LSLBC Types of Licenses; LSLBC Frequently Asked Questions