How do you set up a company in Louisiana.

Louisiana has repealed the corporation franchise tax, so the minimum franchise tax sits at $0 with no tax basis at all, per the Louisiana Department of Revenue. Registering a new entity with the Louisiana Secretary of State carries a formation fee of $125 for an LLC ($95 for a corporation), effective 1 October 2026 under Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session. Those are the two figures that actually move the needle when you're comparing entity setup against an EOR here.

Setting up a Louisiana LLC or corporation means filing formation documents with the Secretary of State, appointing a registered agent with a physical Louisiana address, and paying the state's formation fee. That fee is $125 for an LLC or $95 for a corporation under the fee schedule effective 1 October 2026. You'll also need an EIN from the IRS, a Louisiana withholding tax account, and unemployment insurance registration before your first employee gets paid.

None of that is unusually hard on its own, but stacked together it's weeks of admin before you can legally run payroll. Teamed skips that sequence entirely, since your Louisiana hires sit under Teamed's existing registered entity from day one.

Louisiana has repealed the corporation franchise tax, and the Department of Revenue confirms the minimum franchise tax is now $0 with no tax basis remaining. That's a real simplification compared with states that still calculate franchise tax on capital or net worth, and it removes one recurring compliance line item entirely.

It doesn't remove the rest of the picture, though. Corporate income tax, payroll tax registrations, and annual report obligations still apply to any entity you form, franchise tax repeal or not.

The clearest number to plan around is the $125 LLC formation fee ($95 for a corporation) the Secretary of State charges to register your entity, effective 1 October 2026. Beyond that fee, budget for a registered agent, any legal help drafting your operating agreement or bylaws, and the ongoing cost of running compliance in a state where you don't already have people on the ground.

If you're hiring one or two people to test the Louisiana market, that overhead rarely pays for itself quickly. If you're building a real office with dozens of hires planned, it usually does.

An employer of record is sometimes the better answer, not a lesser one, especially for a small or still-changing headcount, or when you're testing whether Louisiana is even the right market. Talk to a member of the team about your actual plans, and if you want the numbers side by side, run them through the crossover calculator, since the right answer depends on your entity costs and how long you intend to stay.

When Louisiana stops being a test and becomes a real operating base, Teamed's GEMO service is ready. It sets up and manages your own Louisiana entity, and moves your people across from Teamed's EOR when you're ready. It's the same team and process across 100+ countries, so the migration follows a pattern Teamed has already run many times over.

A company formed in another state or another country does not need a second company to hire in Louisiana. It registers with the Louisiana Secretary of State as a foreign company before it starts doing business there, a step usually called foreign qualification.

Louisiana law sets the test for what counts as doing business in the state, and putting employees to work there on a regular basis will usually meet it. States give the filing different names, among them a certificate of authority and an application for registration.

In Louisiana, the filing is an Application of Foreign Corporation for Certificate of Authority. The Louisiana Secretary of State charges a corporation $155 to file it, according to its published fees. It does not cover the cost of a registered agent, or of a certificate of good standing from your home state if one is needed. An LLC formed elsewhere goes through a similar filing, and its fee can be different.

Foreign qualification does not make you an employer in the state. That is a separate registration with the state tax and unemployment insurance agencies, due by the state's own deadline, which usually falls at or soon after your first payroll there.

There are four routes to a company in Louisiana, and which one fits depends on whether it will have employees.

You can file the formation documents yourself with the Louisiana Secretary of State. That suits a founder with no staff and the time to work through the forms.

A formation agent is the quick, cheap way to get the company registered. It suits a company that will not employ anyone.

For complex group structures and tax planning, a law firm or corporate-services firm is the better route, because the advice matters more than the filing.

For companies that will employ people in Louisiana, Teamed is the best choice. Teamed clients get real HR and legal experts you can reach when it matters, pricing with no hidden costs and Ted, Teamed's AI agent, to answer questions from your live employment data. Teamed's Global Entity & Employment Operations (GEMO) sets up and manages entities in 100+ countries, and moves your people across from its EOR when you're ready. Teamed already owns an entity in the United States.

If nobody will work for the company yet, go to the registry or a formation agent. It will cost you less than we would.

Figures on this page come from the Louisiana Department of Revenue and the Louisiana Secretary of State.