Yes, there is a sales tax in Louisiana. The state charges 5 percent, and parishes, cities, school boards, and special districts add their own taxes on top, so the combined rate at the register usually falls between 9 and 13 percent depending on where you are. Louisiana’s average combined state and local rate is roughly 10 percent, which ranks first in the nation.
The State Rate
Louisiana’s statewide sales tax rate is 5 percent, effective January 1, 2025. It replaced the previous 4.45 percent rate after the Legislature passed Act 11 during the 2024 Third Extraordinary Session.1Louisiana Department of Revenue. Revenue Information Bulletin No. 25-007 – State Sales Tax Rate Effective January 1, 2025 The 5 percent applies uniformly across all sixty-four parishes and is administered by the Louisiana Department of Revenue.
Local Sales Taxes Add to That
Parishes, municipalities, school boards, and special districts each have independent authority to impose their own sales taxes under the Uniform Local Sales Tax Code, beginning at RS 47:337.1.2Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 47-337.1 – Uniform Local Sales Tax Code Multiple authorities often overlap in a single location, which is why the local portion can add several percentage points to a purchase. You might pay one rate at a store in one town and a noticeably different rate just across a parish line.
Which rate applies to a given sale depends on where you receive the goods. If you pick up an item at a store, the store’s location sets the rate. If the seller ships it to you, your delivery address does. When the delivery location is unknown, the seller uses your billing address, or as a last resort the seller’s own location.3Louisiana Department of Revenue. How Are Sales Sourced Repairs to physical property are always sourced to where the repair work happens.
What Louisiana Taxes
Louisiana casts a wide net. Sales tax applies to the sale, use, lease, rental, and storage of tangible personal property, plus a growing list of digital products and certain services.
Physical Goods
A “retail sale” covers any transfer of physical goods to someone other than a reseller. “Tangible personal property” is anything that can be seen, weighed, measured, felt, or touched: clothing, electronics, furniture, vehicles, and so on.4Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 47-301 – Definitions Leasing or renting those goods is taxable too, so monthly payments on a leased vehicle or piece of equipment carry the full state and local rate.
Digital Products
Louisiana now taxes products delivered electronically, including streaming video, downloaded movies, music, podcasts, e-books, digital codes, mobile apps, software downloads, and video games. The Department of Revenue has confirmed these are subject to both state and local sales and use tax.5Louisiana Department of Revenue. What Digital Products Are Subject to Sales and Use
A Short List of Services
Louisiana does not tax most personal or professional services, but it does tax several specific ones. Admissions to entertainment, athletic, and recreational events are taxable, as are participation fees, club and recreational facility access charges, and coin-operated amusement machines.6Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 47-301.3 – Taxable Services Hotel and motel room rentals are subject to the general sales tax plus separate local occupancy taxes.7Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 47-338.201 – Hotel Occupancy Tax
What’s Exempt
Several categories are exempt, and some exemptions that previously applied only at the state level now reach local taxes too.
Groceries
Food for home consumption, including bakery products, dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables, and packaged foods, is exempt from the state sales tax under RS 47:305.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 47-305 – Exemptions From Tax Beginning August 1, 2025, the exemption extends to local sales taxes as well, so most grocery purchases should be free of both.9Louisiana State Legislature. Legislative Fiscal Office – Food for Home Consumption Exemption Prepared food from restaurants and similar establishments is still fully taxable.
Prescription Drugs
Prescription medications and insulin, whether prescription or nonprescription, have long been exempt at the state level. Effective August 1, 2025, House Bill 606 extended that exemption to every local taxing authority in the state.10Louisiana State Legislature. House Bill No. 606 – Prescription Drug Exemption By 2026, a prescription filled at a Louisiana pharmacy should carry no state or local sales tax.
Inventory for Resale
Businesses buying inventory to resell can purchase it tax-free by giving the seller a Louisiana Resale Certificate (Form R-1064). Only registered Louisiana dealers that buy and sell tangible personal property qualify.11Louisiana Department of Revenue. Who Qualifies for a Louisiana Resale Certificate If the business ends up using an item instead of reselling it, it owes use tax on that item.
Manufacturing Equipment
Machinery and equipment used directly in manufacturing are exempt under RS 47:305.5. The 2025 reform consolidated the exemption into a single statute and expanded it to include computers and software that control heating or cooling systems for manufacturing equipment.12Louisiana Department of Revenue. Are There Changes to the Manufacturing, Machinery and Equipment Exemptions
Sales Tax Holidays
Louisiana repealed its general annual sales tax holiday, including the back-to-school holiday, effective January 1, 2025. The only remaining statewide holiday is the Second Amendment Weekend, which exempts eligible firearms, ammunition, and hunting supplies for one weekend each year. The 2025 event ran September 5 through 7; dates for 2026 had not been announced at the time of writing.13Louisiana Department of Revenue. Louisiana Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday
Buying From Out-of-State Sellers and Online Marketplaces
Out-of-state businesses must collect and remit Louisiana sales tax once their annual retail sales delivered into the state reach $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year. Louisiana eliminated its separate transaction-count threshold in 2023, so only the dollar amount matters now. Remote sellers register and file through the Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers, a single point of contact that handles both state and local tax for sellers who would otherwise have to deal with each parish directly.14Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 47-339 – Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers
Online marketplaces that facilitate sales for third-party sellers are treated as the dealer for each transaction. If the platform’s gross retail sales into Louisiana top $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year, it must collect and remit both state and local sales tax on behalf of its sellers, based on the delivery address.15Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 47-340.1 – Marketplace Facilitators Individual sellers whose transactions are handled entirely by a qualifying marketplace generally do not need to collect tax separately on those sales. Starting January 1, 2026, marketplace facilitators that handle short-term rental bookings must also collect local hotel and motel occupancy taxes through the same process.
Filing and Penalties for Businesses
If you collect Louisiana sales tax, state returns are filed through LaTAP, the Louisiana Taxpayer Access Point.16Louisiana Department of Revenue. How Can I Register for LaTAP Local returns typically go to the parish collector. Act 11 of 2024 made single-parish collection through one collector or a central commission mandatory for all taxing authorities within the same parish, though businesses still generally file separate state and local returns.17Louisiana State Legislature. Act No. 11 – 2024 Third Extraordinary Session
All returns are due by the twentieth of the month following the reporting period. Most businesses file monthly; some with lower volume may qualify for quarterly filing.
Louisiana charges 5 percent of the tax due for each 30-day period a return is late, up to 25 percent, and the same 5 percent per 30-day period on unpaid tax. Combined late-filing and late-payment penalties are capped at five 30-day periods per return, and total penalties from all categories cannot exceed 25 percent of the tax owed.18Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 47-1602 – Penalty for Failure to Make Timely Return Interest also accrues on the unpaid balance from the original due date until paid.