Louisiana Foreign Registration / Delaware LLCs
Registering a Delaware LLC in Louisiana
A Delaware LLC registering in Louisiana pays $185 for Form 972, $50 for a short-form Delaware certificate and $35 for the first Louisiana report, next to Delaware's own $400 annual tax: $670 in the first year. The certificate is the Delaware piece Louisiana cares about, and it should be ordered after the Delaware tax is paid.
Delaware and Louisiana side by side
| Item | Delaware | Louisiana |
|---|---|---|
| What it asks for each year | $400 tax | $35 annual report |
| When | By June 1 | On the anniversary of qualification |
| Late result | $200 penalty plus 1.5 percent monthly interest | Revocation process with sixty days to cure |
| Certificate | $50 short form, $175 long form | Needed with the application, dated within 90 days |
Which Delaware certificate to buy
Delaware sells two grades of certificate. The short form certifies existence and good standing; the long form adds a list of the LLC's filings. Louisiana's form asks for a certificate of existence or good standing, which is what the short form states. Buy the short form unless a lender wants the long one. Louisiana also asks that the certificate carry an original signature, so tell us which version you ordered and we check it.
Delaware tax first
An LLC that owes its Delaware annual tax cannot have other filings accepted until the tax is paid, and an LLC that never pays risks dropping off the Delaware register. That matters here because the certificate speaks to standing. Pay the tax before ordering the certificate, not after.
Putting the Delaware facts on Form 972
In item 1 goes the Delaware name, ending included, matched letter for letter to the certificate. Item 3 is the Delaware formation date, with the period of duration left empty unless the certificate of formation gives one. Item 4 is the principal office in Delaware. Items 5 to 8 are the business addresses and the Louisiana office and agent. Item 10 lists the members or managers, and a Delaware LLC with many members can attach an addendum.
Do not give Louisiana the Delaware agent
The Delaware registered agent's address is the LLC's Delaware office, not a Louisiana office. A common slip in Delaware filings is copying that address into item 7. Louisiana wants a Louisiana address in items 7 and 8, held by one of the three kinds of agent on the agent page.
A Delaware rename after you register
If a Delaware LLC renames itself after it has Louisiana authority, it files an amended application for authority in Louisiana, with a certificate or certified amendment from Delaware showing the change. Until then the Louisiana record shows the old name. We quote the amended application fee when you order.
The first-year total
Add $185, $50, $400 and $35 and you reach $670. Our fee, a commercial agent's charge, a rush tier and a card surcharge are not in the sum. A late Delaware tax payment adds a $200 penalty to that.
The year on a calendar
Delaware's tax is due June 1 every year, while Louisiana's report falls on the day your authority was granted. If you register in the spring, the two land close together and are easy to miss; if you register in the fall, they sit months apart. Put both on the same calendar the day the Louisiana grant arrives.
A worked example
A Delaware LLC sells equipment to Louisiana customers and keeps two employees in Baton Rouge. It pays its Delaware tax, orders a short-form certificate, asks a Baton Rouge firm to serve as agent and signs Form 972 before a notary with the agent. The package goes to the Commercial Division with $185. The next year it files the Louisiana annual report on the anniversary and pays Delaware by June 1.
Registering a Delaware LLC in Louisiana
Pay the Delaware annual tax
It is $400, due June 1.
Find a Louisiana agent
A resident, a Louisiana attorney or an authorized company.
Order the short-form certificate
It costs $50 and must be under 90 days old when filed.
Complete and sign Form 972
Sworn before a notary, with the agent acceptance.
File with the fee
$185 to the Commercial Division.
What if the Delaware LLC has a manager in another state?
The signer on Form 972 is a manager if management is vested in managers, and a member otherwise, and neither has to live in Louisiana or Delaware. The notary only has to witness the signature, so a manager can swear before a notary wherever the manager happens to be. The registered agent signs the acceptance in Louisiana.
Delaware-to-Louisiana questions
Does Louisiana accept a Delaware short-form certificate?
Its form asks for a certificate of existence or good standing, which is what the short form states.
Does registering in Louisiana change my Delaware tax?
No. The $400 tax stays due June 1.
Does one agent cover both states?
Only an agent that is authorized in both and maintains a Louisiana street office.
Our fee and Louisiana's
Begin my Louisiana application
$199
+ $185 Louisiana fee
- Form 972 completed in duplicate for the member or manager to sign
- A review of your home-state certificate against the 90-day limit
- A Louisiana registered agent and office that meet the statute, ours or yours, with the agent's notarized acceptance
- The package filed in Baton Rouge, then your grant of authority sent back
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
Louisiana's $185 is shown as its own line at checkout. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Sources
- Louisiana Secretary of State, forms and fee schedule
- Louisiana Secretary of State fee schedule effective 10/1/26
- La. R.S. 12:1345, application for certificate of authority
- Louisiana Form 972, application of a foreign limited liability company
- La. R.S. 12:1350.1, annual report
- Delaware Division of Corporations, LLC/LP/GP annual tax
- Delaware Division of Corporations fee schedule (PDF)
- Division of Corporations, certificates of status and entity status online
- Delaware Code Title 6, chapter 18, subchapter XI (fees and annual tax)
- Division of Corporations, pay taxes and file annual reports
- La. R.S. 12:304, application of a foreign corporation
- La. R.S. 12:1348, amended certificate of authority
- La. R.S. 12:307, amended corporation certificate
Louisiana paperwork, assembled for you
Give us the details and we prepare the form, the acceptance and the cover sheet.