Louisiana tax filing: file LA state taxes online, Form IT-540, flat 3%

Do you have to file a Louisiana tax return?

You generally must file a Louisiana return for 2025 if you are required to file a federal return and you have Louisiana income, or if Louisiana tax was withheld from your pay and you want it refunded. Full-year residents file Form IT-540, and part-year residents and nonresidents with Louisiana-source income file Form IT-540B.

Because the standard deduction is now $12,500 for a single filer, a household with income below that amount generally owes no Louisiana income tax. The rules are published by the Louisiana Department of Revenue, and the state tax filing pillar compares Louisiana with the other states.

Louisiana tax rate and the 2025 reform

The biggest change is the rate itself. Through tax year 2024 Louisiana used three graduated brackets. Starting January 1, 2025 it applies one flat rate to all taxable income.

The rate cut came with a much larger standard deduction. Louisiana nearly tripled it, from $4,500 to $12,500 for a single filer and from $9,000 to $25,000 for a married couple filing jointly. Both amounts are now adjusted for inflation each year using the Consumer Price Index, with the first adjustment landing on January 1, 2026, so the tax year 2026 figures will be slightly higher.

Act 11 also paid for the change by repealing several old exemptions. The extra $1,000 deductions for dependents, blind taxpayers, and people 65 and older are gone, and those lines were removed from the form entirely. Louisiana had already dropped its unusual deduction for federal income taxes paid back in tax year 2022, under Act 395 of the 2021 session and Constitutional Amendment 2, so that is not part of the 2025 change. What survives is a narrow excess federal itemized personal deduction: since 2022 it only covers the amount by which your federal medical and dental deduction exceeds the federal standard deduction, which for most filers works out to zero. Louisiana keeps a refundable state Earned Income Credit worth 5 percent of your federal EITC, and it has no local or parish income tax on wages.

Social Security, retirement and dependents

Louisiana treats retirement income favorably. Social Security benefits are not taxed, and several kinds of pension income are exempt or partly excluded.

Doubling the annual retirement income exemption to $12,000 per person is one of the quieter wins in the 2025 reform, and like the standard deduction it is now indexed to inflation starting January 1, 2026. A retired couple who both turn 65 can exclude up to $24,000 of pension or IRA income between them before the flat 3 percent rate touches anything.

The dependent side moved the other way. Act 11 repealed the additional $1,000 exemptions for dependents, blind taxpayers, and taxpayers 65 and older, so those lines no longer appear on Form IT-540. Louisiana did keep its refundable Child Care Credit, though it is only refundable if your federal adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less, along with the School Readiness Credit. IRA and 401(k) withdrawals that are not covered by the retirement exclusions are taxed at the flat 3 percent rate. TaxFile applies the Social Security exemption, the retirement exclusions, and the credits you qualify for automatically from your federal figures.

Louisiana filing deadline, extension and filing online

Louisiana's deadline is May 15, 2026 for tax year 2025 returns, a full month after the federal April 15 date. This later deadline is one of the most common surprises for people who assume every state matches the IRS. Louisiana grants an automatic six-month extension to file, with no form to submit, moving the filing deadline to November 16, 2026. The extension is to file only, not to pay.

Any tax you owe is still due May 15, 2026, and interest runs on late payments. If you expect to owe when you file later in the year, Louisiana asks you to send an extension payment with Form R-2868V by May 15 so the balance does not accrue interest. Free filing and payment options are on the state LaTAP portal. Filing electronically is the practical default, and the Louisiana return builds directly on your federal figures. TaxFile prepares both from one pass:

• Upload or talk. Drop in your W-2s and 1099s and it reads them, or describe your year and it asks what it needs.
• Federal and Louisiana together. One set of documents produces both returns, with the flat 3 percent rate and the new standard deduction applied.
• Credits checked. It applies the Social Security exemption, the retirement exclusions, and the Louisiana Earned Income Credit where they fit.
• Error check, then you approve. Nothing is e-filed until you review and approve every line, through an authorized IRS e-file provider.

Pricing is $39 for a simple return, $89 self-employed, $199 business, plus $19 for each state return. There is no free tier. If your Louisiana income comes from contract or freelance work, self-employed tax filing covers Schedule C and Schedule SE in more detail. TaxFile does not e-file federal extensions or amended returns, and does not handle capital gains on Schedule D, rental income on Schedule E, or cryptocurrency. TaxFile is self-prepared tax software and does not provide personalized tax advice, and no refund amount is guaranteed.