Louisiana income tax rate for 2025 and 2026: a flat 3%

Louisiana taxes net income at 3%, under R.S. 47:32 as rewritten by Act 11 of the 2024 Third Extraordinary Session. The flat rate replaced the old brackets of 1.85%, 3.5% and 4.25% starting with tax year 2025, and the Louisiana Department of Revenue (LDR) confirms it continues for 2026. No change is scheduled: the law that cut rates when revenue hit certain benchmarks was repealed, and a 2026 bill to phase the tax out (HB 411) stayed in committee.

A constitutional amendment on the March 29, 2025 ballot would have lowered the constitutional maximum rate from 4.75% to 3.75% and given people 65 and older an extra standard deduction from 2026. It failed, 64.7% to 35.3%, so that extra senior deduction does not exist.

A Louisiana return starts from federal adjusted gross income and subtracts the Louisiana standard deduction: for 2025, $12,500 for single filers and married filing separately and $25,000 for married filing jointly, heads of household and surviving spouses. It rises with inflation from 2026; LDR uses $12,875 and $25,750 for its 2026 withholding and estimated tax figures and says the official amounts may differ slightly. Your filing status must match your federal return.

Act 11 repealed the extra $1,000 deductions for dependents, people 65 and older and the blind, starting with 2025. Louisiana has no deduction for federal income tax (it ended after 2021), and its only itemized deduction is medical expenses above the federal standard deduction, which you can take on top of the Louisiana standard deduction.

For example, a single filer with $60,000 of wages for 2025 has $47,500 of Louisiana taxable income after the $12,500 standard deduction and owes $1,425, about 2.4% of wages.

The July 2025 federal tax law (Public Law 119-21) created deductions for 2025 through 2028 for qualified tips (up to $25,000), overtime pay (up to $12,500, or $25,000 joint), car loan interest (up to $10,000) and an extra $6,000 for people 65 or older. They are taken after federal AGI, on line 13b of Form 1040, and Louisiana starts from AGI, so none of them carries into the Louisiana return; the 2025 instructions have no line for them. Bills in 2025 to exempt tips and overtime from Louisiana tax did not leave the House Ways and Means Committee.

Louisiana exempts most retirement income, on Schedule E of the IT-540.

Act 11 also repealed a long list of older individual credits, many of which had already expired; earlier carryforwards can still be used.

Residents, part-year residents and nonresidents with Louisiana income file if they must file a federal return; file anyway to get back Louisiana tax withheld. Residents file Form IT-540; nonresidents and part-year residents file IT-540B, and a part-year resident can choose whichever return is better. Amended returns use the same forms. Louisiana has no city or parish income tax: its constitution bars local governments from levying one.

Louisiana’s due date is May 15, not April 15: 2025 returns were due May 15, 2026. May 15, 2027 falls on a Saturday, so 2026 returns should be due Monday, May 17, 2027. An automatic six-month extension to file applies with no form, to November 16, 2026 for 2025 returns, but tax is still due by the original date.

Check a Louisiana refund with “Where’s My Refund?” on LDR’s LaTAP site, linked from revenue.louisiana.gov/refund. You need your Social Security number, filing status and refund amount. Status updates nightly.

LDR says refunds come within 4 weeks for e-filed returns and 8 weeks for paper returns, and up to 16 weeks if a return is selected for review. Direct deposits can take up to three business days to post, and paper checks up to 30 days to arrive. First-time Louisiana filers get a paper check, not direct deposit.

Louisiana taxes residents on all income, wherever earned, and a temporary absence does not change your domicile: if you keep a home in Louisiana while working in another state, you are still a resident. Louisiana has no reciprocal agreement that we could find in LDR’s guidance; residents pay the other state’s tax and claim the Louisiana credit, which is allowed only if the other state does not give its own credit for Louisiana tax.

Nonresidents and part-year residents pay Louisiana tax only on Louisiana-source income, including Louisiana gambling winnings, using IT-540B. From 2026, a nonresident generally owes no Louisiana tax on wages for work in Louisiana until they have worked here more than 30 days in the year (up from 25 days). Resident active-duty service members can exclude up to $50,000 of military pay earned outside Louisiana after 120 consecutive days away.