Louisiana Certificate of Authority / Delaware LLCs
A Louisiana certificate of authority for a Delaware LLC
A Delaware LLC seeking a Louisiana certificate of authority budgets $185 for the application, $35 for the first Louisiana report and $50 for a short-form Delaware certificate, alongside Delaware's $400 annual tax. The first-year total is $670. Louisiana relies on the Delaware certificate to confirm the LLC exists, so that paper has to be clean and recent.
Delaware beside Louisiana
| Item | Delaware | Louisiana |
|---|---|---|
| Due date | June 1 each year | Each anniversary of the grant |
| Annual charge | $400 | $35 |
| If late | $200 added, plus interest | A revocation notice, then a cure period |
| Home paper | Short $50; long $175 | Required, 90 days old or less |
Choosing the Delaware certificate
Delaware prices two versions, a short one and a long one with the LLC's filings listed. Louisiana asks for existence or good standing, which the short version gives. Buy the long one only if a bank or buyer wants it. Whichever you choose, Louisiana wants an original signature, so we check the version you order against that requirement before filing.
Delaware tax is the gatekeeper
Delaware refuses other filings from an LLC whose annual tax is unpaid, and a long-unpaid LLC can drop off the register. Settle Delaware first.
Carrying Delaware facts into Form 972
Delaware supplies the name (with ending), the formation date and the home-state office. The principal business office, the Louisiana establishment, the registered office and agent, the business to be done and the members and managers come from the LLC. A Delaware LLC with many members attaches an addendum to item 10.
Delaware agent, Louisiana agent
The LLC's Delaware registered agent keeps a Delaware office. Louisiana needs its own agent with a Louisiana street address, and that address goes on the form as the registered office. See the agent page.
If the Delaware LLC renames itself
If the LLC renames itself in Delaware, Louisiana needs an amended application and proof of the change from Delaware. The state's file keeps showing the old name in the meantime. We quote that fee when you order.
Adding up the first year
$185 for the certificate, $50 for the Delaware paper, $400 for Delaware's tax and $35 for the first Louisiana report make $670. Our fee, rush tiers, a card surcharge and any outside agent's fee are not in that figure. A Delaware tax paid after June 1 adds $200.
Choosing between the certificates
The short form is the cheaper of the two, and Louisiana's form asks only for existence or good standing, which the short form states.
The two calendars
Delaware's tax lands on June 1 each year. The Louisiana report follows the date of your grant, so it moves with the application. Put both dates in the same place when the certificate arrives, along with the name of whoever is responsible for each.
Example: a Delaware LLC with a Baton Rouge office
A Delaware LLC opens a three-person office in Baton Rouge. It pays Delaware's tax, buys a short-form certificate, appoints a Baton Rouge law firm as agent and swears Form 972 with the firm the same day. The package goes in with $185. A year later the Louisiana report goes in on the grant anniversary, and Delaware is paid by June 1.
From Delaware to a Louisiana certificate
Pay the Delaware tax
$400, due June 1.
Appoint a Louisiana agent
A resident, a lawyer or an authorized company.
Buy the short-form certificate
$50; it must be 90 days old or less when filed.
Swear Form 972
The signer and the agent each appear before a notary.
File
$185 to the Commercial Division.
The first-year bill, line by line
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Louisiana application, Form 972 | $185 |
| Delaware short-form certificate | $50 |
| Delaware annual tax | $400 |
| First Louisiana annual report | $35 |
| Total | $670 |
Managers who live elsewhere
The person who signs Form 972 is a manager when the LLC is manager-managed and a member otherwise. Neither needs to reside in Louisiana or in Delaware, because the notary only witnesses the oath. The Louisiana agent swears in Louisiana.
What the purpose statement should say
Item 9 asks for the business the LLC will do in Louisiana. The description comes from the operating agreement and the plan for the Louisiana office. Keep it plain and consistent with what the LLC really does.
What a late Delaware tax does to the plan
A tax paid after June 1 costs $200 more and accrues interest at 1.5 percent a month. That is a Delaware cost, but it also puts the certificate at risk, so the sequence matters: pay, then order, then file.
Delaware LLC questions
Does Louisiana take the short Delaware certificate?
Its form asks for existence or good standing, which the short version gives.
Does the certificate change my Delaware tax?
No. The $400 stays due June 1.
Can a single agent serve both states?
Only one that is authorized in Louisiana and keeps a street office there.
Our fee and the state's
Get my Louisiana certificate
+ $185 Louisiana fee
- The Application for Authority to Transact Business in Louisiana, Foreign Limited Liability Company (Form 972), completed from your answers
- The registered agent's sworn acceptance, collected and attached with your home-state certificate
- A Louisiana registered agent and street office, supplied by us or by you
- The package sent to the Commercial Division, and the filed certificate returned to you
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
$199
Louisiana
Get my Louisiana certificateOur fee and Louisiana's $185 appear as separate lines 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
- Louisiana Form 972, application of a foreign limited liability company
- La. R.S. 12:1345, application for certificate of authority
- 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
- La. R.S. 12:304, application of a foreign corporation
- Delaware Code Title 6, chapter 18, subchapter XI (fees and annual tax)
- La. R.S. 12:1348, amended certificate of authority
- La. R.S. 12:307, amended corporation certificate
- Division of Corporations, pay taxes and file annual reports
Start your Louisiana application
Give us the entity type and where it was formed, and we begin drafting.