Annual Requirements for a Louisiana Nonprofit

The central state obligation for a Louisiana nonprofit is the annual report filed with the Secretary of State. It's due each year in connection with the anniversary of the corporation's formation, and it's filed through the geauxBIZ portal.

The report is administrative, not financial. You're not disclosing revenue, expenses, or program budgets. Instead, you're confirming and updating the state's basic record of the corporation:

• The registered agent and registered office address
• The principal office address
• The current directors and officers

Why it matters more than it looks

It's tempting to treat the annual report as a low-stakes formality, and in a good year it is. But it's the filing that keeps your corporation in good standing, and good standing is what banks, grantmakers, and government programs check before they'll do business with you. A lapsed annual report can quietly block a grant or a bank account long before it triggers dissolution. Because the deadline is tied to your formation anniversary rather than a fixed calendar date, put it on a recurring reminder so it doesn't slip.

Your registered agent is part of your annual compliance picture even though it isn't a once-a-year filing. Louisiana requires a valid registered agent at a physical in-state address continuously, and the annual report is where the state re-confirms that record.

If your agent has changed during the year — a director who served as agent left the board, the agent moved, or you switched to a commercial service — make sure the change is filed, not just noted internally. An outdated agent leaves the corporation exposed: legal papers could be served on an address nobody checks, and state notices about the annual report itself could go unread, compounding the problem.

Nonprofits that use a commercial registered agent largely take this item off their plate. The service keeps a stable address on file that doesn't change when the board turns over, so there's nothing to update most years.

Build a compliance calendar

The single most effective thing a board can do is maintain a simple compliance calendar. It doesn't need to be sophisticated — a shared document or a set of recurring reminders works fine. At minimum it should track the state annual report (tied to your formation anniversary), the IRS 990 deadline (the 15th day of the fifth month after your fiscal year ends), and any charitable-solicitation renewal. Assign one board member — often the secretary or treasurer — to own the calendar so responsibility doesn't diffuse into nobody. Most compliance failures aren't decisions; they're oversights, and a calendar is what turns an easy-to-forget obligation into a scheduled task.

This is the requirement that catches new boards off guard, because it comes from the IRS, not the state, and it's separate from the Louisiana annual report. Every recognized 501(c)(3) must file an annual information return.

Which 990 you file

• Form 990-N (e-Postcard) — for the smallest organizations, under the IRS gross-receipts threshold. It's a short electronic filing, free to submit.
• Form 990-EZ — for mid-size organizations within the applicable thresholds.
• Form 990 — the complete version of the return, used by larger organizations.

Your 990 is due by the 15th day of the fifth month after the close of your fiscal year — so a calendar-year nonprofit files by mid-May. The specific form depends on your gross receipts and assets.

The three-year revocation rule

This is the one to burn into every board's memory: an organization that fails to file its required 990 for three consecutive years loses its tax-exempt status automatically. There's no warning that stops the clock, and getting reinstated is a slow, paperwork-heavy process. Filing the 990 every year — even the free postcard — is non-negotiable for a 501(c)(3).

Depending on what your nonprofit does, several other requirements may recur on their own cycles. None apply to every organization, but each catches some.

Charitable solicitation

If your nonprofit solicits donations from the public, you may need to register and periodically renew a charitable-solicitation registration with the appropriate state office. This is separate from both the annual report and the 990, and it's easy to overlook when fundraising ramps up.

Payroll and employment filings

If you have employees, you carry the usual federal and Louisiana payroll tax obligations, withholding, and reporting — the same as any employer. These run on their own schedules independent of your nonprofit filings.

Licenses and permits

Program-specific licenses — for a childcare operation, a health program, a facility — carry their own renewal cycles. Track them separately from your corporate compliance.

Bylaws and board hygiene

Not a government filing, but part of staying legitimate: hold real board meetings, keep minutes, follow your bylaws, and revisit your conflict-of-interest policy. This governance discipline is what preserves both the liability shield and the exemption.

Missing an annual obligation doesn't cause instant catastrophe, but the consequences compound, and digging out is harder than staying current.

On the state side, a lapsed annual report costs you good standing and, if ignored long enough, can lead the Secretary of State to revoke the corporation's status and move toward dissolution. Reinstating a dissolved nonprofit means back filings, fees, and lost time — during which grants and bank relationships may stall.

On the federal side, the three-consecutive-years 990 failure triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status. Once revoked, the organization has to reapply to the IRS, and donations made during the revoked period may not be deductible.

The remedy is dull but effective: a simple compliance calendar. Note your formation anniversary for the state annual report, your fiscal-year-end plus five months for the 990, and any solicitation-renewal date. A nonprofit that never lets these slip never has to deal with reinstatement at all — which is exactly why Mainstay Filing tracks the state annual report deadline for the nonprofits we serve.