Louisiana does not have one statewide property tax rate. The Constitution sets the assessment percentage, the homestead exemption and the special assessment level for older and disabled owners, and every parish assessor values the property. Local governments then apply their own millage rates to the assessed value.
This guide uses the Louisiana Constitution and Revised Statutes as published by the Louisiana Legislature, the Louisiana Tax Commission’s appeal rules, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s ad valorem timetable and a House Fiscal Division explainer, all read on 2 November 2026. Several constitutional amendments go to voters at the 3 November 2026 statewide election, and two of them are already marked on the legislature’s own pages as taking effect only if voters ratify them, so the guide separates what applies now from what is conditional. It covers the assessment ratio, the homestead exemption, the assessment freeze, how millages are set, the four-year reappraisal, appeals and due dates.
Property is listed on the assessment rolls at an assessed value, which the Constitution sets as a percentage of fair market value, uniform across the state for the same class of property. The Constitution lists land at 10% and improvements for residential purposes at 10%. Bona fide agricultural, horticultural, marsh and timber lands are assessed at ten percent of use value rather than fair market value, and the legislature may provide the same for buildings of historic architectural importance.
Each parish assessor determines fair market value for all property in the parish. The exception is public service property, which the Louisiana Tax Commission values. The House Fiscal Division’s explainer summarises the structure as residential 10%, commercial 15% and public service 25%; the Constitution’s own table also lists electric cooperative property (excluding land) and "other property" at 15%, and public service property excluding land at 25%.
Because the percentage is applied to market value, a home worth $250,000 carries an assessed value of $25,000 before any exemption. The tax is the assessed value, less exemptions, multiplied by each taxing body’s millage rate (the House Fiscal Division gives the rule that one mill is $0.001, so 20 mills is $20 for every $1,000 of assessed value).
The Constitution exempts a bona fide homestead from state, parish and special ad valorem taxes to the extent of $7,500 of the assessed valuation. At the 10% ratio that is the first $75,000 of market value, which is how the House Fiscal Division describes it. The homestead can include up to 160 acres, and the exemption extends to a primary residence including a mobile home even where the owner does not own the land (it does not then apply to the land).
What it covers. The exemption does not extend to municipal taxes, with exceptions: in Orleans Parish it applies to state, general city, school, levee and levee district taxes, and it applies to any municipal taxes levied for school purposes. A homeowner in a city therefore generally still pays municipal millage on the full assessed value.
Who qualifies. The Constitution extends the exemption only to a natural person or persons and to a trust created by a natural person whose beneficiaries are natural persons. It extends to a surviving spouse or former spouse who occupies the home, to a trust where the settlors are the principal beneficiaries and occupy the home, and to usufructuaries. No more than one homestead exemption applies to any person in the state, and none is granted on bond for deed property (with a grandfathering exception for exemptions granted before 20 June 2003). The statute adds that you must own and occupy the homestead on or before 31 December of the calendar year in which the exemption is claimed.
Disasters. After a disaster or emergency declared by the governor, an owner who cannot occupy the damaged home can keep the exemption by filing an annual affidavit of intent to return and reoccupy with the assessor, within five years from 31 December of the year after the disaster, with further extensions the Constitution describes. The statute also sets penalties for knowingly false statements made to obtain an exemption: a fine of $100 to $500, imprisonment of one to six months, or both.
Residential property that receives the homestead exemption and is owned and occupied by an eligible person can have its assessment held at the total assessment of the first year the owner qualifies. The eligible groups are people who are 65 or older; people with a service-connected disability rating of 50% or more from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; members of the armed forces or Louisiana National Guard who are killed in action, missing in action or a prisoner of war for more than ninety days; and people permanently totally disabled as determined by a final non-appealable court judgment or certified by a state or federal agency.
Income limit. An applicant is barred if adjusted gross income on the federal return for the year before the application exceeds a limit. The legislature’s page shows two versions of that paragraph. Until 1 January 2027 the limit is $100,000, adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index beginning with tax year 2026. From 1 January 2027, upon ratification of the constitutional amendment proposed by Acts 2025, No. 220, the limit becomes $150,000, adjusted by the Consumer Price Index beginning with tax year 2028. This guide has not read a ratification result; check the Secretary of State’s results and your assessor before relying on the higher limit. Applicants filing married filing separately combine the adjusted gross income on both returns.
How to claim and keep it. The owner, the owner’s spouse or another legally qualified representative applies by filing a signed application with the assessor of the parish (in Orleans Parish, the assessor of the district where the property is located). An owner under 65 who has received the level can qualify the next year by certifying that the prior year’s income met the limit; that does not apply to an owner who qualified as 65 or older or as permanently totally disabled. The level stays on the property as long as the qualifying owner (or a qualifying surviving spouse) remains the owner and the value does not increase by more than twenty-five percent because of construction or reconstruction.
Sale and new owners. A new owner can claim the level when eligible but is not necessarily entitled to the same level. The level on property that is sold expires on the last day of December of the year before the sale, and the assessor revalues the property at fair market value. The Constitution adds that any millage rate applied to the special assessment level is not subject to a limitation.
All property subject to taxation must be reappraised at intervals of not more than four years. The House Fiscal Division adds that a property may be reassessed at any time. A Legislative Fiscal Office fiscal note dated March 2026 states that, under the present Constitution, the next quadrennial reappraisal and valuation will take place in 2028; your parish assessor confirms the schedule for your parish.
Phase-in for homesteads. In the year of a reappraisal, for residential property with the homestead exemption, if the assessed value rises by more than fifty percent of the previous year’s assessed value, the collector phases in the added tax over four levies: one-fourth of the increase is added to the prior assessed value in the first levy, one-half in the second, three-quarters in the third, and the full assessed value is used in the fourth. The phase-in stops on transfer of ownership, does not apply to increases attributable to construction or improvements, and the property cannot be reappraised again until the four years are complete.
Our own illustration of that rule, assuming a homestead whose assessed value goes from $10,000 (market value $100,000) to $20,000 (market value $200,000) at reappraisal:
| Levy after reappraisal | Assessed value used for the tax bill |
|---|---|
| First levy after reappraisal | $12,500 |
| Second levy | $15,000 |
| Third levy | $17,500 |
| Fourth levy | $20,000 |
This is our calculation from the constitutional formula, not a figure from an assessor. The phase-in applies only when the increase exceeds 50%; smaller increases take effect in full.
Louisiana has no single statewide property tax rate: the House Fiscal Division says the millage rate is established by local ordinance after approval of the local electorate, and that the tax on a property is the millage rate multiplied by the assessed value. Parishes, school boards, municipalities, levee districts and other local bodies can each levy their own mills, so two homes with the same value can have different bills.
After a reappraisal, the Constitution requires that the total ad valorem tax a taxing authority collects not be increased or decreased because of the reappraisal, so millages are adjusted to match the new tax base. A taxing authority may collect a larger dollar amount by levying additional or increased millages as provided by law, and may raise a millage above the adjusted rate, but not above the prior year’s maximum authorized millage, by a two-thirds vote of its total membership after a public hearing, with notice published on two separate days no less than thirty days before the hearing. The legislature’s page marks a revised version of that paragraph, which refers to the maximum authorized millage approved by the Constitution and the taxing authority until it expires, as taking effect 1 January 2027 upon ratification of the amendment proposed by Acts 2026, No. 273. The legislature’s digest of that Act describes its purpose as letting a taxing authority keep levying a lower millage without losing the ability to return later to the maximum authorized rate from a prior reassessment. This guide has not read a ratification result for it.
The Legislative Auditor’s timetable gives the calendar: tax recipient bodies furnish the assessor and the legislative auditor their millage resolutions by June 1 (September 1 in St. Charles Parish), and assessors file the parish tax roll with the Louisiana Tax Commission by November 15, which the Commission may extend.
This table is our own calculation, not a figure from any parish. It applies the 10% ratio and the $7,500 homestead exemption to four market values and uses 100 mills as a round illustration. Real millage varies by parish and by location within a parish, and the exemption does not apply to most municipal taxes, so use your tax bill for actual numbers.
| Market value | Assessed value (10%) | Assessed value after $7,500 exemption | Tax at 100 mills, no exemption | Tax at 100 mills, with exemption | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | $10,000 | $2,500 | $1,000 | $250 | $750 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | $12,500 | $2,000 | $1,250 | $750 |
| $300,000 | $30,000 | $22,500 | $3,000 | $2,250 | $750 |
| $500,000 | $50,000 | $42,500 | $5,000 | $4,250 | $750 |
At any millage the saving is $7,500 multiplied by the mills and divided by 1,000, so at 100 mills it is $750 and at 50 mills it would be $375, provided the home’s assessed value is at least $7,500.
Inspection period. The assessor must expose the assessment lists for public inspection each year. Outside Orleans Parish this is fifteen days, beginning no earlier than August 15 and ending no later than September 15. In Orleans Parish it is thirty-two calendar days, beginning no earlier than July 15 and ending no later than August 15. The Tax Commission’s rules add that in Jefferson Parish the lists open no earlier than August 1. The assessor gives notice of the dates under Tax Commission rules, so the exact days differ by parish.
Notice of increases. Under the Tax Commission’s rules, if a taxable assessment rises by fifteen percent or more from the previous year, the assessor must give notice on Form TC-2 before opening the lists for inspection. You can also ask the assessor in writing for notice of the current year’s assessment, but the request must be made no sooner than June 1 and received by June 15, and a missed notice does not extend the time for an appeal.
Board of Review. After the inspection period the assessor certifies the lists to the parish Board of Review, which holds public hearings and may increase or decrease an assessment. Outside Orleans Parish a complaint must be given to the board at least seven days before the public hearing, in person or by certified mail or fax received by then (the statute also refers to having timely filed any required business property reports), and the Tax Commission’s rules repeat that appeals must be received no later than seven days before the hearing. Hearing dates are published by the assessor and reported to the Tax Commission, so check them with your assessor.
Orleans Parish is different. There, a written complaint must be on the complaint form provided by the board through the assessor’s office, completed as the board requires, and received by the assessor’s office no later than three business days after the last day the lists are exposed (La. R.S. 47:1992(G)(2), repeated in the Tax Commission’s rules). The Orleans Parish board must convene its hearings on or before September 15.
Louisiana Tax Commission. A Board of Review decision is final unless appealed in writing to the Tax Commission within thirty calendar days of the earlier of actual delivery of the decision or its written transmission; the Board sends Appeal Form 3103.A with its notice. The taxpayer, the parish assessor and a bona fide representative of an affected tax recipient body can appeal. The Constitution provides that the assessor’s assessments are reviewed first by the parish governing authority, then by the Louisiana Tax Commission and finally by the courts. This guide does not cover the court appeal deadline.
Statutory impositions may be paid as soon as the tax roll is delivered to the tax collector and, except as otherwise provided by law, must be paid no later than December 31. Unpaid amounts are delinquent the following day and bear interest from the day after the due date at one percent per month or any part of a month, calculated on a noncompounding basis. If a tax lien is offered at a tax lien auction, a five percent penalty on the statutory impositions is added, and the lien is offered for sale if the total remains unpaid ninety days after it became delinquent.
If the Tax Commission makes an erroneous assessment adjustment, the taxpayer has fifteen days after receiving notice of the revised assessment to pay the adjusted amount without interest or penalty. The Legislative Auditor’s timetable shows November 15 as the date assessors file the parish tax roll with the Tax Commission, which is why bills usually arrive after that; your parish tax collector sends them.
The legislature’s text of the Constitution shows two changes that depend on voter ratification: the $150,000 income limit for the special assessment level (Acts 2025, No. 220, effective 1 January 2027 upon ratification) and the revised millage-increase paragraph (Acts 2026, No. 273, effective 1 January 2027 upon ratification). The legislature’s digests state that the millage amendment is submitted to voters at the statewide election of 3 November 2026, and press and ballot listings place the income-limit amendment on the same ballot. As of 3 November 2026 this guide has not found an official result, and the Secretary of State’s results page showed none when checked, so both versions are described above and nothing here assumes the outcome.
Two other 2026 amendments also touch homestead property and are described in the legislature’s digests as going to the same election. Acts 2026, No. 274 would let a parish or municipality, if its voters approve, give an additional exemption to homesteads of owners aged 65 or older who qualify for the special assessment level: $6,000 of assessed value at ages 65 to 68, rising to $30,000 at 81 and older, effective 1 January 2028. Acts 2026, No. 39 would let the surviving spouse of a deceased disabled veteran make a one-time transfer of the veteran’s expanded exemption to a new homestead, effective 1 January 2027. Neither changes the $7,500 exemption described above, and neither has a result this guide could read.
A broader proposal to move reappraisal from every four years to every five years and repeal the phase-in (HB 412) was still pending in committee on the legislature’s bill page when checked, so the four-year rule and phase-in above remain current law. Re-check the Constitution on the legislature’s website and the Secretary of State’s results before relying on any of these.