Work in Louisiana, Live in Texas: How Your Pay Is Taxed

Reciprocity

Do Louisiana and Texas have a tax reciprocity agreement?

No. Louisiana and Texas have no reciprocity agreement, and because Texas levies no personal income tax, one would offer nothing here. Louisiana taxes nonresidents on income from services rendered in the state, so your employer withholds Louisiana tax on pay for work done in Louisiana, apart from the short-stay exemption described below.

The practical result is straightforward: Louisiana taxes your wages for work performed inside the state, Texas taxes nothing, and you file one state return. There is no double taxation and no credit to claim, because only one state has a tax on the income. Louisiana's credit for taxes paid to other states is for Louisiana residents and does not apply to you as a Texas resident.

Filing

Which tax return does a Texas resident file for a Louisiana job?

You file Form IT-540B, the Louisiana Nonresident and Part-Year Resident Individual Income Tax Return. The 2025 instructions state that a nonresident with income from Louisiana sources who is required to file a federal individual income tax return must file a Louisiana return reporting income earned in the state. You also need to file to get back Louisiana tax that was over-withheld. Your only other return is federal Form 1040; Texas has no income tax return.

Louisiana's filing deadline is May 15: the 2025 return is due by May 15, 2026. If you cannot file by then, you do not need to ask for an extension, because Louisiana automatically grants six months, to November 16, 2026. The extension covers filing only, so any tax owed is still due by May 15; send it with the extension payment voucher, Form R-2868V. Free internet filing is available for most Louisiana taxpayers through the Louisiana Taxpayer Access Point (LaTAP).

The math

How does Louisiana figure tax on a nonresident's pay?

Louisiana replaced its graduated brackets with a flat 3% rate for taxable periods beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and the 2026 estimated tax instructions confirm 3% for 2026. The former rates of 1.85%, 3.5% and 4.25% no longer apply, and the law that cut rates when revenue benchmarks were met has been repealed.

The standard deduction for 2025 is $12,500 for single or married filing separately and $25,000 for married filing jointly, head of household or qualifying surviving spouse. It is adjusted each year for inflation: for 2026 the Department lists $12,875 single and $25,750 married filing jointly. The extra $1,000 deductions for the blind, people 65 and older and dependents were repealed.

On the 2025 Form IT-540B, nonresidents compute the tax like this:

• Line 7: federal adjusted gross income from all sources.
• Line 8: Louisiana adjusted gross income (wages and other income earned in Louisiana).
• Line 9: divide Line 8 by Line 7, carried to two decimal places. When all your income is from Louisiana, the ratio is 100%.
• Line 10: the full standard deduction for your filing status. It is not prorated; only excess itemized deductions (Line 11D) are multiplied by the Line 9 percentage.
• Line 12: Louisiana taxable income, Line 8 minus Lines 10 and 11E, never below zero.
• Line 13: multiply Line 12 by .03 and round to the nearest dollar.

This is general information, not tax advice.

Payroll

What should your Louisiana employer withhold?

If your Louisiana work goes beyond the short-stay limit, your employer withholds Louisiana income tax from each paycheck: every employer with employees performing services in Louisiana must withhold unless specifically exempt. You give the employer Form L-4; if you do not, the employer must withhold without any standard deduction, which takes more from each paycheck. Nothing is withheld for Texas.

Louisiana has a short-stay rule for nonresidents. For 2026, a nonresident's wages are exempt from Louisiana income tax when the work in Louisiana lasts 30 or fewer days in the calendar year and the other conditions are met: the person also works in other states during the year, has no other income from Louisiana sources, and is not paid as a professional athlete, member of a professional team's staff, professional entertainer, public figure or qualified production employee. Act 382 of 2025 raised the limit from 25 days and repealed the old condition about the home state's tax, for tax periods from January 1, 2026. The rule itself dates from Act 383 of 2021 (Senate Bill 157).

Once you pass 30 days, the employer must withhold for every day that year, including the first 30. A day counts as a Louisiana day only if you do more of that day's work in Louisiana than in any other state, and time in transit is not counted.

Remote work

What if you work from home in Texas some days?

Days you work remotely from your Texas home are not Louisiana-source income. Louisiana taxes nonresidents on income from services rendered within the state, so if you split your week between a Louisiana office and a Texas home office, only the Louisiana days generate taxable wages.

Your employer should track work locations and report only the Louisiana share in the state wages box of your W-2. Keep your own calendar of where you worked each day. Every day you can document as a Texas workday lowers your Louisiana tax, and because Texas collects no income tax, that income is not taxed by either state. Remote days performed from Texas are not pulled into Louisiana income simply because the employer is located there. Confirm the allocation with payroll early in the year rather than waiting for the W-2.

Example: full-time Louisiana worker, single, $60,000 salary

Texas resident earning all wages in Louisiana, tax year 2026, with the 2026 standard deduction from the IT-540ES instructions and the 3% rate. The 2026 Form IT-540B is not published yet, so line numbers may change. For tax year 2025 the same wages give $1,425 ($47,500 x 3%). Approximate.

Corrections

What if Louisiana tax was withheld on pay earned in Texas?

Ask your employer to correct the allocation. If your W-2 overstates Louisiana wages because remote days in Texas were coded as Louisiana days, the employer should issue a corrected Form W-2c to you and to the Department of Revenue. Then file Form IT-540B reporting only the accurate Louisiana portion. Any Louisiana tax withheld beyond what you owe comes back as a refund, which is one reason to file even when the tax is small.

Also ask payroll to fix the work-location coding going forward so the same error does not repeat in the next tax year. If the employer will not correct the W-2, you can still file IT-540B with the accurate Louisiana income; keep your work-location records in case the Department asks for them.

Moving

What if you moved between Texas and Louisiana this year?

A mid-year move changes how you file. Louisiana residents are taxed on all income, regardless of where it was earned, while nonresidents owe tax only on Louisiana-source income. If you moved from Texas to Louisiana, you file as a part-year resident on Form IT-540B and mark the Part-Year Return box. You report all income earned while a Louisiana resident plus any Louisiana-source income earned while still a Texas resident.

Moving from Louisiana to Texas works the same way in reverse. You report income through the date you left Louisiana as a resident and any Louisiana-source income after the move. The standard deduction on Line 10 is the full amount for your filing status.

Residency turns on domicile, but Louisiana also treats as a resident anyone who keeps a permanent place of abode in the state or spends more than six months of the tax year there. Keep your Texas lease or closing documents, your Texas driver license date and updated voter registration as evidence of the change.

Deadlines and extras

Are there estimated payments or local taxes to watch?

If your Louisiana withholding will not cover your tax, the 2026 estimated tax instructions require estimated payments when your Louisiana tax after credits and withholding can reasonably be expected to exceed $1,000 for a single filer or $2,000 for joint filers. Payments are sent with Form IT-540ES, the Louisiana Estimated Tax Declaration Voucher. Form R-2868V is only for paying a balance when you use the automatic extension, and that payment is due by May 15.

We found no parish or city income tax on wages in Louisiana's official tax guidance for individuals; the 3% state rate is the income tax on your Louisiana paycheck.