Louisiana — Tax Residency Rule

Summary

Day route

More than 6 months of the taxable year

Abode route

A permanent place of abode in LA — no day count

Combined?

No — any one route is enough

Window

Taxable year (usually the calendar year)

Effect

Taxed on income from all sources (flat 3% since 2025)

Basis

La. R.S. 47:31(1)

Louisiana treats you as a resident if any one of three things is true: you are domiciled in Louisiana, you maintain a permanent place of abode there, or you spend more than six months of the taxable year in the state. Unlike New York-style statutory-residency rules, the days and the home are alternatives, not a combined test — a home in Louisiana can make you a resident on few days, and a long stay can make you a resident without one.

Who it applies to

This matters most if you are:

• A remote worker or contractor spending long stretches in Louisiana without being domiciled there.
• Someone who keeps a home in Louisiana while living or working mostly in another state or country.
• A person who moved to or from Louisiana mid-year and is unsure how the days add up.

It applies to individuals regardless of citizenship or visa status — the test is about domicile, a home and time in the state, not nationality.

The rule — and why it exists

La. R.S. 47:31(1) provides: “Every natural person domiciled in the state, and every other natural person who maintains a permanent place of abode within the state or who spends in the aggregate more than six months of the taxable year within the state, shall be deemed to be a resident.” That gives three independent routes:

• Domicile. Louisiana is your true, fixed, permanent home — resident regardless of days.
• Permanent place of abode. You maintain a permanent home in Louisiana — resident regardless of days. The statute does not define the term, so permanence is judged on the facts.
• More than six months. You spend more than six months of the taxable year in the state in the aggregate — resident with or without a home there.

The word "or" is the whole point. In Buese v. Department of Revenue (2015), the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals held that a taxpayer whose only permanent place of abode was in Louisiana was a resident from that date even if his time in the state fell short of six months, because “the statute is written in the disjunctive”.

Counting the days

1. 1Count each day you are in Louisiana during the taxable year (for most people, 1 January to 31 December). Days are aggregated, so separate visits add up.
2. 2The statute counts months, not days, and Louisiana publishes no conversion. Counted in the aggregate, the six shortest calendar months add up to 179 days (180 in a leap year); six consecutive months within one calendar year are at least 181 days (1 January to 30 June in a non-leap year).
3. 3A cautious count therefore treats day 180 as the point where "more than six months" may already be met, rather than relying on the 183-day figure used by other states.
4. 4Bounded's counter allows 179 days and flags day 180; in a leap year, when the six shortest months add up to 180 days, it allows 180 and flags day 181.
5. 5Louisiana does not define a partial day, so count arrival and departure days as Louisiana days.
6. 6Remember the day count only matters if you have no Louisiana domicile and no permanent place of abode there — either of those makes you a resident on its own.

Examples

Example 1 — resident by days and abode

You rent a year-round apartment in New Orleans and spend about 220 days in Louisiana this calendar year. Both the abode route and the six-month route are met, so you are a resident and Louisiana taxes your income from all sources for the year.

Example 2 — resident by days alone

You spend 200 days in Louisiana on a temporary project, staying in hotels and keeping no home there. In a 183-day-plus-abode state you would be outside the rule; in Louisiana, more than six months in the state is enough on its own, so you are a resident for the year.

Example 3 — resident by abode alone

You buy a house in Baton Rouge and make it your only home in June, but work travel keeps you in Louisiana for only about 120 days of the rest of the year. You are short of six months, yet a permanent place of abode is an independent route — as in Buese, you are a resident from the date the Louisiana home became your permanent abode.

Exceptions & edge cases

• Three routes, not one. Staying under six months only rules out one route; domicile or a permanent abode in Louisiana makes you a resident on any day count.
• "Permanent" is undefined. R.S. 47:31 does not define a permanent place of abode, so whether a second home or long-term rental qualifies is a facts-and-circumstances question. Keep evidence of where your real home is.
• Part-year residency. If you move into or out of Louisiana during the year, you may be a part-year resident, taxed as a resident only for the resident portion of the year.
• Two-state exposure. Meeting Louisiana's test does not erase another state's claim on you — you can be treated as a resident by more than one state at once, with credits sometimes easing double taxation.
• Recent reform. Act 11 of the 2024 Third Extraordinary Session replaced Louisiana's graduated rates with a flat 3% for taxable years beginning on or after 1 January 2025. It did not change the residency definition.

Common misconceptions

• "Louisiana is a 183-days-plus-a-home state." No — the home and the days are separate routes, and either one is enough.
• "Under 183 days means I'm safe." Not always — "more than six months" can be crossed before day 183, and domicile or a permanent abode ignores the count entirely.
• "Hotels keep me out." Only out of the abode route. More than six months in the state makes you a resident without any home there.
• "Only Louisiana income is taxed." A resident is taxed on income from all sources, not just income earned inside the state.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Louisiana Revised Statutes — R.S. 47:31, Individuals subject to tax
• Louisiana Department of Revenue — Individual income tax rates and brackets (flat 3% from 2025)
• Louisiana Department of Revenue — Revenue Information Bulletin 26-019 (2026 standard deduction)
• Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals — Buese v. Department of Revenue, No. 7511 (2015)