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Louisiana Retirement Income Tax Calculator

Louisiana exempts Social Security and gives each owner 65+ a $12,324 retirement exemption, then taxes 3%.

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Louisiana resident retirement worksheet

Use the year income is received, not the filing year. Later years use a separately approved assessment until the next return rules are verified.

Prepared positive Louisiana income after basis, other current-year modifications and all already-exempt benefits / qualified public-plan payments, before the age-65 annual retirement exemption, standard deduction and separately displayed excess medical deduction. Approve actual pension / annuity / IRA recipient classification, tax-year age, federal-matching filing status and any community-property allocation. No unresolved part-year / nonresident source allocation, income losses or special distribution taxation.

Use the actual federal status as required by Louisiana law. The September 28 bulletin gives $12,838 for single / separate and $25,676 for joint / head / qualifying survivor. Separate returns require independently approved community-property income and recipient ownership; changing this selector does not prepare allocation.

Already excludes approved Social Security, qualified railroad / federal / listed public retirement and other approved state modifications, except the separately displayed excess medical deduction. Includes only still-taxable income and the annual retirement subsets below. Do not subtract an already-exempt payment a second time.

Age 65 or older is required for this annual retirement exemption. Approve the actual year’s age designation. This does not reinstate the repealed additional $1,000 age exemption.

Included pension / annuity / IRA retirement received by the actual plan participant, named annuitant / distributee or independently approved QDRO / survivor recipient. This owner’s amount, after state basis and allocation, shares one $12,324 allowance. Exclude payments already removed under another exemption. A nonparticipant spouse’s reported community-property share is not automatically this spouse’s qualifying retirement.

Approve this recipient’s age separately; joint filing does not make a younger spouse eligible.

Separately approved recipient amount, not an unused portion of your allowance. A spouse receiving only already-exempt Social Security has no taxable annual retirement to place in this field.

Enter only the independently prepared allowed excess federal itemized medical deduction after applicable federal limitations and the actual federal standard-deduction comparison. Zero confirms none. Do not enter gross medical spending, all federal itemized deductions or an amount already removed from prepared income.

Prepare the allowed dollar reduction after actual eligibility, credit ordering, current-year limits and carryforward rules. Withholding, refundable credits, use tax and other fees remain separate. Blank leaves after-credit tax unresolved.

Louisiana · 2026 estimate

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Louisiana 2026 ordinary estimate before credits —
Your eligible annual retirement exclusion
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Spouse’s eligible annual retirement exclusion
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Total displayed annual retirement exclusions
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Income after displayed annual retirement exclusions
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Published 2026 Louisiana standard deduction
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Approved excess medical deduction
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Modeled nonnegative taxable income
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Estimate after approved nonrefundable credits
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Calculation scopeConfirm full-year residence, actual recipient ownership and prepared Louisiana income

Illustrative defaults. Enter approved taxable amounts and confirm eligibility. The result covers the displayed worksheet conditions; a complete return may require other income, adjustments, deductions or credits.

Tax year 2026: September 28 RIB 26-019 publishes $12,324 owner retirement exemption and $12,838 / $25,676 standard deductions. Adopted September 20 rule confirms ownership and community-property limitations; current R.S. 47:32 gives the 3% rate. This cent estimate is separate from final whole-dollar return rounding and credit ordering and payment settlement. Reviewed October 2, 2026.

Reviewed October 2, 2026. Louisiana 2026 retirement tax: indexed allowances and actual recipient ownership

What Louisiana taxes in retirement

Partly taxed: limits by age, plan, owner or income apply. Military retirement is covered in the guide. How these labels work.

Louisiana 2026 retirement tax: indexed allowances and actual recipient ownership

Estimate Louisiana retirement tax at 3%, with verified 2026 deductions, separate $12,324 age-65 allowances and approved medical deductions and credits.

Louisiana’s September 28, 2026 Revenue Information Bulletin 26-019 publishes the actual annual amounts: a $12,324 retirement exemption per eligible individual, a $12,838 standard deduction for single or married-separate returns, and $25,676 for joint, head-of-household or qualifying-survivor returns. The current ordinary rate is 3%. January withholding estimates and the 2025 resident booklet contain different deduction amounts; they are not the published 2026 annual figures. Use the same filing status as the federal return.

Keep Social Security, qualified railroad benefits and approved federal or specifically exempt public-plan retirement outside the prepared income input. Louisiana’s instructions identify LASERS, teachers, federal retirement and particular other systems exempt by law. A generic public-pension label does not prove exemption. The displayed annual retirement field contains only income still included after state basis, allocation and those other exemptions. Never deduct an already removed pension a second time.

The rule adopted September 20, 2026 requires actual recipient ownership and applies the age-65 limit to each eligible individual. Its Scott and Ellen example gives $12,324 for Scott’s $30,000 retirement and only $4,000 for Ellen’s $4,000 annuity. Their total exclusion is $16,324, not two full caps. A younger spouse does not inherit the other spouse’s age eligibility, and unused room cannot be lent between owners.

For married-separate returns, distinguish reporting community-property income from receiving the retirement as the qualifying participant. The adopted rule’s Alan example allows only the $5,000 annuity share actually reported on his separate return. Nonparticipant Leslie cannot claim the other $5,000 as her own annual retirement exemption merely because she reports the allocated income. Separation-of-property, qualified domestic relations orders and survivor rights require their own approved recipient records; a filing-status selector does not establish those rights.

Worked joint example: prepared Louisiana income of $60,000 includes $30,000 of eligible retirement for one age-65 owner and $4,000 for another. Subtract $16,324 of annual exemptions and the published $25,676 deduction to reach $18,000 of taxable income. At 3%, the ordinary estimate is $540 before credits or $440 after an independently approved $100 reduction. If the second owner is 64, their $4,000 remains taxable and the estimate becomes $660. Already-exempt benefits stay outside this example’s prepared income.

An excess medical deduction is separately prepared under R.S. 47:293: only the allowed federal itemized medical amount exceeding the applicable federal standard deduction qualifies, subject to federal limitations. Gross medical spending and all federal itemized deductions are not substitutes. Enter zero only when no additional amount is allowed. Other state modifications, basis, disability provisions, credit eligibility and community allocations remain prepared. The worksheet reports a cent estimate; the resident instructions round final return amounts to whole dollars and apply credit ordering, refundable amounts, withholding and payments separately. Unsupported source allocations, losses and special distributions require the full return.

Prepare these Louisiana records

Official Louisiana source. Actual 2026 September 28 inflation bulletin, September 20 adopted rule and current R.S. 47:32 / 47:293 / 47:294; continuing instructions are tax year 2025.

Calculate the federal portion separately

Use the federal retirement-tax worksheet to prepare federally included benefits and ordinary income. Its federal deduction and rates do not replace the Louisiana rules above.

Compare Louisiana with nearby states

Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi border Louisiana. Run each one’s worksheet with the same household figures before deciding where a move would leave you.

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Updated / verified · Retirement Income Tax Calculator Editorial Team