Louisiana State Income Tax Withholding

Reference Number: NFC-25-1746652359
Published: May 27, 2025
Effective: Pay Period 08, 2025

Summary

The State income tax withholding for Louisiana is being changed effective January 1, 2025. This update will include the following:

• Dependent exemptions are no longer claimed on the W-4 and are ignored.
• If a married employee claims only one standard deduction, one-half of the married standard deduction will be applied.

Changes to the Louisiana Department of Revenue's, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, Form L-4 (L-4):

• Newly added marital status elections are: 
  • Married Filing Separately.
  • Qualifying Surviving Spouse, or Head of Household.
• For withholding purposes, employees who elect Single or Married Filing Separately are treated as Single, and employees who elect Married Filing Jointly, Qualifying Surviving Spouse, or Head of Household are treated as Married.
• Any employee who claims zero standard deduction exemptions will be treated as having claimed no deduction.
• Block B, which contained the number of dependent exemptions claimed, has been removed from the W-4.
• Head of Household is treated as Married.

No action on the part of the employee or the personnel office is necessary.

Tax Formula

State Abbreviation:	LA
State Tax Withholding State Code:	22
Acceptable Exemption Form:	L-4
Basis for Withholding:	State Exemptions
Acceptable Exemption Data:	S/0/M, Number of Exemptions
TSP Deferred:	Yes
Special Coding:	None
Additional Information:	When the Employee Marital Status (EMPE-MAR- STAT) field is blank or invalid the default value used will be Single. The Employee No Personal Exemption (EMPE-NO- PERS-EXEMPT) is used as follows: 0 - no standard deduction is claimed 1 - standard deduction is claimed and will be applied based on marital status 2 - standard deduction is claimed and will be applied based on marital status Note: Any employee may claim two (2) personal exemptions. Employees claiming two (2) personal exemptions must use the Married taxpayer formula.

Withholding Formula (Effective Pay Period 08, 2025)

1. Subtract the nontaxable biweekly Thrift Savings Plan contribution from the gross biweekly wages.
2. Subtract the nontaxable biweekly Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan payment(s) (includes dental and vision insurance program and Flexible Spending Account — health care and dependent care deductions) from the amount computed in step 1.
3. Add the taxable biweekly fringe benefits (e.g., taxable life insurance) to the amount computed in step 2 to obtain the adjusted gross biweekly wages.
4. Multiply the adjusted gross biweekly wages by the number of pay dates in the tax year to obtain the gross annual wages.
5. Subtract the employee's standard deduction shown in the Standard Deduction Table below to determine the employee's taxable income.

Marital Status	Standard Deduction
No Standard Deduction Claimed	$0.00
Employee is SINGLE and claims standard deduction	$12,500
Employee is MARRIED and claims 1 standard deduction	$12,5001
Employee is MARRIED and claims standard deduction	$25,0002

1 If a married employee claims only one standard deduction, one-half of the married standard deduction will be applied ($12,500)
2 If claiming Head of Household or Qualifying Surviving Spouse, then the employee must use the Married  taxpayer formula to receive the proper credit for these two exemptions. See Note.

Note: If any employee elects two personal exemptions, they are directed, per the State of Louisiana guidance, to select Married (per L-4) as their Marital Status so that they will receive the proper credit for the two exemptions. (On the L-4, see Block A, paragraph 3; and step #3 below it).

6. Multiply the taxable income by 3.09% to get the annual tax.
7. Divide the annual Louisiana tax withholding calculated in step 6 by the number of pay dates in the tax year to obtain the biweekly Louisiana tax withholding.
8. Subtract any per-pay-period tax reduction amount elected by the employee from the above amount.
9. Add additional amount or percentage elected by the employee to the pay period tax calculated in the above step to determine the amount of tax to be withheld for the biweekly tax withholding.

Resources

To view the updated tax formula, go to the HR and Payroll Clients page from the MyNFC drop-down menu on the National Finance Center (NFC) Home page. Select the Publications tab and select Taxes from the Publications Library menu to launch the tax map. Select the desired State from the map provided for the formula.

Previous Tax Bulletin

Inquiries

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