In Louisiana, each parish elects a tax assessor who sets the value of taxable property, and the parish sheriff bills and collects the tax everywhere except Orleans, where the City of New Orleans Bureau of Treasury collects it. To look up a property's assessed value, homestead status, or owner of record for tax purposes, go to the assessor of the parish where the property sits; to pay a bill, go to the sheriff (or, in New Orleans, the city). Deeds and mortgages are a third office's job: the clerk of court records them.
Who does what in Louisiana property tax
| Task | Office | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Value most taxable property | The parish assessor | La. Const. art. VII, §18 and §24 |
| Value public service property | Louisiana Tax Commission | La. Const. art. VII, §18(D) |
| Record deeds and mortgages | Clerk of court, as parish recorder | R.S. 44:71 |
| Bill and collect the tax (outside Orleans) | The parish sheriff | La. Const. art. V, §27; R.S. 13:5539 |
| Bill and collect the tax (Orleans) | City of New Orleans Bureau of Treasury | City of New Orleans |
| Review a disputed assessment | Parish governing authority, then the Tax Commission, then the courts | La. Const. art. VII, §18(E) |
Knowing which office holds which record saves trips. The assessor knows the value and the exemptions. The sheriff knows whether the bill is paid. The clerk of court holds the recorded act of sale that shows who bought the property and when, as the Louisiana property records page explains.
How assessments work
The assessor is elected. The constitution says "A tax assessor shall be elected by the electors of each parish" for a four-year term (art. VII, §24). Each assessor determines the fair market value of taxable property in the parish, except that qualifying agricultural, horticultural, marsh, and timber lands are valued at their use value, and public service properties are valued by the Louisiana Tax Commission (art. VII, §18(C), (D)).
Assessed value is a percentage of market value. Article VII, Section 18(B) sets the ratios: land and residential improvements are assessed at 10 percent of fair market value, electric cooperative property at 15 percent, public service property at 25 percent, and other property at 15 percent. Section 18(F) requires all property to be reappraised at intervals of not more than four years.
The homestead exemption reduces assessed value. A bona fide homestead that the owner owns and occupies is exempt from state, parish, and special ad valorem taxes "to the extent of seven thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation" (art. VII, §20(A)(1)). No person may receive more than one homestead exemption in the state. The exemption does not extend to municipal taxes, with two exceptions the constitution names: in Orleans it applies to state, general city, school, levee, and levee district taxes, and it applies to municipal taxes levied for school purposes.
An illustration of the arithmetic. Suppose a house and lot have a fair market value of $200,000. At the 10 percent ratio, the assessed value is $20,000. If the owner lives there and qualifies for the homestead exemption, $7,500 of that assessed value is exempt from the taxes the exemption covers, leaving $12,500 subject to those taxes. The tax itself is the assessed value times the millage rates that apply to that location, and millages differ from one taxing district to another. This example uses round numbers to show the method; it is not a figure for any real property.
Finding assessment records
An assessor's office is a public body under Louisiana's Public Records Law, which covers offices of parish government, and any person may obtain a copy of a public record unless the law makes an exception (R.S. 44:1, 44:31). Many assessors also put their records online. The Rapides Parish Assessor's website, for example, says the parish's "real estate records are available online and free to the public" and can be searched by name or address. It also offers a business personal property search and lets owners file certain assessment forms (it names LAT 5 and LAT 12) online, and it lists office hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (as the site read in October 2026).
To find the assessor for any parish:
- The Louisiana Assessors' Association says its public site is meant to help people locate "information on each of the sixty-four assessors in the state," and it posts a map of assessors' districts.
- The state's Local Louisiana parish profiles on louisiana.gov include an "Assessors" link among each parish's local contacts, pointing either to the assessor's own website or to the association's assessor page.
- This site's parish pages name the assessor's office where research has confirmed it, such as the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court, the Grant Parish Clerk of Court, and the LaSalle Parish Clerk of Court pages.
The assessment roll and the deed records answer different questions. An assessment shows the owner the assessor has on file for taxes and the value. The deed shows the legal transfer. Louisiana law requires an act of conveyance of immovable property filed with the parish recorder to name the person responsible for property taxes and the address where tax notices go (R.S. 9:2721(A)). If a tax notice is going to the wrong person or address, the assessor's office is the place to ask.
Challenging an assessment
The constitution sets the order of review: an assessment is "subject to review first by the parish governing authority, then by the Louisiana Tax Commission or its successor, and finally by the courts" (art. VII, §18(E)). Who that governing authority is depends on the parish (a police jury in Rapides, for example, and the New Orleans City Council in Orleans); the Louisiana parish government page explains the different forms.
Deadlines and filing steps are set by statute and are not listed on this page. The assessor's office can explain the current review schedule and the forms it uses. This is general information, not advice on whether a particular assessment is wrong.
Paying the bill and what happens if it is not paid
Outside Orleans, the sheriff is ex officio tax collector, so tax bills come from the sheriff's office and payments go there. Collection practices vary: the Grant Parish Sheriff's Office links an online payment service and says card payments carry a 3.5 percent fee with a $2.00 minimum, and the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's Office Tax Office lists the forms of payment it takes (both as read in October 2026). The Louisiana sheriff's offices page covers how to find any parish's sheriff.
Unpaid taxes do not cause an outright forfeiture. Article VII, Section 25 says "There shall be no forfeiture of property for nonpayment of taxes," but the assessment of ad valorem taxes on immovable property is a lien and privilege in favor of the taxing body, and the legislature provides for tax sales. The constitution caps interest on delinquent taxes at one percent per month, noncompounding, and the penalty at five percent, and it requires a period during which the lien cannot be enforced and a way to claim excess proceeds from a sale. The details are in statutes that change from time to time, so ask the tax collector about any delinquent bill. The Grant Parish Sheriff's Office, for example, posts a delinquent tax listing.
Orleans Parish
Orleans has one assessor, elected under Article VII, Section 24 "at the same time as the municipal officers of New Orleans." The City of New Orleans says the Orleans Parish Assessor certifies the tax roll to the city's Treasurer, and the city, not the sheriff, collects.
According to the city, property taxes are paid to the Bureau of Treasury at New Orleans City Hall, 1300 Perdido Street, Room 1W40, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:55 p.m., with checks payable to the City of New Orleans. Bills are mailed to the owner of record with the Orleans Parish Assessor's Office, generally in mid to late December, and a bill is still mailed when a mortgage lender pays the taxes from escrow. The city also says online electronic check payments carry no cost, while card payments carry a processing fee.
The city's explanation of the homestead exemption describes it as covering the first "$75,000 of market value (or $7,500 of assessed value)" of an owner-occupied primary residence. The constitutional measure everywhere in Louisiana is $7,500 of assessed valuation; the $75,000 figure is the city's market-value translation, which matches the 10 percent ratio for residential property. The Orleans Parish clerk of court page covers land records in New Orleans, which are recorded in that clerk's Land Records Division.