December feels great in the bank account. January is when the bill for December arrives.
If you run a shop, a restaurant, a salon, or a service business in south Louisiana, small business cash flow swings harder between Thanksgiving and the end of January than at any other point in the year. You buy inventory and add hours in October and November. You collect hard in December. Then January hands you a parish tax bill, a federal estimated payment, and a sales tax remittance on your biggest sales month, all while customers go quiet.
The good news is that almost every one of those January outflows has a date on it already. You can put real numbers against them in October and stop guessing.
The January bills that are already on your calendar
These are fixed dates. Write them on the wall now.
December 31, 2026 (Thursday): parish property taxes. In East Baton Rouge Parish, payments go to the Sheriff and Tax Collector by December 31 to avoid penalties and interest, and tax bills are generally mailed around the last week of November. That leaves about five weeks between the bill landing and the money leaving.
January 1, 2027: occupational license renewal. Renewal of most occupational licenses are due January 1 and becomes delinquent March 1, and the renewal amount is based on your business activity for the previous year. So a strong 2026 produces a bigger 2027 license bill. The City or Parish Finance Department Revenue Division collects it.
January 15, 2027 (Friday): fourth quarter estimated tax. The fourth quarter 2026 estimated payment is due from individuals, sole proprietors, partners, and S corp owners on Form 1040-ES.
January 20, 2027 (Wednesday): December sales tax. Louisiana sales and use tax is due on the 20th day of the month following the taxable period. Your biggest collection month gets remitted in your slowest month. In Baton Rouge that money is big: the combined rate is 10.5%, made up of the 5% state rate and 5.5% local.
February 1, 2027: payroll filings. Form 941 for the fourth quarter, W-2s, and 1099-NECs are due February 1, 2027, because January 31 falls on a Sunday.
One more that catches employers every year. The state unemployment wage base resets on January 1, so you start paying unemployment tax on every employee’s first dollars again. Louisiana’s 2026 wage base is $7,000 per employee. Q1 payroll costs more than Q4 payroll for the same crew.
What a Baton Rouge retail quarter actually looks like
Here is an example shop in Baton Rouge. The inputs are made up, but the shape is one we see every year. Sales are shown before tax, and the shop collects 10.5% on top.
| Line | November | December | January |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales before tax | $85,000 | $150,000 | $60,000 |
| Sales tax collected (10.5%) | $8,925 | $15,750 | $6,300 |
| Total cash in | $93,925 | $165,750 | $66,300 |
| Inventory purchases | $70,000 | $40,000 | $20,000 |
| Payroll including seasonal help | $22,000 | $30,000 | $20,000 |
| Rent, utilities, insurance, other | $14,000 | $14,000 | $14,000 |
| Sales tax remitted (prior month) | $7,350 | $8,925 | $15,750 |
| Property tax (Dec 31) | – | $6,000 | – |
| Q4 estimated tax (Jan 15) | – | – | $9,000 |
| Total cash out | $113,350 | $98,925 | $78,750 |
| Net cash for the month | ($19,425) | $66,825 | ($12,450) |
Three things jump out.
The quarter is fine. Net cash across the three months is a positive $34,950. The trouble is the order it arrives in.
November is the real squeeze, not January. The shop spends $70,000 on inventory before the register ever rings. Start that month with $25,000 in the bank and you end it with $5,575.
And December’s $66,825 is not $66,825 of profit you can spend. $15,750 of it belongs to the state and the parish on January 20, and $9,000 goes to the IRS on January 15. The occupational license renewal is still coming in February on top of that.
Six moves that work, and the one that backfires
Start with the sales tax account. Sweep the tax you collect into a separate bank account the same week you collect it. Most January cash emergencies we see are not bad sales. They are owners who spent money that was never theirs.
Build a thirteen-week cash forecast, by week, not by month. October through the end of January is almost exactly thirteen weeks. Monthly forecasts hide the problem, because the $70,000 inventory order and the $8,925 tax payment can land in the same week.
Invoice early if you bill other businesses. Get December work invoiced by the 15th. After that, the person who approves your invoice is out until the first week of January, and your money sits in their queue.
Ask suppliers for January terms in October, while you are placing the big order and you are their favorite customer. Extended dating on a holiday restock is a normal ask. It is a much harder ask on January 8.
Set up a line of credit before you need it. Banks underwrite on last year’s numbers and this year’s interim statements. In October those look like a good year. In late January they look like a slow month.
Decide December bonuses and equipment buys with the January column in front of you, not the December one.
Here is where we will disagree with the advice you will hear at every holiday party. Buying a truck or equipment in December purely to cut your tax bill is the single most common January cash mistake in our experience. The deduction returns cents on the dollar. Louisiana’s individual income tax rate is a flat 3 percent, and your federal rate depends on your taxable income, so even in a high bracket you are getting back well under half. The cash goes out at 100 cents. Buy the equipment if you need the equipment. If you use credit to buy equipment or a vehicle, the cash flow is positive so long as you don’t put down a big down payment. Example: $10,000 deposit on a $75,000 vehicle. State income tax reduction is $2,250 (3% of $75,000) and the federal reduction is $18,000 (24% assumed rate times $75,000 Sec. 179 deduction) for a combined tax reduction of $20,250. Less the $10,000 down payment, you’re net cash positive by $10,250. It works better if you have a trade in and put nothing down.
If you operate in more than one parish
This is where business owners get tripped up, because the rules change at the parish line.
Sales tax rates differ by delivery address. The most common combined rate in East Baton Rouge Parish is 10.5%, Ascension Parish is commonly 9.5%, and Livingston Parish is commonly 10.5%, with higher rates inside certain districts. A shop in Baton Rouge and a second location in Prairieville collect at two different rates, and your January remittance has to split correctly.
Occupational license taxes are local too. The East Baton Rouge tax is levied on each business conducting business within the City of Baton Rouge or the Parish of East Baton Rouge. If you also have a location in Denham Springs, Gonzales, or Covington, that is a separate local filing with its own form and its own due date.
Filing itself has been changing. Louisiana rolled out a uniform combined state and parish sales tax return, first available February 1, 2026 for January 2026 periods, letting sellers report state and all local tax on one return instead of parish by parish. Worth confirming how your account is set up before the January filing, not during it.
When none of this is worth the trouble
If your revenue is flat month to month, skip the thirteen-week forecast and just date the five obligations above on a calendar. A law practice, a staffing firm, or a B2B shop on monthly retainers does not have this problem.
If January is your busy season, like a gym, a tax office, or a roofer catching up on storm work, your cash crunch is in July, and the same exercise applies to a different quarter.
And if you hold three months of operating expenses in cash already, this is a half hour with a calendar, not a project. The owners who need the full forecast are the ones carrying inventory, paying seasonal labor, or running a payroll that does not shrink when sales do.
Frequently asked questions
When is December sales tax due in Louisiana?
December 2026 sales tax is due January 20, 2027, which is a Wednesday. The return is due on or before the 20th day following the period and becomes delinquent the first day after, with weekend and holiday due dates moving to the next business day. Most jurisdictions require filing and paying online by the 20th to avoid late penalties and interest.
When are most property taxes due?
December 31. The Sheriff’s Office generates the tax bills from Assessor data, and payments are due to the Sheriff and Tax Collector by December 31 to avoid penalties and interest.
Do I still owe the occupational license renewal if my sales dropped?
Yes. The renewal is due January 1 and becomes delinquent March 1, and it is based on your prior year’s business activity, not the current year.
How much cash should I have on hand going into January?
Our rule of thumb: enough to cover January’s fixed costs plus the January 15 estimated payment and the January 20 sales tax remittance, with eight weeks of operating expenses as the target for a seasonal business.
Can I skip the January 15 estimated payment?
Sometimes. If you file your 2026 Form 1040 by February 1, 2027 and pay the entire balance due with it, the January 15 payment is not required. That only works if your books are closed and complete by then, which is a tall order in a month you are also filing W-2s.
Talk with Strategic Business Advisors
Cary Prejean, CPA, builds the cash forecast with you, separates the money that belongs to the state from the money that belongs to you, and puts the December and January decisions on paper before you have to make them in a hurry. If you would rather know your January number in October, call (225) 931-7453 or use the contact page.
This article reflects federal, Louisiana, and East Baton Rouge Parish rules as of October 2026. Talk to a tax professional about your situation.
Sources
- East Baton Rouge Parish Assessor, General Information
- City of Baton Rouge, Occupational License Tax
- City of Baton Rouge, Occupational License Renewal FAQs
- Louisiana Department of Revenue, Sales and Use Tax due date
- Louisiana Department of Revenue, Form R-1029 Sales Tax Return
- Louisiana Workforce Commission, Unemployment Insurance Tax Rates
- Avalara, Baton Rouge sales tax rate 2026
- Kintsugi, Louisiana sales tax rates and filing 2026
- 2027 small business tax calendar