Frequently Asked Questions About
Starting a New Hampshire LLC

There are various options when it comes to forming a business in New Hampshire. From a legal perspective, there are three main types of New Hampshire for-profit business entities: LLCs, S Corporations or C Corporations. At Incfile, we believe an LLC provides the right mix of liability protection and ease of administration for most entrepreneurs.

In order to create an LLC in the state of New Hampshire, there are some minimum requirements you must meet. These are a completed Certificate of Formation, a business name and a fee you pay to the New Hampshire Secretary of State. We recommend taking some other steps before formally starting your LLC:

• Research your target market to make sure there’s a demand for the products and services you provide.
• Read industry guides to give you a starting point in your niche.
• Create a comprehensive business plan that defines the most important aspects of your New Hampshire business.
• Write an Operating Agreement that covers how you will run your LLC.

After you’ve created your New Hampshire LLC, you will also need to review your business license requirements, understand ongoing filing needs, set up a separate business bank account and get an accountant.

In New Hampshire, you register a business by completing and filing your Certificate of Formation with the New Hampshire Secretary of State. You will need to gather information about your business, fill out the form and send it to the Secretary of State with your filing fee. This will formally create your LLC in New Hampshire.

You can file your Certificate of Formation on the Secretary of State website or mail it in. Alternatively, Incfile can guide you through every step of the process by getting details from you and filing the form on your behalf — for free! There’s no additional charge for our basic LLC filing service, so all you need to do is pay the New Hampshire state filing fee.

At the time of writing the fee charged by the New Hampshire Secretary of State is $102. You can always check the latest New Hampshire filing fees here. You may also be able to pay an additional fee for expedited filing through Incfile, which will create your LLC faster. The amount of the expedited fee may be dependent on how quickly you want your filing processed. Some LLC filing services do charge you extra to prepare and submit your filing documents, but at Incfile, we do this for free — so you only pay the state fee.

Once you’ve gathered all of your information together and filed your Certificate of Formation (or had Incfile do it for you), it can take 2-3 business days for the New Hampshire Secretary of State to legally create your LLC. If you pay an additional expedited fee, your LLC may be formed within a shorter time period.

The name of your New Hampshire LLC must be unique, so you’ll need to check if it’s already being used by another business. You can do that via the New Hampshire Secretary of State website, or by using our fast and simple Business Name Search tool.

There are a few ways to register your New Hampshire LLC name.

• If you’re creating a new business and your business name is unique in New Hampshire and meets state naming rules, you simply include it in your Certificate of Formation.
• If you want to change the legal name of your business, file a Certificate of Amendment with the Secretary of State.
• If you just want to do business under a different name, file a Trade Name Registration with the New Hampshire Secretary of State, or we can do that on your behalf.

If you want to prevent people from using your business name across the U.S., you can file a trademark for the name. We can help.

In other states, the formal documents that you file to form a corporation or LLC might be known as Articles of Incorporation. In New Hampshire, this document is called your Certificate of Formation, and it performs the same functions as the Articles of Incorporation.

No, the State of New Hampshire does not authorize the creation or formation of a Series LLC. A Series LLC is a special type of LLC where you create one “overall” business and then have individual, series LLCs within it, each counted as separate legal entities.

Yes, all legal business entities in New Hampshire, including LLCs, must have a Registered Agent at all times. Here at Incfile, we provide a free New Hampshire Registered Agent service for the first year if you file through us.

If you wish to change your New Hampshire Registered Agent you can do so by filing a Statement of Change with the Secretary of State. Here at Incfile, we provide a free New Hampshire Registered Agent service for the first year if you file through us. If you’ve been using a different Registered Agent and want to switch to us, we’ll file the Statement of Change on your behalf.

If you need to know the Registered Agent of a specific New Hampshire business, you can use a list of registered agents provided by the New Hampshire Secretary of State to search for a specific agent.

As an LLC, any business profits you earn will be reported on your personal 1040 filing and reported and taxed as “pass-through” income. You will typically need to pay:

• Self-employment or payroll tax on all business profits
• Federal income tax on profits after you meet your tax-free allowance
• Sales tax for selling taxable products and services

Lucky for you, no businesses in New Hampshire are required to pay sales tax. Why? Because the State of New Hampshire is one of the five states that doesn't levy a statewide sales tax. You will however need to pay various other business taxes.

The New Hampshire Business Enterprise Tax (BET) is a 0.75% tax assessed on gross receipts or the enterprise value tax base, which is the sum of all compensation paid or accrued, interest paid or accrued, and dividends paid by the business enterprise, after special adjustments and apportionment.

All businesses operating in New Hampshire are obligated to pay the BET unless they do not meet the filing requirement limits. BET is not required for businesses with less than $220,000 in gross receipts or an enterprise value base threshold of less than $111,000. Use this table provided by the NH Department of Revenue Administration to determine whether or not you are required to pay BET.

For taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2015, partnership returns are due on the 15th day of the 3rd month following the end of the taxable period. Corporate, proprietorship, fiduciary and combined returns are due on the 15th day of the 4th month following the end of the taxable period.

The BPT is an 8.5% tax levied on income from conducting business activity within the State of New Hampshire.

Any business organization, organized for gain or profit carrying on business activity within the State is subject to BPT. That being said, organizations with $50,000 or less of gross business income from all their activities are not required to file a return. For taxable periods ending on or after December 31, 2022, this filing threshold is increased to $92,000.

If you're operating a business in New Hampshire, you'll likely need a business license of some sort. The types of business licenses you need will vary depending on your type of business, industry, location and various other factors. We can research the types of business licenses you might need for you.