Starting an LLC in New Hampshire follows the same eight-step arc as every state: pick a name the state will accept, appoint a registered agent, file the formation document with the $100 state fee, then build the compliance layer that keeps the entity alive. This guide covers the New Hampshire-specific numbers and hands you the state's full resource set; the deeper national treatment of each step lives in the complete formation guide.
The Five Steps in New Hampshire
Two universal warnings apply with full force in New Hampshire. The state's name approval is not trademark clearance: run the USPTO check before you commit (see trademarking your name). And the EIN is free at the IRS, instantly, so never buy it from a lookalike site; the walkthrough is in the EIN guide.
What It Costs in New Hampshire
The formation filing fee is $100, paid once to the state. The recurring obligation is $100 per year, billed through the state's periodic report or franchise system. A commercial registered agent adds $100 to $300 per year if you choose one over serving yourself; File.Business charges $149 with the first year included in a New Hampshire formation. Where New Hampshire sits against all 50 states, and whether forming elsewhere could ever make sense (for most New Hampshire businesses: no), is covered in the cost breakdown and the best-state analysis.
Form your LLC
If you would rather not do this yourself, we prepare the articles, check name availability with the state, and file it for you. Or keep reading and file it on your own. This guide covers everything you need either way.
What Happens If the April 1 Report Slips
New Hampshire's recurring obligation is an Annual Report, due April 1, at $100 for an LLC. The late penalty is $50. The date is the first thing to notice: April 1 sits in the middle of the busiest fortnight in any small business owner's year, which is precisely why it gets pushed aside, and why the state sees the same lapse pattern every spring.
The arrears build in a straight line. Each missed year carries its own $100 report and its own $50 penalty, so the catch-up bill is $150 per year of silence:
| Years behind | Reports owed | Penalties | Total to become current |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | $100 | $50 | $150 |
| Two | $200 | $100 | $300 |
| Three | $300 | $150 | $450 |
At roughly 24 months delinquent the Secretary of State dissolves the entity administratively. The liability separation stops working from that point, the name is no longer held against the register, and the $5 Certificate of Good Standing that would normally settle any question about the company comes back saying the opposite of what a lender wants to read.
Two features of the cure deserve attention. First, reinstatement here requires tax clearance, so the Department of Revenue Administration has to be satisfied before the Secretary of State restores the record, and that dependency adds weeks that no filing fee can shorten. Second, the reinstatement window is 36 months from dissolution. That is a real deadline: past it the Application for Reinstatement is no longer available, the entity cannot be brought back, and the route forward is a fresh Certificate of Formation at $100 with a new formation date, new banking paperwork, and every licence and contract re-papered against a company that legally started this year. A business that has been trading for a decade does not want its register entry to say otherwise.
The whole exposure is removed by one date in a calendar. File in February, ahead of the April rush; if the business has genuinely stopped, close it with a $35 Certificate of Dissolution rather than letting it drift. The New Hampshire annual report guide covers the filing, the reinstatement guide covers the recovery, and compliance monitoring covers the remembering.
After Approval: the New Hampshire Checklist
The stamped formation document plus the EIN letter opens the business bank account, and running every business dollar through that account is what keeps the liability shield real (the solo-owner version of this warning is in the single-member guide). Adopt the operating agreement the same week: the New Hampshire operating agreement guide covers the state specifics. Then calendar the recurring obligations: start with the New Hampshire annual report guide, or put the entity on compliance monitoring and let the calendar watch itself.
The New Hampshire resource set: Formation Service · Cost Breakdown · Business Search · Operating Agreement Guide · Annual Report Guide · Dba Guide · Foreign Qualification Guide · Registered Agent Guide.
The Agency, the Certificate of Formation, and a $5 Certificate
Filings go to the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division, through the state's business services site at sos.nh.gov. The document that creates the company is a Certificate of Formation, not articles of organization, and the $100 state fee is paid with it. The distinction matters when a lender, an insurer or a franchisor asks for the formation document by name. Check the register first through the New Hampshire entity search.
New Hampshire does not sell expedited processing. Standard review is published at 5 to 10 business days and the state is consistent within that range, but there is no fee that moves a file to the front. For a founder, that removes an option rather than a cost: the plan has to accommodate the queue. Where another state would let you buy back a week for $25 or $125, here you build the two weeks into the schedule and sign the lease afterwards.
What the state does offer is the cheapest proof of standing in the country. A Certificate of Good Standing costs $5, is treated as current for about 60 days, and can be apostilled for use abroad. At that price there is no reason for a New Hampshire company to ever be unable to demonstrate its status; order one after each annual report and keep it with the entity records. The certificate guide covers ordering.
The remaining fees are moderate and predictable. A Certificate of Amendment is $35, a Certificate of Dissolution is $35, and a Statement of Change of Registered Agent or Office is $15. The agent requirement sits at RSA § 14-A:5 and needs a New Hampshire street address staffed during normal business hours, with 30 days notice on resignation. A Trade Name registration is $50 at state level with a five year renewal cycle. See the registered agent guide, the amendment guide and the trade name guide.
New Hampshire vs the Famous Formation States
Founders operating in New Hampshire regularly ask whether Wyoming or Delaware would be cheaper. The arithmetic answers it: an out-of-state LLC that operates in New Hampshire must still register in New Hampshire as a foreign LLC, pay New Hampshire's fees, and maintain a second registered agent, so the famous state becomes a surcharge, not a substitute. The five-year comparison for a business that lives here:
| Structure | Formation cost | Recurring | Five-year state cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire (home state) | $100 | $100/yr | $600 |
| Wyoming + New Hampshire foreign registration | $100 + New Hampshire filing | Two states, two agents | $400 + all New Hampshire costs anyway |
| Delaware + New Hampshire foreign registration | $110 + New Hampshire filing | $300/yr DE tax + New Hampshire costs | $1610 + all New Hampshire costs anyway |
The genuine exceptions (venture-backed startups, non-US founders, pure holding companies) are mapped honestly in the best-state analysis. For a business operating in New Hampshire, forming in New Hampshire wins on cost, simplicity, and risk surface.
Five Mistakes That Catch New Hampshire Owners
Mistake 01: Letting April 1 disappear into tax season
Why it happensThe annual report deadline lands in the same fortnight as federal and state tax work, and it is the smallest item on the desk.
ConsequenceThe $100 report goes unfiled, the $50 penalty attaches, and each further year adds another $150 to the catch-up bill.
PreventionFile in February. Nothing about the report requires waiting for year-end numbers. Deadlines by state shows where April 1 sits nationally.
Mistake 02: Planning around an expedite option that does not exist
Why it happensNearly every neighbouring state sells a rush service, so filers assume one is available at checkout.
ConsequenceStandard review can take the full 10 business days and no payment changes that. Commitments made for the following week fail outright.
PreventionSchedule the bank appointment, the lease and the licence application after approval, working from the full published window.
Mistake 03: Calling the formation document the wrong thing
Why it happensGeneric templates and out-of-state advisers use articles of organization for every LLC.
ConsequenceTime lost searching for a form the state does not issue, and avoidable friction when a lender asks for the Certificate of Formation by name and receives something labelled differently.
PreventionUse the state's own terminology in every agreement, resolution and bank form.
Mistake 04: Assuming reinstatement is always available
Why it happensSeveral states allow a dissolved entity to be restored years later, and some set no deadline at all.
ConsequenceNew Hampshire allows 36 months, and requires tax clearance before restoring the record. Past that window the company cannot be brought back and a new $100 Certificate of Formation is the only option, with a new formation date on the public record.
PreventionTreat any notice of delinquency as urgent, and open the tax clearance request the same week.
Mistake 05: Running the company on the RSA 304-C defaults
Why it happensNew Hampshire does not require an operating agreement, and the Certificate of Formation does not ask about internal governance.
ConsequenceThe Revised Limited Liability Company Act supplies per-capita voting, per-capita distributions and default fiduciary duties. For a single owner, the absence of any documentation also weakens the separation between personal and company affairs that the LLC exists to establish.
PreventionAdopt an agreement in the first week, whether there is one member or five. The New Hampshire operating agreement guide covers what to include.
Three New Hampshire Formations, Step by Step
Example 01: A solo woodworker in Concord
He files the Certificate of Formation for $100 in early January and has the approval back on the seventh business day. There is nothing to expedite, so he books the bank appointment for the following week rather than the same one. The EIN is free and takes minutes, and he signs a single-member operating agreement because the separation between his own affairs and the company's is the entire point of the exercise.
He registers a Trade Name for $50, good for five years, and orders a $5 Certificate of Good Standing for the supplier account he is opening. His annual duty is the $100 Annual Report by April 1, which he files in February so it never competes with tax work.
Outcome: A documented single-member company for $155 in year one, with the April deadline moved to February by choice.
Example 02: A four-member outdoor equipment company with two managing members
Capital arrives unevenly and two of the four members will run the business day to day. RSA § 304-C would give all four equal votes and equal distributions with default fiduciary duties applying across the board, which is not what the four agreed, so the operating agreement is signed before the Certificate of Formation is filed for $100. Standard review returns the approval in eight business days, and the opening order with their main supplier is dated accordingly.
The supplier's credit team asks for proof of standing and receives the $5 certificate, current for about 60 days. A year later the company changes its registered office after moving premises, a $15 Statement of Change of Registered Agent or Office, and adds a member class through a $35 Certificate of Amendment.
Outcome: Under $160 of state fees across two years, with governance and economics matching the deal the four members actually made.
Example 03: A Massachusetts marketing agency opening a Portsmouth studio
The agency keeps its Massachusetts LLC and registers here with an Application for Foreign Registration, because a leased studio with staff is presence in the state. New Hampshire accepts a home-state certificate of good standing issued within the last 90 days, a wide window that lets the Massachusetts document be ordered early in the process.
Review runs the standard 5 to 10 business days with no rush option, so the studio's opening date is set after approval. From registration the agency carries the New Hampshire $100 Annual Report on April 1 alongside its Massachusetts anniversary-month report, and appoints a New Hampshire registered agent under RSA § 14-A:5. The New Hampshire foreign qualification guide covers the filing, and the state tax comparison covers what else crossing a border can bring.
Outcome: Two registrations on one calendar, with the April 1 New Hampshire date and the Massachusetts anniversary month tracked together.
$100 and a clean checklist
A New Hampshire LLC is one filing, one agent, and a short follow-through list: agreement, EIN, licenses, bank account, and the recurring calendar. Do the follow-through and the entity does its job.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to start an LLC in New Hampshire?
The New Hampshire state filing fee for LLC formation is $100, paid once when the formation document is filed. Recurring state cost after that: $100 per year in state fees. Add $100 to $300 per year if you use a commercial registered agent. Full numbers: the New Hampshire cost breakdown.
Do I need a registered agent in New Hampshire?
Yes. Every New Hampshire LLC must continuously maintain a registered agent with a physical street address in the state, available during business hours to accept legal documents. You can serve yourself (your address becomes public record) or use a commercial service; the trade-offs are covered in our registered agent analysis.
Does New Hampshire require an operating agreement?
State law does not require one, but every LLC should adopt one: banks ask for it, it fixes ownership and exit rules, and it is your primary evidence of entity separateness. See the New Hampshire operating agreement guide.
How long does it take to get an LLC in New Hampshire?
Online filings in most states are approved within one to five business days, and New Hampshire publishes current processing times on its filing portal; check them before filing if you are on a deadline. The full stage-by-stage timeline, including the instant EIN and bank onboarding, is in our timeline guide.
Is it cheaper to form in Wyoming instead of New Hampshire?
Not if the business operates in New Hampshire: an out-of-state LLC must register here as a foreign LLC anyway, so Wyoming's $100 fee stacks on top of every New Hampshire cost instead of replacing it, plus a second registered agent forever. The five-year math is in the comparison table above and the best-state analysis.
What happens if I ignore New Hampshire's recurring requirements?
New Hampshire's recurring obligations escalate the same way every state's do: late penalties first, loss of good standing next (which blocks loans and certificates), then administrative dissolution, which ends the liability shield. Reinstatement means back filings plus penalties. Compliance monitoring exists to make this failure mode impossible.
What taxes will my New Hampshire LLC pay?
By default the LLC itself pays no federal income tax: profits pass through to your personal return with 15.3% self-employment tax on active income, plus state obligations. The full picture, including quarterly estimates and the S-corp election, is in the LLC tax guide and franchise tax by state.
Form your New Hampshire LLC with the state fee at cost.
Name check against the New Hampshire record, formation prepared and filed, operating agreement, EIN, and a year of registered agent service. The $100 state fee passes through with no markup.
Doing this in New Hampshire specifically: New Hampshire LLC formation and what a New Hampshire LLC costs cover the detail for this state, including the current fee and the exact form the agency expects.
This guide is written from the official sources below. Fees, forms, and deadlines change; confirm the current requirement with the agency before you file.
Disclosure. File.Business is a private filing service, not a government agency and not a law firm. We prepare and submit filings at your direction, and nothing on this page is legal or tax advice. Filing fees, deadlines, and statutory references are current as of the last-updated date shown above and can change. Confirm current requirements with the relevant state agency before you file.
