How to Form an LLC
in New Hampshire

New Hampshire charges a $100 filing fee plus a $2 online convenience fee for Certificate of Formation filed through the NH QuickStart portal (quickstart.sos.nh.gov), for a total of $102. Paper filings mailed to the Secretary of State are $100 even. The NH SOS does not offer a paid expedited tier because standard online processing is already 1–2 business days. Eleet AI charges $251 all-inclusive — that covers the $102 state fee, Certificate of Formation preparation, filing through QuickStart, and first-year New Hampshire registered agent service. National services commonly advertise NH formation packages at $0–$199 then add the $102 state fee, a mandatory registered agent ($125–$299/yr), and various upsells, pushing the realistic first-year total to $325–$600+.

New Hampshire has NO state income tax on wages, salaries, or earned income — and it never has. That is part of why NH is the "Live Free or Die" state. Historically, NH imposed a 5% Interest & Dividends (I&D) tax under RSA 77:1 on unearned investment income only, but under HB 2 (2021) the I&D tax is phased out completely: 5% (2022), 4% (2023), 3% (2024), 2% (2025), 0% effective January 1, 2027. Once the I&D tax sunsets, New Hampshire will join Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee (already fully phased out), Texas, Washington (wage), and Wyoming as a zero-income-tax state for both earned and investment income. IMPORTANT for LLCs: New Hampshire DOES impose two entity-level business taxes on profitable LLCs — the Business Profits Tax (BPT) at 7.6% and the Business Enterprise Tax (BET) at 0.55%. These are explained below and often surprise founders who assumed "no income tax" meant no state business tax.

The BPT and BET are the two state-level taxes that New Hampshire imposes on businesses in lieu of a traditional corporate income tax. Both are reported on NH Form DP-10 and administered by the Department of Revenue Administration (NH DRA). Business Profits Tax (BPT) under RSA 77-A: 7.6% on net income over the filing threshold of $92,000 gross receipts (2025). Reduced from 8.5% to 7.7% (2022), 7.6% (2023), and held at 7.6% through 2025. Filing threshold adjusts annually for inflation. For pass-through LLCs taxed as partnerships, the LLC itself pays the BPT at the entity level (unlike most states where pass-through income flows to individual members). Business Enterprise Tax (BET) under RSA 77-E: 0.55% on the "enterprise value tax base" (compensation paid + interest paid + dividends paid). Filing threshold is $281,000 enterprise value tax base OR $281,000 gross receipts (2025). The BET paid can be credited dollar-for-dollar against the BPT liability. Both taxes stack: a profitable NH LLC will typically pay BET first and then BPT to the extent BPT liability exceeds BET. Combined effective rate on a high-margin LLC: roughly 7.6%–8.0%. Startups and small LLCs under both thresholds owe zero NH business tax. Honest framing: NH's "no income tax!" marketing is TRUE for individual wages but FALSE for profitable LLCs above the thresholds.

No. New Hampshire is one of only five US states with NO general sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon — the "NOMAD states" plus DE, shorthand is "NOMAD" for no sales tax). That is a major advantage for retail and e-commerce LLCs registered in NH: no state sales tax registration, no sales tax returns, no nexus compliance for NH-only operations. NH does impose a 9% Meals and Rentals Tax under RSA 78-A on restaurant meals, prepared foods, hotel/short-term rental stays, and rental cars. That tax is administered separately through the NH DRA and is unrelated to general sales. A 5% Real Estate Transfer Tax also applies to real property transfers under RSA 78-B. But general retail, e-commerce, SaaS, and service sales carry zero New Hampshire sales-tax burden. Note: if your NH LLC sells to customers in other states, those other states' sales-tax economic-nexus rules still apply — South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018) means you may owe sales tax to states where your customers live even though NH itself has none.

Every New Hampshire LLC must file an Annual Report with the Secretary of State by April 1 each year under RSA 304-C:185. The fee is $100 online through the QuickStart portal (quickstart.sos.nh.gov) — same portal used for formation. The Annual Report is a short confirmation filing: it updates the principal business address, registered agent information, management structure, and any manager/member-manager changes. Members of member-managed LLCs are NOT disclosed on the Annual Report (only the registered agent and managers/organizer if applicable). Missing the April 1 deadline triggers administrative dissolution within a few months, and reinstatement costs $135 ($100 reinstatement fee + $35 processing). At $100/yr, NH's annual report sits in the middle of US states — more than Arizona ($0), Missouri ($0), New Mexico ($0), Ohio ($0), Wyoming ($60) — but less than California ($800), Massachusetts ($500), North Carolina ($200), Washington ($60 but with $281 enterprise tax threshold triggering BET). Eleet AI's annual NH registered agent renewal includes a courtesy reminder 45 days before April 1 and can optionally file the Annual Report on the customer's behalf for an additional $49 service fee.

Standard online processing through the NH QuickStart portal (quickstart.sos.nh.gov) is typically 1–2 business days, with many filings clearing same-day. That is among the faster SOS turnarounds in the US, comparable to Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado. Paper filings mailed to the Concord Secretary of State office take 7–10 business days once received. New Hampshire does NOT offer a paid expedited tier because standard online processing is already fast enough that expediting is unnecessary. If a national formation service quotes you a New Hampshire "expedited" upcharge, that is a phantom fee the state does not recognize. Eleet AI's standard New Hampshire filing uses QuickStart online submission and typically delivers a filed Certificate of Formation within 1–2 business days.

Yes. Under RSA 304-C:33, every New Hampshire LLC must designate a registered agent with a physical New Hampshire street address — no P.O. boxes, no private mailbox services, no virtual-office-only addresses. The agent must be available during normal business hours to accept service of process and official state correspondence. You can serve as your own registered agent only if you personally have a New Hampshire street address. If you do not live in New Hampshire, you MUST use a commercial registered agent. Commercial registered agent services typically cost $100–$299 per year when purchased separately. Eleet AI includes first-year New Hampshire registered agent service free with every New Hampshire LLC formation, then $100/yr after — the same flat rate we charge in all 50 states.

For businesses operating in the greater Boston area, this comparison comes up constantly. Short answer: if your economic center of gravity is in Massachusetts, form in Massachusetts (MA will require foreign-LLC registration + $500/yr annual report + Corporate Excise Tax on C-Corp-elected LLCs regardless of where you form). If your economic center is in New Hampshire, form in NH. Honest comparison: (1) Filing cost: NH $102 vs MA $500 (one of the highest in the US). (2) Annual report: NH $100/yr vs MA $500/yr. (3) Individual income tax: NH 0% on wages vs MA 5% flat plus 4% millionaire surtax above $1M. (4) Sales tax: NH 0% vs MA 6.25%. (5) Business tax: NH BPT 7.6% + BET 0.55% on profits above thresholds vs MA Corporate Excise $456/yr min (C-Corp-elected only, pass-through LLCs owe nothing at entity level). (6) Registered agent terminology: NH "registered agent" vs MA "resident agent". For a Boston-area remote worker who genuinely lives/works in NH, forming in NH saves substantial state income tax on earned income. For a Boston-area business with employees and clients in MA, forming in MA avoids dual-state compliance overhead. The 2021 SCOTUS-reviewed MA telecommuter rule was held not-unconstitutional (New Hampshire v. Massachusetts, dismissed without opinion), so MA continues to source remote work of its resident employees to MA — but NH-resident employees working for NH or non-MA employers keep the full NH 0% income tax treatment.

Partially. New Hampshire member anonymity is stronger than most East Coast states but weaker than Wyoming or New Mexico. The Certificate of Formation under RSA 304-C:31 requires the LLC name, registered agent + NH street address, principal office, management structure (member-managed or manager-managed), and the organizer's signature. Member names are NOT required on the public Certificate. For member-managed LLCs, the principal business address is disclosed but members are not named. For manager-managed LLCs, managers are disclosed but non-manager members are not named. With a commercial organizer and commercial registered agent, a member-managed NH LLC can form with zero owner information on the public QuickStart record. HOWEVER, the Annual Report (RSA 304-C:185) filed each April 1 requires the principal business address and manager information to be updated, so some business-address disclosure is unavoidable. NH anonymity is best suited for founders who want public-record privacy but do not need the absolute-anonymity standard of Wyoming (W.S. § 17-16-209) or New Mexico (NMSA § 53-19-8). Federal BOI filing with FinCEN still applies regardless of state.

New Hampshire does not legally require a written operating agreement — RSA 304-C:40 permits oral, implied, or written agreements — but you should absolutely have a written one. Without a written agreement, courts default to the statutory rules in the New Hampshire Revised Uniform LLC Act (RSA Chapter 304-C, effective January 1, 2013), and those defaults may not match how you actually want the LLC to operate (allocations of profit/loss, distribution timing, member withdrawal rights, voting thresholds, buy-sell provisions, dissolution triggers). For single-member LLCs, a written operating agreement is particularly important: it strengthens the liability shield in litigation by demonstrating the LLC is a genuine separate entity with real governance, and it is often required by banks opening business accounts, title companies for real-estate purchases, and lenders making business loans. Eleet AI offers a New Hampshire-specific operating agreement template for $99 that includes NH-statute-specific language on charging-order protection under RSA 304-C:126, member rights, capital contributions, distributions, and dissolution.