Register your business in New Hampshire

LLCs and corporations file with the Corporation Division of the New Hampshire Department of State. You can file in NH QuickStart¹⁵. A sole proprietorship that uses only the owner’s legal name does not file a formation. A different name is a trade name.

What’s different in New Hampshire

• The name reservation is optional, and it is not part of the formation package. Do not file the name reservation at the same time as the certificate or the articles¹⁵.
• An electronic fee adds $2¹¹. That charge is in the statute, on top of the filing fee.
• The two payee lines do not match. The LLC forms page says make the check payable to State of New Hampshire¹². The business FAQ says NH Department of State¹⁵.* Use the name on the form you are sending.
• The yearly annual report is $100, due April 1¹. An LLC formed or registered between December 1 and April 1 does not file an annual report during that year⁵. Details are below.
• A faster filing is in person in the customer lobby, for an additional $25. Processing time varies by filing type and time of year, and the QuickStart login page posts the current processing date¹⁵.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Pick an entity compares them. A sole proprietor using only a personal legal name can skip to the trade name step and stop there if the legal name is the name customers will see.
2. Search the name. The business FAQ says staff decide whether a name is available when the registration arrives, and the online search is not that decision¹⁵. An LLC name must contain the words limited liability company or the abbreviation L.L.C. or LLC, or a similar abbreviation. It must be distinguishable on the secretary of state's records from names already on file, and a small difference such as a punctuation mark, an entity ending, or a plural does not count³. A corporation name must contain corporation, incorporated, or limited, or the abbreviation corp., inc., or ltd., or words or abbreviations of like import in another language⁷. Search the federal trademark database too. A state filing is not a trademark.
3. Reserve the name only if you need it held. File the name reservation form for $15¹. The secretary holds it for 120 days, and the same applicant may reserve the same name again for successive 120-day periods². Do not send the reservation with the formation. A trade name or a nonprofit name cannot be reserved before the filing¹⁵.
4. Name a registered agent at a New Hampshire street address. The agent may be an individual who lives in New Hampshire, or a corporation, LLC, professional LLC, or limited liability partnership with a New Hampshire business office. The office is a New Hampshire street address that is the same as the agent's business office. Changing the agent later is $15¹. A resignation ends the appointment after 31⁴ days, or sooner if a new agent is appointed. Going 60¹⁷ days with no agent is one ground on which the secretary may dissolve the LLC.
5. File the formation through NH QuickStart. The fee depends on the structure, below. Paper is one original, printed on 8.5 by 11 inch paper in black ink¹². Bylaws and operating agreements are not filed with the Corporation Division. A beneficial ownership report is not filed with the Corporation Division. An electronic or fax payment adds $2¹¹. If you want it faster, in person in the customer lobby, for an additional $25¹⁵.
6. Register a trade name only if the name you use is not the legal name. Use the Secretary of State’s trade-name forms. The rules are in the trade name section below.
7. Put the annual report on the calendar. It is between January 1 and April 1 of the year after the year the LLC was formed or registered. An LLC formed or registered between December 1 and April 1 does not file an annual report during that year⁵. Stay compliant has the late fee and what a miss does.

By structure

LLC

File a Certificate of Formation (LLC-1) for $100. A professional LLC uses Form PLLC-1, Certificate of Formation for a Professional LLC for $100¹². An amendment or restatement is $35. Cancelling the LLC is $35¹. The operating agreement stays with you.

The first annual report is due between January 1 and April 1 of the year after the year the LLC was formed or registered. The information is current as of January 1 of the year the report is due. An LLC formed or registered between December 1 and April 1 does not file an annual report during that year⁵. A company formed in November files the next spring. A company formed in December does not file that next spring. Read the dates against the year you formed. The fee is $100. You cannot write "no change" on the annual report, and the information must be complete as of January 1. After April 1 the late fee is $50¹. The late fee is not waived¹⁵.

Corporation

File articles of incorporation for $100. The name must contain corporation, incorporated, or limited, or the abbreviation corp., inc., or ltd., or words or abbreviations of like import in another language⁷. The annual report is $100, and a late filing on the corporation fee list is $50⁶. The business FAQ uses the same April 1¹ deadline for corporations as for LLCs. Bylaws are not filed. S corporation status is a federal election. New Hampshire’s business return is on Get your tax IDs.

A benefit corporation also files an annual benefit report and fee 120 days after its fiscal year ends, in addition to the annual report¹⁵. Filing the benefit report is $35⁸.

Nonprofit

Record articles of agreement with the secretary of state for $25, and with the town or city clerk where the principal office is for $5⁹. The name cannot be reserved first. 501(c)(3) status is a separate IRS application. The FAQ says the state office does not grant it. A nonprofit also files a nonprofit report and fee due by December 31 every five years¹⁵. Past formation, the rest of this series is written for for-profit businesses.

Partnership

A sole proprietor using a name other than the proprietor's own name must register it, and so must a partnership, trust, or association¹⁰. A general partnership’s filing is that trade name, not a certificate of formation. A limited liability partnership and a limited partnership are separate registrations. A limited partnership files Form LP-1, N.H. Limited Partnership Application for $100¹³. A limited liability partnership files Form LLP-1, Limited Liability Partnership Registration for $100¹⁴.

Sole proprietorship

No formation filing when you use your own legal name. A person using any name other than that person's own legal name must register¹⁵. The FAQ’s example is a person named John D. Smith, who does not register “John D. Smith” and does register “John Smith Enterprises.” Sales tax is not the reason. New Hampshire has no general sales tax. Licenses for the work still apply.

Trade names

A sole proprietor using a name other than the proprietor's own name must register it, and so must a partnership, trust, or association. An LLC or corporation that is already registered does not file a trade name unless it does business under a different name¹⁰. The fee is $50. Renewal is $50. A discontinuance, addition, or withdrawal is $10¹⁸. The registration lasts 5 years¹⁹. It is a state name record. It is not a federal trademark.

Formed in another state

An LLC formed elsewhere files Form FLLC-1, Application for Foreign Limited Liability Company Registration for $100¹. You still need a New Hampshire registered agent. Cancelling a foreign LLC also needs a tax certificate from the Department of Revenue Administration¹². A corporation formed elsewhere files an application for a certificate of authority for $100⁶. Forming in another state covers the tradeoffs. A foreign registration can be administratively suspended after missing the current year's annual report¹⁵.

What you get back

A filed certificate or articles, or a trade name certificate if that is the filing you needed. Keep it for the EIN and the bank. A certificate of good standing is $5, or $10¹ when it recites every filing. An electronic order adds $2¹¹.

If the annual report lapses, the FAQ says the registration is Not in Good Standing if the annual report is not filed and paid by April 1. The office says a domestic registration is administratively dissolved after two consecutive years of missed annual reports¹⁵. The statute says the secretary may dissolve an LLC that, for two consecutive years, does not pay the annual report fees within 60 days after they are due, or does not deliver the report within 60 days after it is due. The statute also lists other grounds, such as going 60¹⁷ days without a registered agent. Reinstatement is $135, or $500¹ when it is more than 3 years after the dissolution²⁰. A corporation’s list is $135 and $500⁶.