Stay compliant in New Hampshire

New Hampshire’s recurring dates are the annual report due April 1³, business tax for anyone above the filing threshold, meals and rooms tax due the 15th of the month after the tax is collected⁹ if you collect it, and employer accounts if you have people on the payroll.

What’s different in New Hampshire

• The annual report is a flat $100, due April 1³, not a tax return. A formation late in the year can skip the first one.
• Missing two years is when the office says a domestic company is dissolved. Missing one year already takes it out of good standing. A foreign company can be suspended sooner.
• Business tax has two names and moving thresholds. Profits tax and enterprise tax are both possible. The dollar line for the year is on Get your tax IDs.
• The minimum wage is the federal wage. The state section does not print a dollar amount. Workers’ compensation counts ordinary employees from the first one, and counts officers only after three.

Do this

1. File the annual report between January 1 and April 1. The first one 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 year². The fee is $100³ for an LLC and $100²³ for a profit corporation. You cannot write "no change" on the annual report, and the information must be complete as of January 1⁵. An electronic payment adds $2²⁴.
2. Pay the late fee if you miss April 1. It is $50. The late fee is not waived. The FAQ says the registration is then 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 reports. A foreign registration can be administratively suspended after missing the current year's annual report⁵. 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 due⁴. Reinstatement is $135, or $500³ when it is more than 3 years after the dissolution²⁵.
3. Keep a registered agent who can be found at a New Hampshire street address. The office is a New Hampshire street address that is the same as the agent's business office. A resignation ends after 31²⁶ days unless a new agent is appointed. 60⁴ days with no agent is a ground for dissolution. Changing the agent is $15³. A corporation’s agent resignation has no fee²³ on the corporation fee list.
4. File business tax in Granite Tax Connect if the year’s threshold says so. Partnerships: the 15th day of the third month after the taxable period ends. Exempt organizations: the 15th day of the fifth month after the taxable period ends. Other filers: the 15th day of the fourth month after the taxable period ends⁶. Rates are 7.5%²⁷ for profits and 0.55%²⁸ for the enterprise tax. The Department’s adjusted lines, and the enterprise-tax paragraph that takes effect in 2027, are on Get your tax IDs. Estimated tax follows the same step. A single-member LLC files its own New Hampshire business tax return²⁹.
5. File meals and rooms returns if you are an operator. The return is due by the 15th of the month after the tax is collected, or the next business day when the 15th is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. File the meals and rooms return even when no tax is due. A paper filer forfeits the operator's compensation allowance, unless meals and rooms taxable revenue was under $25,000⁹ in the prior calendar year.
6. If you have employees, keep the unemployment account current using NHES WebTax. The quarterly report and the tax are due the last day of the month after the quarter¹⁴. WebTax filers have two days after the due date to file the report¹⁵. The new-employer rate is 2.7% on the first $14,000, minus any fund balance reduction in place for that quarter¹⁶. A late report is 10% of the tax, at least $25¹¹, plus interest of 1% a month, or part of a month, until it is paid¹². Report new hires within 20¹⁷ days. Report a contract for services, other than casual labor, with an individual when the pay is expected to exceed $2,500, or does exceed it in a calendar year¹³.
7. Renew the license that matches the work. Renew food licenses through the Department’s online portal; its page for existing licensees says how to activate your account, and renewal notices arrive by email. The establishment stops operating the day after the license expires if the renewal is not in²¹. For trade names, use the Secretary of State’s forms. A trade name lasts 5 years²² and renews for $50³⁰. A nonprofit files a nonprofit report and fee due by December 31 every five years. A benefit corporation also files an annual benefit report and fee 120 days after its fiscal year ends, in addition to the annual report⁵, and filing it is $35³¹.
8. Check workers’ compensation and the wage floor when you hire. The rules are in the employer section.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation applies to a private employer who employs one or more people. Corporate executive officers and LLC members and managers are not counted as employees, except that any of them in excess of 3 are counted¹⁸. There is a further exception in that sentence for three named sections of the law, including safety. Read it before you treat an officer as outside the count for every purpose. How you secure payment: a workers' compensation policy from a company licensed to write it in New Hampshire¹⁹. The same section also allows proof of financial ability to pay compensation directly. It does not offer a policy you buy from the Department of Labor.

Minimum wage: no employee may be paid less than the hourly rate in the federal minimum wage law, as amended. The state statute does not print a dollar figure of its own. The tipped base, while the federal minimum stays at the July 23, 2021 level, is 45% of the minimum for tipped employees of a restaurant, hotel, motel, inn, cabin, or ballroom who receive more than $30 a month in tips. A worker 16 or under, and a worker with less than six months in the occupation after the employer files with the labor commissioner within 10 days of hire, can be paid 75%²⁰ of the applicable minimum. The statute prints a second tipped paragraph that starts if the federal minimum rises, with a floor written in dollars. Use the paragraph that is in effect for the year you are paying.

Unemployment: the statute’s main tests are 20 weeks with someone working or $1,500¹⁰ of wages in a quarter, plus the other tests in the same section. The quarterly report and the new-hire report are on Get your tax IDs.

What you get back

A filed annual report, or a year the statute says you do not file one because of when the company was formed. Filed business tax when the threshold says to file. A meals and rooms return if you collect that tax. Current employer accounts, a registered agent who can be found, and the license that matches the work. If the report is late, the FAQ and the statute do not describe the next step in the same words. The FAQ says the office will dissolve a domestic registration after two missed years. The statute says the secretary may. Read both before you assume the company is still active.