What a New Hampshire LLC Actually Costs

The unavoidable upfront cost is the state fee to file your Certificate of Formation (Form LLC-1) with the New Hampshire Secretary of State. That single fee registers your LLC and includes the registered agent designation. There's no separate line item for naming your agent on the formation document.

The statutory fee is $100 (RSA 304-C:191). New Hampshire adds a $2 handling charge to any fee paid electronically (RSA 5:10-a), so filing through QuickStart by card comes to $102, while a paper form mailed to Concord goes in with a $100 check. The receipt card on this page uses the $102 online figure, since that's how we file.

What the formation fee does and doesn't include

• Included: registration of your LLC and the registered agent designation on the Certificate of Formation.
• Not included: an EIN (free from the IRS), an operating agreement (you draft it or have it drafted separately), and any trade name registration if you'll operate under a different name.

This is genuinely a one-time cost. You pay it once to bring the LLC into existence; you don't pay it again unless you dissolve and re-form.

Every New Hampshire LLC owes an annual report fee each year to stay in good standing. The report is filed through QuickStart between January 1 and April 1. The fee is $100, and like the formation filing, paying online adds the $2 handling charge, for $102.

The one that bites: the late penalty

If you miss the April 1 deadline, New Hampshire adds a $50 late penalty on top of the ordinary annual report fee. It's an entirely avoidable cost (the report itself is simple and non-financial), but it's the most common surprise charge owners run into, and the state won't waive it. Two consecutive years without a report and the state administratively dissolves the LLC. Reinstating within three years costs $135 on top of the reports you skipped; wait longer than three years and it becomes a $500 late reinstatement with a published notice.

Budget it as a fixed yearly line

Treat the annual report fee as a predictable recurring expense, like a subscription. It's small, it's due the same time every year, and the only way it grows is if you forget it.

You must have a registered agent, but you can supply one for free by serving as your own, assuming you live in New Hampshire and can use your home or business street address as the registered office. If you'd rather not, a commercial registered agent service is an annual expense.

Free (be your own agent)

No cash cost, but real trade-offs: your address goes on the public record, the state's guidance expects you to generally be there during regular business hours to receive service of process, and you have to file a $15 Form 10 change every time the registered office moves. For some owners that's fine; for many it's worth paying to avoid.

Paid (commercial service)

A commercial agent charges an annual fee in exchange for keeping your address private, guaranteeing availability, and forwarding your legal and state mail promptly. If you work in the field, travel, run the business from home, or just don't want your address searchable, this is where most owners decide the cost is worth it. When registered agent service is bundled with a formation package, it's often the best value.

Beyond the state filing and the annual report, several costs apply only to some owners.

Trade name (DBA)

If you'll operate under a name different from your legal LLC name, you register a trade name with the Secretary of State. A New Hampshire trade name lasts five years before renewal. If you'll only ever use your legal LLC name, you can skip this entirely.

Name reservation

If you want to hold a name before you're ready to file, Form 1 reserves it for 120 days for $15, and you can renew for another 120 days if you need more time. Optional. Most people just file when they're ready.

Expedite

There's no paid rush tier for a normal filing. If your filing is placed on hold, the Corporation Division will expedite it in person at its Customer Lobby in Concord for an extra $25.

Foreign qualification

If your LLC was formed in another state and you're expanding into New Hampshire, you file for a Certificate of Authority, which has its own state fee and usually requires a certificate of good standing from your home state. This applies only to out-of-state LLCs.

Business taxes

New Hampshire's Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax, administered by the Department of Revenue Administration, may apply depending on your gross receipts and enterprise base. Many small LLCs fall below the filing thresholds, but if you cross them, that's a real annual cost separate from anything the Secretary of State charges.

Professional help

An attorney for a custom operating agreement or a CPA for your taxes are optional but common expenses. They're not state fees, but they belong in an honest cost picture.

Year one

Your first year carries the formation filing fee plus, if you use one, a registered agent's annual fee. If you register a trade name, that's an additional one-time-per-five-years cost. You don't owe an annual report in the year you form. The first one is due by April 1 of the following year, and if you form between December 1 and April 1, that spring is skipped too. Form in October 2026 and your first report is due April 1, 2027; form in December 2026 and it waits until April 1, 2028.

Every year after

Steady-state, an LLC that uses its legal name and stays below the business-tax thresholds has two predictable recurring costs: the annual report fee and, if applicable, the registered agent's annual fee. That's it from the state's side. (Owners who form through Mainstay see a simpler version of this math: one flat yearly price already carrying the agent and the report preparation and filing, plus the state's own report fee passed through at cost.) The costs that inflate a New Hampshire LLC's yearly expense are almost always avoidable ones (late penalties, reinstatement after dissolution, or scrambling to fix a lapsed registered agent), which is exactly why staying on top of the April 1 deadline pays for itself.