Statutory requirements, filing fees, and recommended services for New Hampshire businesses.
Verified against New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division · Updated 2026-04-30
If you are forming an LLC in New Hampshire, the first decision after picking a name is who will serve as registered agent. N.H. Rev. Stat. §304-C:33 sets the requirements; the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division files the designation and treats it as the entity’s official contact for legal and tax mail. This page documents how New Hampshire treats the registered agent designation under N.H. Rev. Stat. §304-C:33, the fees the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division charges to file, and the practical mistakes that trip up first-time filers.
A New Hampshire registered agent is the individual or business entity that N.H. Rev. Stat. §304-C:33 requires every LLC and corporation to maintain as the official recipient of service of process, state tax notices, and New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division correspondence. The agent must keep a physical New Hampshire street address — P.O. boxes alone do not satisfy the statute — and must be reliably available during normal business hours. The New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division files the agent’s name and street address as part of the public business record, searchable by any member of the public through the agency’s online entity database.
Five state-specific gotchas account for most of the registered agent problems we see in New Hampshire filings.
Listing a P.O. box or commercial mailbox. N.H. Rev. Stat. §304-C:33 requires a physical street address, and the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division returns filings that list anything other than a real New Hampshire street. Commercial mailbox services without a registered street component (typical UPS Store-style addresses) are routinely rejected.
Using a non-New Hampshire address. The agent’s address must be physically inside New Hampshire. Out-of-state owners cannot list their own home address; they must either hire a commercial agent or designate a New Hampshire-resident individual.
Letting the agent designation lapse without filing a Statement of Change. When a commercial agent service is terminated and a replacement is not filed with the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division, the LLC enters a compliance gap. The $15 change fee is trivial compared with the cost of administrative dissolution and reinstatement.
Missing the annual report deadline. New Hampshire’s annual report is due annually by April 1, and the registered agent is the only party who receives mailed reminders from the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division. If the agent is unreliable, the entity can miss the deadline silently.
New Hampshire’s BPT (7.5%) and BET (0.55%) apply to LLCs above $103,000 gross receipts. Many small-LLC owners assume New Hampshire’s lack of sales/income tax extends to entities, and it does not.
The registered agent designation in New Hampshire is filed as part of the Certificate of Formation, submitted to the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division’s business filings division. Most filers use the QuickStart portal at the New Hampshire Secretary of State, which accepts the formation document, the agent designation, and the $100 filing fee in a single transaction. Online submissions typically clear in two to seven business days; paper filings can take two to four weeks depending on agency workload.
New Hampshire’s $100 annual report is due April 1 every year, and New Hampshire is one of two states (along with Tennessee) that imposes a separate state-level Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax even on LLCs taxed federally as pass-throughs.
Once the entity is on file, the registered agent’s role continues for as long as the LLC or corporation exists. New Hampshire’s ongoing maintenance is handled through an annual report at $100, due annually by April 1, and any subsequent change of registered agent is filed with the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division via a Statement of Change at a $15 fee. The agent must file a written consent or, where the agency requires, sign the formation document itself — the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division rejects designations that lack agent consent.
National registered agent services — Northwest Registered Agent, Mainstay Filing, ZenBusiness, and LegalZoom — operate in New Hampshire with the same pricing and feature set they offer in every other state. For most New Hampshire LLCs and corporations, a national provider is the right choice: consistent pricing, an online dashboard with scanned mail, and same-day acceptance of service of process. Northwest’s $125/year tier and Mainstay Filing’s $99/year tier are the two most common picks for New Hampshire businesses that want privacy and reliability without paying premium prices.
A New Hampshire-specific provider like New Hampshire Registered Agent.co makes sense in narrower cases. State-focused agents tend to specialize in New Hampshire filings only, which can mean faster local turnaround on Statements of Change, deeper familiarity with the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division’s portal, and a single jurisdiction to worry about. For business owners who plan to operate exclusively in New Hampshire and value a local-only operator, a state-specific provider is often a better cultural fit than a multi-state brand. The tradeoff is interface polish: state-specific services usually lack the dashboard depth and mail-forwarding automation of the national services.
| # | Service | Price/yr | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northwest Registered Agent | $125 | privacy-focused customers |
| 2 | Mainstay Filing Best Value | $99 | balanced value |
| 3 | ZenBusiness | $199 | new businesses bundling formation |
| 4 | LegalZoom | $249 | customers wanting brand-name support |
New Hampshire-specific option: New Hampshire Registered Agent.co operates exclusively in New Hampshire and specializes in same-state filings. Best for businesses that want a state-focused provider with local-only operations.
| Physical address required | Yes — must be a street address in New Hampshire |
|---|---|
| P.O. box allowed | No |
| Business hours availability | Required during normal business hours |
| Resident requirement | New Hampshire resident OR authorized business entity |
| Listed in public record | Yes — searchable via New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division |
| Statute reference | N.H. Rev. Stat. §304-C:33 |
| Filing Type | Fee | Renewal | Renewal Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLC formation (Articles of Organization) | $100 | annually by April 1 | $100 |
| DBA / Fictitious Name | $50 | Every 5 years | $50 |
| Registered Agent change | $15 | — | — |
| Annual Report | $100 | annually by April 1 | $100 |
Yes — if you are a New Hampshire resident with a physical street address and are available during business hours.
Yes. New Hampshire law requires every LLC to maintain a New Hampshire-based registered agent regardless of where the owner lives.
The New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division can administratively dissolve your business after approximately 60 days of non-compliance.
Yes — file a Statement of Change of Registered Agent with the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division for $15.
$50–$150 per year for commercial services; free if you self-serve.
Yes. The agent's name and address are searchable via the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division business records.
Same-day with most commercial services; same-business-day filing if submitted online before the daily cutoff.
This page provides general information about New Hampshire registered agent requirements, not legal advice. Filing fees and procedures may change; verify current details with the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Corporation Division before filing. We may receive compensation from services listed in our comparisons; this does not influence our editorial selections.