New Hampshire

A NH corporation must continuously maintain a registered office and a registered agent who is either (i) an individual resident of NH whose business office is identical with the registered office, or (ii) a corporation (RSA 292/293-A/294-A), LLC (RSA 304-C), or LLP (RSA 304-A:44) organized or authorized in NH whose business office is identical with the registered office. The LLC act mirrors this, and for an individual allows a 'residential or business office' identical with the registered office (RSA 304-C:36, I).

Consent required: no.

If a corporation has no registered agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, service is made by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the secretary of the corporation at its principal office - perfected on receipt, on the return-receipt date, or 5 days after mailing. The LLC act is identical except mail is addressed to the LLC at its principal office (RSA 304-C:37, II). This is mail service on the entity, not service on the Secretary of State.

• Administrative DissolutionRevocation / administrative dissolutionThe state involuntarily ending an entity's authority to do business - for missed annual reports, a lapsed registered agent, or unpaid fees.Read the full entry →. Being without a registered agent or registered office for 60 days or more, or failing to notify the secretary of state within 60 days of an agent/office change, resignation, or discontinuance, is a ground for administrative dissolution of a corporation. The LLC act has identical grounds (RSA 304-C:136, III-IV).
• Other. Effect of administrative dissolution: the corporation continues to exist but may not carry on any business except winding up and liquidating; the SOS gives 60 days to cure after notice before dissolving.
• Other. Name protection lasts only 120 days after the notice of administrative dissolution; after that another entity may take the name without the dissolved corporation's consent.
• ReinstatementReinstatementRestoring an entity the state revoked or administratively dissolved for missed filings - typically back-filing reports, paying accrued fees and penalties, and filing an application.Read the full entry → Fee. Reinstatement within 3 years costs $135 (application for reinstatement following administrative dissolution); after 3 years, late reinstatement requires a court-style showing, publication, and a $500 fee. LLC fees are identical ($135 reinstatement, $500 late reinstatement, RSA 304-C:191, II(f)).
• Revocation Foreign. A foreign corporationDomestic / foreignRelative to one state's records: an entity is domestic in the state that formed it and foreign everywhere else it registers to do business.Read the full entry →'s certificate of authorityCertificate of authorityPermission for an entity formed in one state to do business in another - the 'foreign' registration.Read the full entry → may be revoked if it is without a registered agent or registered office in NH for 60 days or more, or fails to report an agent/office change within 60 days. The foreign LLC act carries the same ground.

Filing officeFiling officeThe agency that keeps the business register.Read the full entry →

New Hampshire Secretary of State (trade nameDBA / fictitious nameA name a business operates under that is not its legal name - 'doing business as.' Also: assumed name, trade name, fictitious business name.Read the full entry → registration under RSA 349)

State fee

$50 registration (RSA 349:7: 'a fee of $50' for filing of registration and issuance of certificate); notice of discontinuance/addition/withdrawal $10

Term

5 years (RSA 349:8)

Renewal

Renew every 5 years, $50; SOS mails notice at least 6 months and again 30 days before expiration; if not renewed within 30 days AFTER expiration the registration is discontinued and the name abandoned (RSA 349:8)

Publication

Not required. No newspaper publicationPublication requirementA few states require newly formed or registered entities to publish a notice in designated newspapers (New York's LLC publication is the expensive example) - a real cost of formation that fee tables usually omit.Read the full entry → requirement

Online filing

Available

The regime

New Hampshire requires trade-name registration at the state level: every sole proprietor doing business under any name other than the proprietor's own name, and every partnership, trust or association doing business in the state, must register the trade name with the secretary of state. Registered entities (corporations, LLCs, LPs, LLPs) are exempt unless they do business under trade names other than their registered names.

Where it is filed

The New Hampshire secretary of state - a statewide registry, not a county or municipal filing. The certificate states the name under which the business is conducted, the principal place of business, a brief description of the business, the names and addresses of the principal parties, and the date of organization.

Publication

RSA ch. 349 contains no newspaper-publication requirement - registration is complete upon filing with the secretary of state and payment of the fee.

Term and renewal

5 years from the date of filing. Reregistration is required at expiration; the secretary of state sends renewal notices at least 6 months and again at least 30 days before expiration. If not renewed within 30 days after expiration, the registration is discontinued and the name abandoned and free.

Name restrictions

A trade name must be distinguishable, on the secretary of state's records, from (and not the same as) the names of entities incorporated, authorized, formed or registered in NH, reserved names, fictitious names of foreign corporations, government agency names, and recognized political party names (absent consent). RSA 349:1, IV(a-1) lists factors that do NOT make a name distinguishable (articles, plurals, phonetic spellings, abbreviations, punctuation differences, etc.), and IV(d) restricts use of the term 'farmers' market'.

Assumed names for registered entities

Registered entities that do business under trade names other than their registered names lose the RSA 349:1, II exemption and must register the trade name with the secretary of state under ch. 349 itself. Separately, a foreign corporation whose real name is unavailable in New Hampshire may transact business under an available fictitious name by filing a certified board resolution adopting it with the secretary of state (RSA 293-A:15.06(a)(2)); the LLC act (RSA 304-C) contains a parallel foreign-LLC fictitious-name mechanism.

Penalties

Failure to comply with the chapter is a violation for a natural person and a misdemeanor for any other person: 'Any person who fails to comply with the provisions of the preceding sections of this chapter shall be guilty of a violation if a natural person, or guilty of a misdemeanor if any other person.'
Procuring a trade-name registration by false or fraudulent representations makes the filer liable for all damages sustained in consequence, and is a misdemeanor for a natural person or a felony for any other person.
Until the RSA 349:2 change certificate is filed, the failure to file is prima facie evidence that the withdrawal or addition of a partner or discontinuance of the partnership has not occurred.

Official source

gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXXI/349/349-mrg.htm↗ (opens the official source)

What it is called

Business Profits Tax (BPT, RSA 77-A) + Business Enterprise Tax (BET, RSA 77-E) - not a franchise taxFranchise taxA recurring tax on the privilege of existing as an entity in a state - not a tax on franchising a business.Read the full entry →; NH has none

Administering agency

NH Department of Revenue Administration (Granite Tax Connect portal); SoS collects only flat filing fees

Corporation minimum

$0

How it is computed

No franchise/privilege tax as such (SoS annual report is a flat $100 fee), but NH imposes two DRA business taxes on LLCs and corporations IDENTICALLY (any 'business organization organized for gain or profit'): (1) Business Profits Tax = 7.5% of taxable business profits for taxable periods ending on/after 12/31/2023 (RSA 77-A:2, III); return required only if gross business income > $109,000 for periods beginning on/after 1/1/2025 ($103,000 for 2023-2024; base $92,000 at RSA 77-A:6, I, biennially CPI-Northeast adjusted, next change 1/1/2027). (2) Business Enterprise Tax = 0.55% of enterprise value tax base (compensation paid/accrued + interest paid/accrued + dividends paid, after adjustments and apportionment) for periods ending on/after 12/31/2022 (RSA 77-E:2); return required only if gross receipts > $298,000 OR EVTB > $298,000 for periods beginning on/after 1/1/2025 ($281,000 for 2023-2024; base $250,000 at RSA 77-E:5, I, biennially adjusted). NO minimum tax, NO cap for either; below thresholds nothing is owed and nothing is filed. BET paid credits against BPT with 10-period carryforward (RSA 77-A:5, X). Due: 15th day of 3rd month after period end for partnerships, 4th month for corporations/LLCs/others, 5th month for exempt orgs (RSA 77-A:6 / 77-E:5); quarterly estimates if liability > $200 (BPT) / $260 (BET). Honest characterization: BPT is a net-income tax; BET is a value-a