Register a New Hampshire Foreign LLC
New Hampshire Foreign LLCs are companies that do business in the state but were formed in another state or jurisdiction. When a foreign LLC wants to do business in New Hampshire, it needs to submit an Application for Registration as a Foreign Limited Liability Company to NH Department of State (DOS), and pay the $100 state filing fee.
Northwest can do it for you for just $225 + state fees. We'll handle the paperwork, provide a full year of registered agent service, a custom domain, local phone number, email, web hosting, and a local New Hampshire business address. Everything your business needs to get going in New Hampshire.
$225 Foreign Registration
Have Northwest Registered Agent expand your business and get more:
- Local experts handle your paperwork
- Local phone line
- Free domain name
- Free website
- Free professional email
Register a Foreign LLC in New Hampshire
To establish a foreign LLC in New Hampshire, you must complete a process called foreign qualification. This requires you to fill out an Application for Registration as a Foreign Limited Liability Company to the New Hampshire DOS. Here’s how it works:
Your New Hampshire registered agent can be an individual New Hampshire resident or a business that provides a registered agent services. Either way, your registered agent must maintain a physical address in New Hampshire and be available during standard business hours to accept legal mail.
Note: You can be your own registered agent, but ONLY if you live and have an address in New Hampshire. Otherwise you are best off hiring a professional registered agent service like Northwest.
Once your business is up and running in New Hampshire, you’ll want to be able to connect with the local market. Having a robust and localized digital presence can help build your business identity, which in turn will make your services or products seem more trustworthy and professional, even if you’ve only just started offering services or products in New Hampshire.
Northwest can help you build a custom website that is securely hosted with an unique domain, plus give you a local phone number and a professional email address to help establish your business in New Hampshire.
To register your foreign LLC in New Hampshire, you’ll have to complete the state’s Application for Foreign Limited Liability Company Registration and file it with the New Hampshire’s DOS. On this form, you’ll include:
- The name of your LLC
- The name under which your LLC will do business in New Hampshire
- Your principal office address
- Your principal mailing address (if different)
- Your business phone (optional)
- Your business email (optional)
- The jurisdiction where you formed your LLC
- The date you formed your LLC
- The specific purpose of your business, such as art restoration
- The name of your New Hampshire registered agent
- The address of your New Hampshire registered agent
- The names, addresses, and titles of your members and/or managers (optional)
- Your signature, title, address, and the date signed
Bear in mind that if the business name you’d like to use isn’t available in New Hampshire or violates New Hampshire’s naming laws, you may use a doing business as name (a.k.a. trade name). This costs an additional $50.
Ready to do business in The Granite State? Register your New Hampshire foreign LLC with Northwest.
After submitting your Application for Foreign Limited Liability Company Registration to New Hampshire’s DOS, a copy of the original filing will appear in your New Hampshire QuickStart! account. It will also appear in New Hampshire’s Business Entity Search.
Ready to Register A Foreign LLC in New Hampshire?
Let's Go!
New Hampshire Foreign LLC Registration FAQ
New Hampshire charges $100 to file a foreign LLC registration application in New Hampshire. There is an additional $2 service fee if you file online. You can expedite your filing for an additional $25.
You may file your Application for Registration online, by mail, or in person. If you file with a paper form, use black ink and standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Make any check payable to State of New Hampshire.
Online:
Application for Foreign Limited Liability Company Registration
By mail:
Corporation Division, NH Dept. of State
107 N Main St, Rm 204
Concord, NH 03301-4989
In person:
State House Annex, 3rd Floor, Rm 317
25 Capitol Street
Concord, NH 03301
New Hampshire processes online filings in about three to seven business days. Mailed filings can take up to two to three weeks to be processed, plus additional time for mailing.
No, New Hampshire does not require a certificate of good standing.
No, only domestic LLCs file New Hampshire formation documents. Your LLC, being out of state, is simply filing for permission to do business inside of New Hampshire.
For starters, you probably don’t live in New Hampshire. So you’ll either need someone you trust to be your agent, or hire a service. Plus, any registered agent worth hiring will allow you to use their address on public documents, which can help you live privately.
New Hampshire doesn’t specifically define doing business, but generally, doing business includes having a physical presence in the state, such as a business office, warehouse, store or employees.
If this sounds vague, learning what doesn’t count as doing business may prove more helpful. According to NH Rev Stat § 304-C:174, the following activities are not considered doing business in New Hampshire:
- Transacting occasional or short-term business in interstate commerce
- Maintaining a bank account in the state
- Holding meetings in the state
- Performing one isolated transaction that can be completed within 30 days
- Selling products though third-party sellers
- Maintaining, defending, or settling any type of proceeding
- Owning real property and nothing more
- Creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages, and security interests in real property or collecting debts
- Acquiring product orders from New Hampshire that require acceptance from outside the state
We get more into the process of defining if your business is doing business in another state, but if you are ever unsure, contact the New Hampshire Sectary of State.
Do you like getting in trouble with the powers that be? Because that’s how you get in trouble. Simply put, if you don’t register your foreign LLC, you’re likely to run into some problems.
Per NH Rev Stat § 304-C:180 (2021), foreign LLCs that fail to register with the state cannot file a lawsuit in New Hampshire. New Hampshire may also fine your LLC and make you pay back taxes and fees for the time you operated your business in New Hampshire without registering.
Yes. New Hampshire requires all LLCs, foreign and domestic, to file a New Hampshire Annual Report by April 1. The cost to file is $100 (add $2 if paying online).
Foreign LLCs in New Hampshire are taxed as a pass-through entities by default. This means that the LLC itself doesn’t pay taxes. Instead, its profits (or losses) pass through the LLC and onto the tax returns of the members of the LLC. The members are then responsible for paying taxes to the IRS, including 15.3% in self-employment taxes. LLCs can also elect to be taxed as an S-corps or C-corp.
To withdraw your foreign LLC in New Hampshire, you’ll need to file a Certificate of Cancellation with New Hampshire’s DOS. The filing fee is $35.
