Register a company in New Hampshire

Yes. The Certificate of Formation goes to the Corporation Division online, our registered agent covers the first year, and the EIN application reaches the IRS by phone, fax or mail, the routes open to applicants without an SSN or ITIN. You sign where you live, and the annual report is filed online as well. Banking is where distance can matter: fintech platforms work from an online application, while a traditional bank usually expects some footprint in the US.

Formation starts from $2,400 all-in, including the New Hampshire filing fee ($100 for the Certificate of Formation, plus the $2 handling charge on online payment), the registered agent for the first year, the EIN and the operating agreement. With a fintech or bank account set up, from $4,400. After that, the state charges $100 a year for the annual report, $150 if it goes in after 1 April, and our renewal is from $600 a year. Business taxes come in only above the DRA's thresholds.

We cannot quote the Corporation Division's processing time from an official source, so we confirm the current one when we file. After the certificate comes the EIN: generally within 4 business days by fax, about 4 weeks by mail. An ITIN, if you need one, takes 7 weeks, or 9-11 weeks when you apply from abroad or in tax season (15 January to 30 April).

Federally, a C-Corp pays 21%, and dividends it pays to a non-US shareholder carry 30% withholding unless a treaty lowers the rate. An LLC is taxed through its owners by default: a non-US owner pays US tax on income effectively connected with a US trade or business, and 30% on most other US-source income unless a treaty or the Code sets a lower rate. New Hampshire adds the 7.5% Business Profits Tax above $109,000 of gross business income and the 0.55% Business Enterprise Tax above $298,000 of gross receipts or enterprise value tax base, with BET credited against BPT. The state does not tax W-2 wages, and the Interest and Dividends Tax is repealed for periods beginning after 31 December 2024.

The Company + Bank Account package starts with one decision: a fintech platform or a traditional bank, judged against your file. For Mercury or Relay-class platforms we prepare the application file; a traditional bank becomes realistic once you have a footprint in the US, such as staff or an office. Approval is always the bank's call. When the account is open, we set up ACH, wires and Stripe onboarding.

For one owner or a small group trading or selling services, an LLC is usually enough: the IRS taxes its profit in the owners' hands, and the state filing is $100. Investors change the picture. They generally expect a C-Corp, and a non-resident alien shareholder rules out an S election, so the company pays 21% federal tax plus New Hampshire's business taxes above the thresholds. An LLC may elect corporate treatment on Form 8832, but once it changes it cannot change again by election for 60 months. For a C-Corp, we confirm the state's filing fee in your quote.

One annual report to the Secretary of State, $100, due by 1 April and filed online in QuickStart; to file on paper you first request the form from the Corporation Division. Miss the date and the bill becomes $150 with the $50 late fee, and the company is out of good standing until it files. The DRA expects a BPT return above $109,000 of gross business income and a BET return above $298,000 of gross receipts or enterprise value tax base, both through Granite Tax Connect. Federally, a single-member LLC owned by one non-US person adds Form 5472.

Yes, if one foreign person in the IRS sense, you or your company abroad, owns the whole LLC. For reporting, the IRS then treats the LLC as a corporation: each year it files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached, listing its transactions with you as a related party, money you put in or take out among them. Electronic filing is not allowed, so it goes by fax or mail. Not filing costs $25,000, plus $25,000 for every 30-day period the failure runs on more than 90 days after an IRS notice. Our accounting add-on covers the filing from $800 a year.

Because the business will be run from New Hampshire, or because you want the lowest filing fee in New England. An LLC formed in another state that registers in New Hampshire files Form FLLC-1 for $100, so a company formed elsewhere and run from here may end up registered, and paying fees, in two states. New Hampshire calls that a foreign LLC, a term about its home state, not its owners. If nothing ties you to New Hampshire, compare Delaware and Wyoming first, and we will tell you plainly which fits.

The 'no income tax' reputation is about wages. For businesses, the DRA applies the 7.5% Business Profits Tax to every business organization with more than $109,000 of gross business income, and its business-tax page does not single out LLCs. So a pass-through LLC above that line should plan for a New Hampshire return; we confirm how single-member and multi-member LLCs file. Past $298,000 of gross receipts or enterprise value tax base, the 0.55% Business Enterprise Tax follows, and both thresholds are adjusted every two years. Smaller, but easy to miss: the annual report is due by 1 April, and a calendar-year LLC owned entirely by one non-US person owes Form 5472 by 15 April unless extended.