New Hampshire LLC structure and cost: no income tax, no sales tax, and yet a 7.5% business tax on the LLC itself

New Hampshire’s reputation is built on what it does not tax: no tax on wages, no sales tax, and as of 2025 no tax on interest and dividends either, after that last levy was repealed. For an LLC’s members, that means the income passing through to them carries no New Hampshire personal income tax at all, which is a real advantage and the reason people form here. But the headline hides the part that matters to a business owner. New Hampshire taxes the LLC itself. A profitable company pays the Business Profits Tax at 7.5% and the Business Enterprise Tax at 0.55%, both at the entity level, so “no income tax” does not mean no state tax on the business. Take the personal side first, then the entity taxes that surprise people.

No personal income tax, which is real

Start with what New Hampshire genuinely does not tax.

New Hampshire has no tax on wages, no sales tax, and as of 2025 no tax on interest and dividends, so an LLC’s income carries no personal state tax to its members.

New Hampshire has never taxed earned wages, has no general sales tax, and its old Interest and Dividends Tax, the last piece of anything resembling a personal income tax, was fully repealed effective January 1, 2025. Capital gains were never subject to that tax. So a member of a New Hampshire LLC receives his share of the company’s income and pays no New Hampshire tax on it personally, which for an investor whose income is largely passive is a genuine and unusual benefit. The catch is that the benefit runs to the member, not to the company.

The two taxes on the LLC itself

Here is the seam the “no income tax” branding hides.

A profitable New Hampshire LLC pays the Business Profits Tax at 7.5% on its net income once gross receipts pass about $298,000.

Under RSA 77-A, New Hampshire imposes the Business Profits Tax, a flat 7.5% on a business’s New Hampshire taxable profits, and it applies to an LLC as a business organization regardless of how the IRS treats it. The tax has a filing threshold, gross business receipts of roughly $298,000, adjusted for inflation, so a small landlord below that level owes nothing and a larger operation above it pays 7.5% on its profits. That is an income tax by another name, levied on the entity rather than the member, and it means the “no income tax” reputation is accurate for a small holder and misleading for a substantial one. A second tax rides alongside it.

The Business Enterprise Tax adds 0.55% on the sum of compensation, interest, and dividends the LLC pays, and it credits against the profits tax.

Under RSA 77-E, the Business Enterprise Tax is 0.55% on the enterprise value tax base, the total of compensation, interest, and dividends the business pays out, and it applies at a similar threshold. Because the Business Enterprise Tax paid is a credit against the Business Profits Tax, a company does not truly pay both in full, but the enterprise tax can reach a business that pays wages or interest even in a year it shows little profit. The point that would make a CPA pause is that a real estate investor comparing New Hampshire to a low-tax state on the strength of “no income tax” has to model the Business Profits Tax at 7.5% on the entity, because for a profitable rental operation it lands much closer to a mid-tier state income tax than to zero.

Short-term rentals collect New Hampshire’s 8.5% meals and rentals tax, which catches vacation-rental owners who expected a tax-free state.

Under RSA 78-A, New Hampshire’s meals and rentals tax applies to lodging as well as restaurant meals, at 8.5%, so an owner running a short-term rental collects and remits that tax on the rent. An investor who bought into New Hampshire’s tax-free image and then set up a vacation rental discovers the 8.5% obligation, which is worth knowing before the first booking.

Moving property in, and the missing series

On retitling and structuring, New Hampshire has a transfer-tax trap and no series form.

New Hampshire’s transfer tax is $1.50 per $100 split between buyer and seller, and moving property into your own LLC can trigger it.

Under RSA 78-B, New Hampshire’s Real Estate Transfer Tax is $0.75 per $100 of value imposed on each of the buyer and the seller, $1.50 per $100 in total, with a minimum of $20 per party. The trap is that New Hampshire applies the tax to a transfer into a controlled entity, so moving a property from your own name into your own LLC can trigger it, treating the membership interest you receive as consideration. Some contributions qualify for relief, but the exemption is not automatic and should be confirmed with the Department of Revenue Administration before the transfer, because an investor who assumes an owner-to-LLC transfer is free can be surprised by a tax on the property’s full value. What New Hampshire does not offer is a series LLC.

New Hampshire has no series LLC, so an investor holding several properties uses a separate LLC for each.

New Hampshire’s LLC act has no series provisions, so the single-entity-with-internal-cells structure available in Oklahoma or Utah does not exist here, and each property an investor wants insulated goes in its own LLC, each with its own formation and annual report and each a separate business for the profits and enterprise taxes. The series LLC guide covers the form New Hampshire lacks; the practical answer here is separate LLCs, which also fits the protection strategy on the protection page, where multi-member entities matter.

The bottom line

New Hampshire has no tax on wages, no sales tax, and no interest and dividends tax as of 2025, so an LLC’s income carries no personal state tax to its members.

The Business Profits Tax under RSA 77-A is a flat 7.5% on the LLC’s profits once gross receipts pass about $298,000, an entity-level tax the “no income tax” reputation hides.

The Business Enterprise Tax under RSA 77-E adds 0.55% on compensation, interest, and dividends paid, credited against the profits tax.

Short-term rentals collect the 8.5% meals and rentals tax, and the transfer tax of $1.50 per $100 can apply even to moving property into your own LLC.

New Hampshire has no series LLC, so multiple properties mean multiple LLCs, each a separate business for the entity taxes.

What this page does not cover

This page is about where the entity lives and what it costs to hold and move. How creditors reach a member’s interest, the statutory single-member weakness, and the homestead are on the protection page. The freedom-of-contract act and the broad power to exculpate managers are on the governance page. The $100 formation fee, the $100 April 1 report, and the separate business-tax filing are on the filing page.

Last verified August 2026.