The Corporation Division of the New Hampshire Department of State, in Room 204 of the State House at 107 North Main Street in Concord, maintains the state business registry, and its corporations page states its mission as accessible and transparent services that support the creation, growth and compliance of New Hampshire businesses. Its records are searched through NH QuickStart, the online system through which annual reports and registrations are also filed, and the division business questions page says that most charter documents, including articles of incorporation and a business most recent annual report, can be searched, viewed and downloaded there at no charge.
Every registered business carries a Business ID, which the division says is the same thing as its charter number and is unrelated to the federal employer identification number. Name availability is not something the search decides; it is determined by division staff only when a registration arrives. The sos.nh.gov and quickstart.sos.nh.gov sites answered an access denied page when read from this server, so the figures below come from the Revised Statutes on the General Court site and from copies of the division own pages held by the Internet Archive, the newest dated October 7, 2026. For New Hampshire businesses by place, see the New Hampshire county pages.
- Free to view: charter documents and annual reports in QuickStart, with a certified copy five dollars plus a dollar a page.
- Five dollars, or ten: a certificate of existence or authorization, in short or long form, under RSA 293-A:1.22.
- One hundred dollars by April 1: the annual report of a corporation or LLC, with fifty dollars added after that date and no waiver.
- Two missed years: what it takes for a domestic company to go from Not in Good Standing to Administratively Dissolved.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Hampshire's own systems: the Corporation Division corporations page, the Corporation Division business questions page, the file an annual report page, the forms and fees page, the domestic and foreign corporation forms page, the limited liability company forms page, the trade name forms page, the registered agents page, the NH QuickStart questions page, the NH QuickStart business record search, RSA Chapter 293-A, the New Hampshire Business Corporation Act, RSA 304-C:194 on limited liability company annual reports, RSA 349:1 on trade name registration, RSA 349:5 on the trade name certificate, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the record shows about the people behind a business
The questions page answers the ownership question type by type. A trade name profile contains the name of each applicant or owner together with the business address. A corporation must give the names and addresses of its officers and directors on its annual report and must keep a registered agent, but information about shareholders is not filed with the Secretary of State. A limited liability company managed by its members must list at least one member on its report, and one managed by managers at least one manager.
A nonprofit files a report once every five years, in years ending in zero or five, listing its officers and directors or governing board, for twenty five dollars by December 31. A telephone number and email address appear only if the business chose to give them. Bylaws and operating agreements are never filed, and the division asks filers not to upload beneficial ownership reports, which belong to FinCEN, or any document carrying personal identifying information.
RSA 293-A:16.21 and RSA 304-C:194 set the content: name and home jurisdiction, registered office and agent, principal office, the directors and principal officers or the managers or members, and a brief description of the business, current as of January 1 of the year the report is due.
One hundred dollars by April 1, fifty more after it
Both statutes put the report between January 1 and April 1 of each year following the year of formation or registration, with one exception: a company formed or registered between December 1 and April 1 skips the report that spring. RSA 293-A:1.22 prices the annual report at one hundred dollars and the late filing at fifty, and the questions page says the late fee cannot be waived, that a report must be completed in full every year even when nothing has changed, since a filer may not write no change or refer to the previous year, and that two years of reports can be filed in succession online.
The annual report page offers three routes: a QuickStart account, a One Click Annual Report for a business with no changes to its information or principals, or a paper form mailed on request. Card payments through QuickStart carry the two dollar electronic handling charge that RSA 5:10-a has applied to every fee paid electronically since July 1, 2004. Changes to officers, managers or addresses after a report is filed are sent in writing on letterhead or by email rather than by a new filing.
Not in Good Standing, then dissolved or suspended
The questions page describes the statuses a QuickStart record shows. A domestic registration that owes a report or annual fee is placed in Not in Good Standing when nothing is filed and paid by April 1, and after failing to file for two consecutive years it is Administratively Dissolved. A foreign registration goes to Not in Good Standing the same way and is Administratively Suspended after missing the current year. A nonprofit that misses its five year report is dissolved or suspended too.
In the statute, RSA 293-A:14.20 lets the Secretary of State begin a dissolution when a corporation has not paid its fees or delivered its report for twelve months, has had no registered agent for sixty days, has failed for sixty days to report an agent change, has outlived its stated duration, or has filed a document that knowingly violates the law; RSA 293-A:14.21 gives sixty days after written notice to cure, then a notice of dissolution mailed with an application for reinstatement, and protects the dissolved corporation name and any trade name it registered for one hundred twenty days.
Under RSA 293-A:14.22 reinstatement is open for three years, for one hundred thirty five dollars, with a Department of Revenue Administration certificate if the application arrives more than one hundred twenty days after the notice, and a late reinstatement after three years costs five hundred dollars and requires the former directors or officers to show it will benefit the company constituents and not defraud the public. The corporations page keeps a notice of late reinstatements among its legal notices.
Certificates, copies and the twenty five dollar rush
RSA 293-A:1.22 prices a certificate of existence or authorization at five dollars and the long form at ten, a certified copy at one dollar per document plus five for the certificate, and a statement of change of registered agent or office at fifteen. The questions page gives the division practice: certified copies are ordered by telephone or by email to the corporate office at five dollars for certification plus a dollar a page, invoiced with the completed request, with expedited service for twenty five dollars more, and a document that returns File Not Found online has simply not been scanned and can be pulled from State Archives on request.
Expedited processing of a registration costs the same twenty five dollars in person at the customer lobby, and the current processing date is posted in the announcements on the QuickStart login page. The office takes checks, money orders, exact cash and ACH accounts, and cards only online, and the QuickStart questions page explains that a rejected filing fee is held as rejection funds and reapplied when the corrected filing is resubmitted.
Articles of incorporation cost one hundred dollars, an amendment thirty five, articles of dissolution thirty five, a foreign certificate of authority one hundred and a name reservation fifteen dollars for one hundred twenty days.
Trade names, which the state registers with their owners
New Hampshire registers trade names at the state rather than the town. Under RSA 349:1 every sole proprietor doing business under any name other than his own, and every partnership, trust or association, must register its trade name with the Secretary of State, while corporations, LLCs and the other registered entities are exempt, and the name must be distinguishable from every entity name on the register. RSA 349:5 requires a certificate signed by the proprietor or the members stating the name, the principal place of business and a brief description of the business.
The trade name page gives the division own test: John D. Smith doing business as John D. Smith need not register, but John Smith Enterprises must, because Enterprises is not part of his legal name. A trade name is renewed every five years, with a notice sent six months before expiry, and cannot be reserved in advance. Because the profile names each owner, a trade name search is the one place a New Hampshire sole proprietor appears on the state record, and the New Hampshire people search guide lists the state sources beyond it.
Registered agents and the companies that will serve as one
Every corporation and LLC must keep a registered agent with a physical New Hampshire address, never a post office box, and the registered agents page says that failing to maintain one can lead to administrative suspension or dissolution. An owner, manager or employee may serve if they can be found at the registered office, a change of agent costs fifteen dollars on Form 10 or online, and the division publishes a list of companies willing to act as agent, from a forty nine dollar a year service upward, with the warning that none is endorsed by the Secretary of State and that every fee and service must be checked with the company directly.
For a dispute involving a New Hampshire company, the New Hampshire court records guide covers the superior and circuit court records.
Questions about looking up a New Hampshire business
Related New Hampshire records
The other New Hampshire guides on this site are the New Hampshire public records law guide for RSA 91-A, the New Hampshire court records guide for the judicial branch case access, the New Hampshire property records guide for the county registries of deeds, and the New Hampshire county pages for every county office.