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Registered Agent

New Hampshire Registered Agent: Service and Requirements

Our registered agent service gives your New Hampshire LLC a staffed New Hampshire street address for lawsuits and state mail, so yours stays off the record. Below: what New Hampshire requires under RSA 304-C:36, who may serve, whether the agent signs, what becomes public, and how to change agents.

By Standard Filings · Last updated · State fees verified October 2026

Start your New Hampshire LLC

Our service fee and the New Hampshire filing & processing are itemized on the checkout review screen before you pay.

Start your New Hampshire LLC

What's included

  • Name availability check before we file
  • Certificate of Formation prepared and filed with New Hampshire
  • Submitted within 3 business days, or the same day as an option
  • Approved documents emailed, plus a private order page
  • New Hampshire's after-formation deadlines in writing
  • A real person by email

Registered agent service for New Hampshire LLCs

Our registered agent service names our partner's New Hampshire agent on your LLC's record. The agent keeps a staffed street address in New Hampshire, accepts lawsuits and state mail in business hours, and forwards every document to you the same business day it arrives. Your own address stays off the agent line of the public filing, and the renewal reminder arrives 30 days before each year.

New Hampshire's registered agent rules

Every state asks the same three things of the agent: a physical address in the state, a person there in business hours, and consent to serve. The details below are New Hampshire's, read on the state's own form and statute (RSA 304-C:36); a row the state's pages did not confirm is left out rather than guessed.

Statute
New Hampshire
RSA 304-C:36
State's term
New Hampshire
Registered agent
Required on the formation filing
New Hampshire
Yes
Address
New Hampshire
A street address in New Hampshire; no PO box
Business hours
New Hampshire
Someone available at that address to accept papers in normal business hours
Who may serve
New Hampshire
An individual resident of New Hampshire or a company authorized to do business there; the LLC may not name itself
Agent signs or consents on the filing
New Hampshire
No signature on the filing; consent still required
What is public
New Hampshire
Registered agent, signer (name and title), and optionally the members/managers the LLC chooses to list.
Change of agent
New Hampshire
Statement of change of registered office or registered agent (RSA 304-C:36, II), state fee $15
If the LLC has no agent
New Hampshire
The Secretary of State may administratively dissolve an LLC without a registered agent or registered office in New Hampshire for 60 days or more (RSA 304-C:136, III).
Cost to serve yourself
New Hampshire
$0
Cost to hire one
New Hampshire
A yearly fee; ours is added in the application and itemized on the checkout review screen

Not on the paper LLC-1 and not in RSA 304-C:36 text. The agent must be an NH-resident individual or an NH corporation/LLC/LLP, with a business office identical to the registered office.

The appointment is made on the Certificate of Formation itself, so the agent has to be settled before you file. Naming someone who has not agreed leaves the company exposed if that person refuses papers; naming a PO box gets it returned.

What the New Hampshire agent actually receives

Three kinds of paper arrive at the agent's address, and each one starts a clock.

  • Service of process. If the LLC is sued, the summons and complaint are delivered to the agent. The deadline to answer runs from that delivery, whether or not the owner hears about it, so an agent who is never there can cost the company a default judgment.
  • State notices. New Hampshire's filing office writes to the agent about the company's record: report reminders, late notices, and the warning that comes before administrative dissolution. New Hampshire's recurring report: $100/year. Due: April 1.
  • Tax and agency mail. Some agencies and courts use the agent address as the company's address of record; garnishment orders and subpoenas for records arrive there too.

None of this is optional for the agent to receive, which is why the state cares who the agent is and where. The owner's job is to make sure whatever arrives reaches the right person the same day.

Can I be my own registered agent in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire lets an individual with a street address in the state serve as the agent, so an owner who lives in New Hampshire can name themselves. The job is simple but unforgiving: someone has to be at that address during normal business hours to accept a process server, and the state's notices (including the yearly report reminder) go there. Miss a lawsuit because nobody was home and a default judgment can follow.

It is free, and it is the right choice for an owner who works from a fixed New Hampshire address and does not mind that address being public. It is the wrong choice for an owner outside New Hampshire, one who moves often, or one who runs the business from home and would rather not publish that.

Three questions settle it. Will you be at one New Hampshire address in business hours for the life of the company? Are you comfortable with that address on a public record that data brokers copy? And if you move, will you remember to file the change before the state's mail starts bouncing? Three yeses and you are your own agent; one no and a service is the cheaper mistake to avoid.

Hiring a registered agent in New Hampshire

A commercial registered agent is a company with a staffed New Hampshire address that accepts papers for many companies and forwards them. The LLC lists the agent's address instead of the owner's, so the owner's address stays off the public filing and nobody has to keep office hours.

Our registered agent service puts our partner's New Hampshire agent and address on your filing, forwards legal and state mail to you the same business day, and sends a renewal reminder 30 days ahead. Nothing is charged at checkout; the first year's fee is charged when we appoint your agent. It comes ticked in the application with its yearly fee on the review screen, and you can untick it there. Once the agent is set up, you can turn renewal off from your order page.

Whoever you hire, check two things before the filing goes in: that the agent is authorized to act in New Hampshire, and that the address on the filing is the agent's staffed street address, not a mailbox. An LLC that already exists can switch to our agent at any time.

Start your New Hampshire LLC with the agent set up correctly

Name yourself, or add our registered agent service, right in the application. Our service fee and the New Hampshire filing & processing are itemized on the checkout review screen before you pay.

Start your New Hampshire LLC →

What becomes public in New Hampshire

Registered agent, signer (name and title), and optionally the members/managers the LLC chooses to list. That is the practical reason owners who work from home hire an agent: the agent's address is what the public sees.

How to change your New Hampshire registered agent

The agent is not permanent. New Hampshire accepts a change at any time, and the new agent must meet the same street-address rule. File the change promptly if the agent moves or resigns: an LLC with no reachable agent can be penalized and eventually administratively dissolved.

Filing
New Hampshire
Statement of change of registered office or registered agent (RSA 304-C:36, II)
State fee
New Hampshire
$15
New agent's consent
New Hampshire
Required; usually kept in the company's records rather than filed
On the annual report instead
New Hampshire
No, a separate change filing
  1. Line up the new agent and get their consent.
  2. File the Statement of change of registered office or registered agent (RSA 304-C:36, II) and pay the $15 state fee.
  3. Keep the old agent in place until the state records the change, then cancel their service so it does not renew.
  4. Update the address on file with the IRS, your bank and any licensing agency that used the old agent address.

Processing follows the state's published timetable for the filing method you choose, online or by mail; we do not promise a date. The full 51-state comparison of forms, fees and portals is in How to change your LLC's registered agent. Or let us file it: we name our partner's New Hampshire agent and file the change.

Already have a New Hampshire LLC? Switch to our agent service

We name our partner's New Hampshire registered agent for your company and file the change with the state for you, its fee included. Mail is forwarded the same business day.

Switch my registered agent →

If the agent resigns or you move

An agent can quit. Every state lets the agent file a resignation, and the agent's duty to the company ends a set number of days after it is filed, whether or not the company has found a replacement. A commercial agent resigns when the bill goes unpaid; an individual resigns when they move or lose patience. Either way the company, not the agent, is the one the state holds responsible for having a new agent on record.

Moving has the same effect from the state's side. If you are your own agent and move house, the address on the record is now wrong, and papers served there may never reach you. File the change (Statement of change of registered office or registered agent (RSA 304-C:36, II)) as soon as the new address is fixed; a mail forward is not a substitute, since process is handed to a person, not posted.

The Secretary of State may administratively dissolve an LLC without a registered agent or registered office in New Hampshire for 60 days or more (RSA 304-C:136, III). The fix is always the same filing: name a reachable agent and record it with the state.

Sources

State fees verified October 2026; the registered agent rules, statute, change form and fee on this page were read on New Hampshire's own pages in November 2026. Confirm the current form with the state before filing.

Standard Filings is a filing service, not a law firm. This page is general information from each state's published filing rules and fee schedules, not legal or tax advice.

New Hampshire registered agent FAQ

Does New Hampshire require a registered agent?+

Yes. Every New Hampshire LLC names a registered agent on its Certificate of Formation (RSA 304-C:36), and the agent must keep a street address in New Hampshire where legal papers and official state mail can be delivered during business hours.

Can I be my own registered agent in New Hampshire?+

Generally yes, if you have a street address in New Hampshire (not a PO box) and are available there during business hours. The LLC cannot name itself.

Can I use a PO box for my New Hampshire registered agent address?+

No. New Hampshire, like every state, requires a physical street address where a process server can hand papers to a person during business hours. A PO box, a mail drop or a virtual office with nobody present does not qualify, and a filing that lists one is rejected or returned.

Does the registered agent have to sign the New Hampshire filing?+

Not on the paper LLC-1 and not in RSA 304-C:36 text. The agent must be an NH-resident individual or an NH corporation/LLC/LLP, with a business office identical to the registered office. The agent still has to have agreed to serve; keep that consent in the company's records.

How do I change my New Hampshire registered agent?+

File New Hampshire's Statement of change of registered office or registered agent (RSA 304-C:36, II) (state fee $15). The new agent must meet the same street-address rule, and the old agent stays on the record until the state accepts the change. We can file the switch for you and name our partner's agent.

What happens if my New Hampshire LLC has no registered agent?+

The Secretary of State may administratively dissolve an LLC without a registered agent or registered office in New Hampshire for 60 days or more (RSA 304-C:136, III). In practice a lawsuit can also proceed without you if nobody can be served, and state notices, including the report reminder, go unanswered.

What is a statutory or resident agent in New Hampshire?+

The same role under another name. New Hampshire says "registered agent" (RSA 304-C:36); Arizona and Ohio say statutory agent, Michigan, Maryland and Massachusetts say resident agent, and California says agent for service of process. Every version means the person or company that receives legal papers and state notices for the LLC.

What does a registered agent cost in New Hampshire?+

Nothing if you serve yourself. Our registered agent service can be added in the application; nothing is charged at checkout and the yearly fee is charged when we appoint your agent. Our partner's New Hampshire agent and address go on the record instead of yours, mail is forwarded the same business day, and it renews yearly with a reminder 30 days before.

General information from New Hampshire's published filing rules, not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with the state before relying on them.

Start your New Hampshire LLC today

Our service fee and the New Hampshire filing & processing are itemized on the checkout review screen before you pay. Agent named in the application.

Start my New Hampshire LLC

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