Self-employed taxes and LLC costs in New Hampshire, 2026
New Hampshire has no personal income tax, yet it taxes business profit directly, whether the business is a corporation, an LLC or a person.
Total tax on this income in 2026
$17,800
Put aside 21% of each payment · $4,450 per quarter
| Self-employment tax (15.3%) | $12,010 |
| Federal income tax | $5,790 |
| New Hampshire income tax | $0 |
| QBI deduction used | $12,579 |
| Effective rate on all income | 20.9% |
With an S corp election and a $34,000 salary, about $3,747 less tax (check it).
Computed by Radif Partners from IRS and New Hampshire agency documents read on October 15, 2026 · How we calculate
New Hampshire does not tax wages or self-employment income on a personal return, and its tax on interest and dividends is gone, so for most freelancers the bill is federal only: $15,495 on $75,000 of profit for a single filer in 2026, or $3,874 a quarter, and $28,462 on $120,000. The catch is at the business level. The Business Profits Tax reaches sole proprietors, LLCs, partnerships and corporations alike once gross business income passes a filing threshold, and the Business Enterprise Tax applies above a separate receipts or payroll threshold. Because New Hampshire does not recognize the S election for these taxes, an S corporation pays them too, and the S corp comparison in the calculator, which shows a saving of about $5,312 at $120,000 with a $50,000 salary, leaves both business taxes out. Their current rates and thresholds are published by the Department of Revenue Administration.
New Hampshire at a glance, 2026
| LLC filing fee | not verified |
| Annual Report | not verified |
| Income tax | none on wages or business income |
| S corporation election | not recognized |
| Tax on $75,000 of profit (single) | $15,495 in all, $0 to New Hampshire |
The usual description of New Hampshire as a state without income tax is true for people and false for businesses. A self-employed person files no New Hampshire return on Schedule C profit, but the Business Profits Tax is a tax on the profit of any organization carrying on business activity in the state, and New Hampshire counts a sole proprietorship as one (NH DRA, Business Profits Tax FAQ). Below the filing threshold, nothing is due and nothing is filed. Above it, the business files and pays even though its owner pays no personal income tax.
The same profit in another state
Massachusetts minus New Hampshire
$4,427
| Massachusetts | $4,427 |
| New Hampshire | $0 |
Living on one side of the border, working on the other
The comparison above sets the same profit in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. At $75,000, the Massachusetts resident pays about $3,265 of state income tax and the New Hampshire resident pays none on a personal return. The gap is not always yours to keep. A New Hampshire resident who works on site for clients in Massachusetts can owe Massachusetts on the income earned there, and a business with enough gross income owes the Business Profits Tax at home. The Massachusetts page has the other half of that picture.
Two business taxes with their own thresholds
The Business Profits Tax is levied on net business profit, with a filing requirement triggered by gross business income rather than by profit, so a consultant with high revenue and thin margins can still have to file. The Business Enterprise Tax has a different base: compensation paid, interest paid and dividends paid, added together, and it applies once gross receipts or that base pass its own threshold (NH DRA, Business Enterprise Tax FAQ). Both thresholds are indexed every two years. The official pages could only be read through search extracts today, so this page quotes neither rate nor threshold; the DRA pages linked here carry the current figures.
Quarterly estimates for business taxes
Where either tax is due, the business pays estimates on the 15th day of the fourth, sixth, ninth and twelfth months of its year: April 15, 2026, June 15, 2026, September 15, 2026 and December 15, 2026 for a calendar year (NH DRA, 2026 estimate instructions). The last date is in December, a month earlier than the federal January installment. The federal quarterly schedule still applies on its own dates.
LLC or S corporation in New Hampshire
An LLC files a Certificate of Formation with the Secretary of State and an annual report each year by April 1, starting the year after registration. The fee amounts could not be opened on the Secretary of State site today and are left blank here. For federal tax, an S election works as anywhere else, cutting payroll taxes on the profit above a reasonable salary. For the Business Profits Tax, though, the S corporation is a taxpayer like any company, so the federal saving does not remove the state business tax. Paying yourself a salary also enlarges the Business Enterprise Tax base, because compensation is part of it. A CPA familiar with both taxes can model the trade-off; the LLC vs S corp calculator handles the federal side.