Is it cheaper to form an LLC in Delaware than New Hampshire?

No. Delaware costs more upfront ($110 vs $100), and if you operate in New Hampshire you must also register there as a foreign LLC ($100) plus pay a Delaware registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $360 versus $100 for forming locally.

Can I form my New Hampshire business in Delaware?

Yes. Any New Hampshire business can form its LLC in Delaware. But if the business operates in New Hampshire, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($100 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Delaware, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.

Does Delaware have better asset protection than New Hampshire?

Delaware offers more formation privacy. It allows anonymous LLCs while New Hampshire doesn't. Core asset protection is similar, though: both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members. For most small businesses the practical difference is modest.

State Comparison

New Hampshire LLC vs Delaware LLC (2026)

Written for owners based in New Hampshire.

Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based

Delaware's $110 certificate is close to the $100 New Hampshire charges, and then the two part company. Delaware levies a flat $400 annual tax on every domestic and foreign LLC regardless of income or activity, with no proration, so a company formed in December owes a full year. That is $400 against the $100 New Hampshire annual report, or $2,110 over five years against $600. Delaware keeps members off its public filings too. Anyone running the company from New Hampshire pays the $400 and a $100 home registration.

Based in Delaware? Read Delaware LLC vs New Hampshire LLC →

Compare New Hampshire LLC vs Delaware LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 23, 2026

If your business is based in New Hampshire, a New Hampshire LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Delaware LLC run from New Hampshire generally must also register in New Hampshire as a foreign LLC (New Hampshire's $100 filing fee). If your business is based in Delaware, a Delaware LLC needs no foreign registration there; a New Hampshire LLC run from Delaware generally must also register in Delaware as a foreign LLC (Delaware's $200 filing fee). An LLC formed in one of these states and run from the other owes whatever filings, fees and taxes each state requires. A New Hampshire LLC runs $200 in year one and $100/yr after; a Delaware LLC runs $510 and $400/yr. See the full breakdown below.

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Factor	New Hampshire	Delaware
Filing Fee	$100	$110
Processing Time	Within 30 days (paper)	Not published by the state
Annual Report Fee	$100	None ($400/yr entity tax instead)
Annual Report Due	April 1	None required
State Income Tax	No	Yes
Anonymous LLC	No	Yes
Publication Requirement	No	No
Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state)	N/A, you're in your home state	$100 + registered agent ~$150/yr

Full fee breakdown for either state: New Hampshire LLC cost and Delaware LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: New Hampshire anonymous LLC guide and Delaware anonymous LLC guide.

Business Climate: New Hampshire vs Delaware

Factor	New Hampshire	Delaware
5-year business survival rate	47.7% (#40 of 51)	48.1% (#37 of 51)
Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months))	+26.1% YoY (#42 of 51 by volume)	+2.5% YoY (#33 of 51 by volume)

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)

See the full 50-state survival ranking.

Compare LLC Costs: New Hampshire vs Delaware

State A

State B

New Hampshire

✓ Cheaper Upfront✓ Cheaper Long-Term

Formation fee$100

Annual report fee$100

State entity taxNone

Report dueApril 1

Processing timeWithin 30 days (paper)

Late penalty$50

Delaware

Formation fee$110

Annual report feeNo report required

State entity tax$400/yr, Annual LLC Tax (alternative entity tax)

Report dueNone required

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penaltyNo report to file late. The annual tax carries its own penalty

Total Cost

New Hampshire

Delaware

1 Year

$200

$510

3 Years

$400

$1,310

5 Years

$600

$2,110

Will you operate outside your home state?

A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.

Filing Fees & Formation Costs

New Hampshire charges $100 to form an LLC, while Delaware charges $110. New Hampshire is $10 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Delaware but operate in New Hampshire, you must also register as a foreign LLC in New Hampshire (a $100 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Delaware (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Delaware route at roughly $360, versus $100 for simply forming in New Hampshire. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: New Hampshire publishes a standard turnaround (within 30 days, paper), while Delaware publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.

Taxes: New Hampshire vs Delaware

New Hampshire has no personal income tax, while Delaware taxes individual income. Since pass-through LLC profits are taxed where you live and operate, a New Hampshire-based owner keeps New Hampshire's no-income-tax benefit either way. Forming in Delaware adds no tax advantage. Business Profits Tax of 7.5% applies to LLCs with gross business income over $109,000 (threshold for periods beginning on/after 1/1/2025), and Business Enterprise Tax of 0.55% applies over $298,000 of gross receipts or enterprise value tax base. Both beyond the $100 annual report fee. Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required).

Privacy & Asset Protection

Delaware allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. Delaware's Certificate of Formation requires no member or manager names, and LLCs file no annual report, so ownership never appears on a public filing. New Hampshire doesn't offer that same privacy. The Certificate of Formation doesn't require member/manager names, but under New Hampshire law the annual report must list the names and business addresses of the LLC's managers or, if there are no managers, at least one member, so ownership/management can't stay off all routine public filings. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal. One important caveat: if you register your Delaware LLC as a foreign LLC in New Hampshire, that New Hampshire registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in New Hampshire.

Annual Maintenance Costs

New Hampshire LLCs file an annual report ($100, due April 1), and Delaware LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in Delaware while operating in New Hampshire, you maintain filings in both states, Delaware asks for no report, but New Hampshire still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Delaware registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Delaware route to roughly $650 a year, versus about $100 to keep a domestic New Hampshire LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: Business Profits Tax of 7.5% applies to LLCs with gross business income over $109,000 (threshold for periods beginning on/after 1/1/2025), and Business Enterprise Tax of 0.55% applies over $298,000 of gross receipts or enterprise value tax base. Both beyond the $100 annual report fee. Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required).

When Delaware Actually Makes Sense

Forming in Delaware makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. New Hampshire puts owner or manager information on public filings and Delaware doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in New Hampshire still requires a public foreign registration there), you're raising venture capital or institutional investment. Many investors specifically prefer or require Delaware entities, your business genuinely operates in Delaware, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Delaware in the near future and accept taking on Delaware's personal income tax, which New Hampshire doesn't levy. For a typical small business based in New Hampshire, none of these usually apply. Registering a Delaware LLC to do business back home means $100 in New Hampshire foreign-registration fees, on top of Delaware's $110 formation fee, while New Hampshire's own annual report runs $100 a year and is due April 1. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.

Frequently Asked Questions

: No. Delaware costs more upfront ($110 vs $100), and if you operate in New Hampshire you must also register there as a foreign LLC ($100) plus pay a Delaware registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $360 versus $100 for forming locally.
: Yes. Any New Hampshire business can form its LLC in Delaware. But if the business operates in New Hampshire, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($100 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Delaware, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.
: Delaware offers more formation privacy. It allows anonymous LLCs while New Hampshire doesn't. Core asset protection is similar, though: both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members. For most small businesses the practical difference is modest.
: It depends on where the business is based. For a New Hampshire-based business, New Hampshire: forming where the business is based keeps costs and compliance simple, and Delaware is worth considering only if you actually do business there, want an anonymous holding company there or have investor requirements that point there. For a Delaware-based business, the same reasoning points to Delaware.
: Only one side of this comparison is knowable: New Hampshire publishes a standard turnaround (within 30 days, paper), while Delaware publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed. Whichever you pick, remember that forming in Delaware while operating in New Hampshire means you're not fully set up until the New Hampshire foreign registration is also processed, so the out-of-state route is rarely the faster path end to end. If your timing is genuinely fixed, buy the state's expedite tier rather than relying on a standard turnaround.

Comparison chart of forming an LLC in New Hampshire versus Delaware, contrasting filing fees, annual report cost and ongoing obligations across 8 factors. — New Hampshire and Delaware side by side on the factors that decide where to form. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state cost dataset, verified against each Secretary of State's published fee schedule, July 2026.

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More State Comparisons

New Hampshire vs Florida →New Hampshire vs Georgia →New Hampshire vs Hawaii →New Hampshire vs Wyoming →Delaware vs Wyoming →

New Hampshire LLC Guide →Delaware LLC Guide →

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Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.

New Hampshire statute: RSA 304-C:31 (certificate of formation)
New Hampshire statute: RSA 304-C:194 (annual report contents)
sos.nh.gov/corporations-0New Hampshire Secretary of State: business entity filings
gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXVIII/304-C/304-C-191.htmNew Hampshire LLC filing fees
corp.delaware.govDelaware Division of Corporations: business entity filings
corpfiles.delaware.gov/AugustFee2024.pdfDelaware LLC filing fees

Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.