New Hampshire LLC vs West Virginia LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in New Hampshire.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
West Virginia matches the $100 New Hampshire formation fee and charges $25 for its annual report, due by June 30 rather than April 1, against $100 here. One cost sits outside that: a $30 Business Registration Certificate from the Tax Division before any business activity, charged once per fixed location rather than annually. A new LLC cannot use the $50 biennial option, which needs five consecutive years of timely reports first. A missed June 30 adds $50, and bringing the LLC into New Hampshire costs $100.
Based in West Virginia? Read West Virginia LLC vs New Hampshire LLC →
Compare New Hampshire LLC vs West Virginia 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
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| Factor | New Hampshire | West Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $100 | $100 |
| Processing Time | Within 30 days (paper) | 5 to 10 business days (paper) |
| Annual Report Fee | $100 | $25 |
| Annual Report Due | April 1 | June 30 |
| State Income Tax | No | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | No |
| 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 West Virginia LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: New Hampshire anonymous LLC guide and West Virginia anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: New Hampshire vs West Virginia
| Factor | New Hampshire | West Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 47.7% (#40 of 51) | 53.6% (#14 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +26.1% YoY (#42 of 51 by volume) | +19% YoY (#43 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: New Hampshire vs West Virginia
New Hampshire
West Virginia
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 West Virginia charges $100. The upfront filing fees are identical. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in West Virginia 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 West Virginia (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the West Virginia route at roughly $350, versus $100 for simply forming in New Hampshire. Both states publish a standard turnaround, New Hampshire (within 30 days, paper) and West Virginia (5 to 10 business days, paper), though a published figure is a norm, not a guarantee.
Taxes: New Hampshire vs West Virginia
New Hampshire has no personal income tax, while West Virginia 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 West Virginia 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.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Neither New Hampshire nor West Virginia offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. West Virginia's annual report includes the LLC's members and managers. Business owners who prioritize privacy typically form a holding company in a state like Wyoming or New Mexico instead. 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.
Annual Maintenance Costs
New Hampshire LLCs file an annual report ($100, due April 1), and West Virginia LLCs file an annual report ($25, due June 30). If you form in West Virginia while operating in New Hampshire, you maintain filings in both states, West Virginia's report plus New Hampshire's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a West Virginia registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the West Virginia route to roughly $275 a year, versus about $100 to keep a domestic New Hampshire LLC in good standing. The tax 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.
When West Virginia Actually Makes Sense
Forming in West Virginia makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in West Virginia, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to West Virginia in the near future and accept taking on West Virginia'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 West Virginia LLC to do business back home means $100 in New Hampshire foreign-registration fees, on top of West Virginia's $100 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
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Start your LLC with ZenBusiness →Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. MyStateLLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
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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.
- 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
- sos.wv.gov/businessWest Virginia Secretary of State: business entity filings
- sos.wv.gov/media/335/download?inline=West Virginia 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.