Tennessee LLC vs New Hampshire LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Tennessee.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
New Hampshire taxes the LLC itself once it is big enough: Business Profits Tax at 7.5% above $109,000 of gross business income and Business Enterprise Tax at 0.55% above $298,000, with nothing owed below those thresholds. Filing costs are flat, $100 to form and $100 a year. Tennessee's entity tax has no threshold, only a $100 minimum owed by any registered LLC, and its report starts at $300 and grows $50 per member, so $700 and $400 are minimums rather than quotes. A New Hampshire LLC working here registers from $300.
Based in New Hampshire? Read New Hampshire LLC vs Tennessee LLC →
Compare Tennessee LLC vs New Hampshire 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 | Tennessee | New Hampshire |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $300 | $100 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Within 30 days (paper) |
| Annual Report Fee | $300 | $100 |
| Annual Report Due | April 1 | April 1 |
| State Income Tax | No | No |
| Anonymous LLC | No | No |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $300 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Tennessee LLC cost and New Hampshire LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Tennessee anonymous LLC guide and New Hampshire anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Tennessee vs New Hampshire
| Factor | Tennessee | New Hampshire |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 46.4% (#45 of 51) | 47.7% (#40 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +19.9% YoY (#16 of 51 by volume) | +26.1% YoY (#42 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: Tennessee vs New Hampshire
Tennessee
New Hampshire
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
Tennessee charges at least $300 to form an LLC, while New Hampshire charges $100. New Hampshire is $200 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in New Hampshire but operate in Tennessee, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Tennessee (a $300 minimum filing) and maintain a registered agent in New Hampshire (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the New Hampshire route at roughly $550, versus at least $300 for simply forming in Tennessee. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: New Hampshire publishes a standard turnaround (within 30 days, paper), while Tennessee publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.
Taxes: Tennessee vs New Hampshire
Neither Tennessee nor New Hampshire levies a personal income tax, so there's no income-tax advantage to forming in either state. Tennessee imposes a franchise & excise tax on LLCs: $100 minimum franchise tax plus 6.5% excise tax on net earnings. 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 Tennessee nor New Hampshire offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. 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. 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
Tennessee LLCs file an annual report (at least $300, due April 1), and New Hampshire LLCs file an annual report ($100, due April 1). If you form in New Hampshire while operating in Tennessee, you maintain filings in both states, New Hampshire's report plus Tennessee's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a New Hampshire registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the New Hampshire route to roughly $550 a year, versus at least $400 to keep a domestic Tennessee LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: Tennessee imposes a franchise & excise tax on LLCs: $100 minimum franchise tax plus 6.5% excise tax on net earnings. 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 New Hampshire Actually Makes Sense
Forming in New Hampshire makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in New Hampshire, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to New Hampshire in the near future. For a typical small business based in Tennessee, none of these usually apply. Registering a New Hampshire LLC to do business back home means at least $300 in Tennessee foreign-registration fees, on top of New Hampshire's $100 formation fee, while Tennessee's own annual report runs at least $300 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. 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.tn.gov/businessesTennessee Secretary of State: business entity filings
- sos.tn.gov/businesses/services/business-forms-feesTennessee LLC filing fees
- 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
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.