Does the federal S election protect me from New Hampshire tax?

No. New Hampshire does not follow the federal S election for its own tax — the corporation is taxed at the entity level regardless. This is the single most expensive misunderstanding an S-corp owner can have in this state.

Which New Hampshire return does an S corporation file?

Form NH-1120 (S corporations file the corporate Business Profits Tax return and are taxed at the entity level; filed with BET return and BT-Summary).

S-corp election · NH

New Hampshire S-Corporation Election

By Edmond Hui · Facts verified July 29, 2026 against primary state sources

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.

New Hampshire does not follow the federal S election for its own tax. The S corporation is taxed at the entity level in New Hampshire regardless of what the IRS recognizes — this is the single most expensive misunderstanding an S-corp owner can have in this state.

State treatmentDoes not follow the federal election

Separate state formNot required

State corporate income taxYes

The federal S election does not protect you from New Hampshire tax

New Hampshire is one of only 2 states that has a corporate income tax and still declines to follow the federal S election. The corporation is taxed at the entity level here whatever the IRS recognizes, so the usual reason for making the election — pass-through treatment — does not apply to your New Hampshire liability. Entity-level taxes on S corporations are not unique to these states — California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Delaware all follow the election and still levy one. What is unusual here is that the election is disregarded outright.

Does New Hampshire recognize the federal S election?

State treatment of the S election

Follows the federal election	No
Separate state election form	None required
State return	Form NH-1120 (S corporations file the corporate Business Profits Tax return and are taxed at the entity level; filed with BET return and BT-Summary)

What an S corporation still owes New Hampshire

New Hampshire taxes S corporations at the entity level: the federal S election does NOT exempt the entity. The S corporation itself pays BPT (7.5%) and BET (0.55%); no part of the earnings flows through to owners for NH BPT purposes (RSA 77-A:1).

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

New Hampshire also imposes the Business Enterprise Tax (BET) at 0.55% on the enterprise value tax base (compensation, interest, and dividends paid) for enterprises with gross business receipts or enterprise value tax base over $250,000 (statutory base, CPI-adjusted to roughly $298,000 for 2025). BET paid is creditable against BPT. New Hampshire has no general personal income tax or sales tax.

New Hampshire corporation vs New Hampshire LLC

State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded because both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure exists for either entity.

	Corporation	LLC
Formation filing fee	$100	$100
Report cadence	Every year	Every year
Report fee	$100	$100
Entity-level tax on the LLC side	—	Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax

Both entities cost $100 to file in New Hampshire, so the filing fee is not a reason to pick one over the other.

Full New Hampshire LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained

How New Hampshire compares

State treatment of the federal S election	States
Follows the federal election, no state form needed	43
No corporate income tax, so no state election exists	4
Has a corporate income tax and does not follow the election — the corporation is taxed like a C corporation	2
Follow the election but still impose some entity-level tax on the S corporation — California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Delaware among them	—
Require a separate state election form as well	1

Compare all 50 states · LLC vs S-corp · S-corp salary and savings calculator

Frequently Asked Questions

: No. New Hampshire does not follow the federal S election for its own tax — the corporation is taxed at the entity level regardless. This is the single most expensive misunderstanding an S-corp owner can have in this state.
: New Hampshire taxes S corporations at the entity level: the federal S election does NOT exempt the entity. The S corporation itself pays BPT (7.5%) and BET (0.55%); no part of the earnings flows through to owners for NH BPT purposes (RSA 77-A:1).
: Form NH-1120 (S corporations file the corporate Business Profits Tax return and are taxed at the entity level; filed with BET return and BT-Summary).

Where these numbers come from

This page covers how New Hampshire treats the federal S-corporation election and what an S corporation still owes the state. Every figure was checked against New Hampshire's own published sources on July 29, 2026— the state business filing agency's fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state tax applies, the state Department of Revenue. Commercial formation-service pages were used as leads only and are never cited. Anything the review could not confirm from an official source is left blank on this page rather than filled with an estimate.

Corporate income tax and franchise tax are quoted as the state publishes them, as rate schedules and thresholds, and are excluded from every dollar total here. They depend on income or net worth, so there is no flat figure that would be true for every corporation.

Primary sources: