NH Business Lookup: New Hampshire Business Search on QuickStart

NH Secretary of State Business Search on QuickStart

QuickStart’s Business Search (the Corporation Division’s FAQ calls it the Business Record Search) takes one criterion at a time: Business Name, Business ID, Filing # or Registered Agent Name. There is no field for entity type, so a New Hampshire corporation search and an LLC search run in the same form, and the Business Type line on the record tells them apart. A name matches four ways: Starts With, Exact Match, Contains or All Words.

Step 1: Set the Match Mode, Then Pass the reCAPTCHA

In a New Hampshire business entity search, Starts With is preselected, and a box adds similar sounding names, for business names and registered agent names alike. Search stays blocked until the Google reCAPTCHA is checked, and QuickStart sometimes shows a browser check page before the form.

Step 2: Read Business Information, Two Dates Included

Business Details gives the Business ID, the Business Type (such as Domestic Limited Liability Company), Business Status, Last Annual Report Year and Next Report Year. An out-of-state company carries two dates: YIELDMO, INC. shows a Business Creation Date of 05/23/2022, the day it registered in New Hampshire, and a Date of Formation in Jurisdiction of 06/13/2012, when Delaware formed it, and its Citizenship / State of Formation line reads Foreign/Delaware.

Step 3: Use Filing History and the Agent Button

Filing History shows every filing with its Filing#, Filing Date, Effective Date, Filing Type and Annual Report Year, and the Filing Type opens the document itself (certificate of formation, articles of incorporation, each annual report); most charter documents open and download free, and “File Not Found” means that one hasn’t been scanned yet. Businesses Linked to Registered Agent lists every company with the same agent. A record’s web address carries an encrypted code rather than the Business ID, so the Business ID is the number to keep.

Business ID, Filing # and EIN: Three Numbers That Get Mixed Up

The Business ID and the charter number are the same number, the one that identifies the company; a Filing # identifies one document.

No QuickStart record shows an EIN. The Corporation Division’s FAQ says the Business ID and the federal Employer ID Number are separate numbers, the second assigned by the IRS, so another company’s EIN has to come from elsewhere, as set out in finding an EIN the state doesn’t publish.

Good Standing, Not in Good Standing, Admin Dissolution: NH Status Terms

A New Hampshire entity that hasn’t filed and paid its annual report by April 1 turns Not in Good Standing. A New Hampshire LLC or corporation is administratively dissolved only after failing to file for two consecutive years, but an out-of-state company is administratively suspended once the current year’s report or fee goes unfiled; either way it loses the authority to transact business in New Hampshire.

A dissolved LLC can apply for reinstatement within three years of the dissolution for $135 (RSA 304-C:138), adding a certificate from the Department of Revenue Administration once 120 days have passed since the dissolution notice. After three years, late reinstatement costs an LLC $500 and requires a public notice, which is why the Secretary of State keeps a Late Reinstatement Notices page. In both cases the reinstatement relates back to the day of the dissolution, and the LLC carries on as though it had never been dissolved (RSA 304-C:138, III and 304-C:145, V). The full list, protested-check statuses included, is on the Business Status Definitions page.

The $100 New Hampshire Annual Report, Due April 1

Every New Hampshire LLC and corporation, domestic or foreign, files a New Hampshire annual report and pays $100 by April 1 of each year after the year it registered. A report received after April 1 adds a $50 late fee, which the Corporation Division says can’t be waived.

The report gives full information as of January 1: writing “no change” or referring to last year’s report isn’t accepted. When nothing has changed, One Click Annual Report files it from QuickStart, and two missed years can be filed online one after the other. Fees paid electronically carry a $2.00 handling charge, and a credit card with an address outside the United States is refused. Nonprofits run on another cycle: $25 by December 31 in years ending in 0 and 5.

Certificate of Good Standing: One Click, Then Verify

QuickStart’s One Click Certificate of Good Standing issues the certificate online, and the LLC statute sets $5 for a certificate of the secretary of state, good standing included (RSA 304-C:191). Anyone holding a certificate can confirm it on Verify Certificate with the Business ID and the Certificate Number.

What a New Hampshire LLC Lookup Shows: Members, Managers, Officers

The record shows at least one member of a member-managed LLC, or one manager of a manager-managed LLC, because the annual report has to list one; a corporation’s record names its officers and directors. Shareholders never appear: the Secretary of State says ownership isn’t filed there, and neither are operating agreements or bylaws.

The Principals Information block pairs each name with a title (Member, Manager, President, Director) and a business address, and a business email and phone number show when the company supplied them, which is optional. QuickStart has no search by member or officer; in the tool above, the Person tab finds registered agents, and principals are read on the QuickStart record.

Registered Agents: New Hampshire Address, and Residency Since 2026

A registered agent must be an individual, corporation or LLC located in New Hampshire, at a registered office that is a physical address and can’t be a post office box; a business owner can act as the agent. Under HB 406, in force since January 1, 2026, an individual agent must be a New Hampshire resident and give the Corporation Division the physical address where they live or work. Changing the agent on Form 10 costs $15, and a resignation takes effect 31 days after it is filed and puts the company Not in Good Standing.

New Hampshire Business Name Search: Staff Decide Availability

A New Hampshire business name search on QuickStart shows the names already on file, but availability isn’t a service offered online: Corporation Division staff decide when a registration arrives. The Information Line (603-271-3246) or corporate@sos.nh.gov will check a name as a courtesy, with no guarantee it will be accepted.

Under RSA 304-C:32, an LLC name has to be distinguishable upon the record from other New Hampshire entities, reserved names and trade names, and the statute lists what doesn’t make a difference: an article, a plural, a phonetic spelling, an abbreviation, a prefix or suffix, a word showing entity status, punctuation, spacing, or a number written another way. The Secretary of State’s Name Availability Guidelines give pairs that clash: An Open Door and Open Door, Food Fair and Food Fare, NH Realty and New Hampshire Realty, 5 ALIVE and FIVE ALIVE. A number added to a name already on file needs the holder’s consent.

A business administratively dissolved within the last 120 days still holds its name. Form 1 holds a name for 120 days, renewable by the same applicant period after period, though not for a nonprofit or a trade name. Bank, Credit Union, Architect, Engineer and a few other words need another agency’s approval first. Federal trademarks sit in a separate register at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which QuickStart doesn’t search; a trademark search for a New Hampshire LLC name checks both. The Certificate of Formation filed to form an LLC in New Hampshire is also what protects the name, for as long as the LLC stays active on the records.

Trade Names: Registered With the State, Renewed Every Five Years

A DBA in New Hampshire is a trade name registered with the Secretary of State: anyone doing business under a name other than their own legal name files Form TN-1, $50 for five years, renewable for $50. Trade names appear in the same Business Search with an Active or Expired status and their owner’s name, a registered trade name blocks an identical LLC or corporation name, and a trade name can’t contain LLC, Inc. or any other corporate designation. The tool above covers companies only, so trade names are looked up on QuickStart.

Look-Alike Annual Report Offers and HB 406 Sworn Statements

On February 10, 2026, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan warned business owners about third-party solicitations offering to file 2026 annual reports for a fee: they can look like official notices, some charge far more than the statutory fee, and some push a report when none is due.

Since January 1, 2026, HB 406 lets anyone whose name or business information was used to form or change a company without authorization file a sworn statement with the Secretary of State, who can now verify and cancel fraudulent filings; before the law, the process took four to six months. The fraud line is (603) 271-3244.

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