Rental Property Taxes in New Hampshire (2026 Guide)

1. No Income Tax, No Sales Tax

New Hampshire has no broad personal income tax. It never taxed wages or rental income, and the one income-style tax it did have — the Interest & Dividends (I&D) tax under RSA chapter 77 — was fully repealed effective January 1, 2025 (repealed by 2021, 91:189, II). It was phased down 5% → 4% → 3% → 0% over its final years.

The key point for landlords: even when it existed, the I&D tax applied only to interest and dividend income — not to rents. So rental income has always been free of New Hampshire income tax, and now there is no personal income tax of any kind to worry about.

New Hampshire also has no general sales tax on goods. The one narrow exception that can touch real estate is the Meals & Rooms (Rentals) tax of 8.5% (RSA 78-A:6), which applies to short-term lodging, prepared meals, and motor-vehicle rentals. If you rent out a unit for short stays (an Airbnb-style operation), you must collect and remit this tax — but a standard long-term residential lease is not subject to it.

2. Property Tax — The Dominant Cost

With no income or sales tax, New Hampshire funds itself through property taxes, and it relies on them more than any other state — roughly 60% of all state and local tax revenue. For a landlord, the property-tax bill is almost always the largest single cost of owning the rental.

• Average effective rate ~1.5% of value (a Tax Foundation aggregate; NH publishes no single statewide rate). Actual rates are set town-by-town and vary widely.
• Statewide Education Property Tax (SWEPT) — a uniform statewide rate set each year to raise a fixed education-funding target (RSA 76:3 and 76:8), layered on top of your local rate.
• No homestead-style exemption for rentals — relief programs target owner-occupants, so an investment property is taxed at full value.

3. Business Profits Tax & Business Enterprise Tax

New Hampshire taxes business activity through two taxes that a larger rental operation can cross. Renting real estate for profit is treated as a business activity, so the question is whether you exceed the filing thresholds — most small landlords do not, but a sizable portfolio can:

• Business Profits Tax (BPT) — 7.5% of taxable business profits (RSA 77-A:2). You must file only if gross business income exceeds $109,000 for periods beginning on or after 1/1/2025.
• Business Enterprise Tax (BET) — 0.55% of the enterprise value tax base, roughly compensation paid plus interest and dividends (RSA 77-E:2). You must file if gross business receipts OR the enterprise value tax base exceeds $298,000 (periods beginning on or after 1/1/2025).
• BET paid is a credit against BPT, so the two are coordinated rather than fully stacked.

4. Real Estate Transfer Tax (1.5%)

When you buy or sell a New Hampshire rental, the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) applies (RSA 78-B). The rate is $0.75 per $100 of price imposed separately on each side — buyer and seller — so the combined burden is $1.50 per $100, or 1.5% of the price.

• $0.75 per $100 each for buyer and seller (1.5% total).
• $20 minimum per side on small transactions (consideration of $4,000 or less), i.e., a $40 combined minimum.
• On a $400,000 purchase, that is roughly $3,000 for the buyer and $3,000 for the seller.

5. LLC Costs & Security Deposit Rules

Forming an LLC to hold the rental is straightforward and inexpensive in New Hampshire (RSA 304-C):

• $100 to file the Certificate of Formation (RSA 304-C:191).
• $100 annual report, due between January 1 and April 1 each year (RSA 304-C:194). The Secretary of State assesses a late fee after the deadline.

Security deposits are governed by RSA 540-A:

• Maximum deposit — one month's rent or $100, whichever is greater (RSA 540-A:6).
• Interest — if you hold a deposit for one year or longer, you must pay interest at the savings-account rate of the NH bank holding it (RSA 540-A:6).
• Return within 30 days of the end of the tenancy, with an itemized statement of any deductions (RSA 540-A:7).
• Small owner-occupied exemption — these rules do not apply to an owner who rents a single-family home and owns no other rental, or who rents units in an owner-occupied building of 5 units or less (RSA 540-A:5) — except for a unit occupied by a tenant aged 60 or older.

6. Rent Control

New Hampshire has no rent control and no statewide rent cap. The state does not impose one, and because NH is a Dillon's Rule state — municipalities hold only the powers the legislature grants, and none grants authority over rents — towns and cities cannot enact local rent control either. You set rents at market.

7. How SheltrIQ Helps New Hampshire Landlords

With no income tax, the New Hampshire game is maximizing federal deductions and staying on top of the property-tax bill that dominates your costs — SheltrIQ covers both:

• Maximized federal deductions — AI Schedule E classification and full depreciation schedules so every write-off, including your large NH property-tax bill, lands on the federal return.
• Property-tax tracking — captures and categorizes the dominant New Hampshire cost so nothing slips through at filing time.
• Business-tax awareness — flags when a growing portfolio approaches the BPT ($109,000) or BET ($298,000) filing thresholds.
• Deadline reminders — keeps the April 1 LLC annual report and the 30-day security-deposit return window on your radar.
• Disposition modeling — projects federal tax and the 1.5% transfer-tax cost on a sale without a New Hampshire income-tax layer.