The New Hampshire R&D tax credit, explained
New Hampshire's R&D credit is 10% of qualified research growth, capped at $50,000 per business within a $7 million statewide pool.
Last verified July 2026 against New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration guidance.
The short answer
Yes, New Hampshire has a state R&D tax credit. The Research and Development Tax Credit, under RSA 77-A:5, XIII, is administered by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration and offsets the state's Business Profits Tax.
How the New Hampshire credit works
The credit equals 10% of qualified manufacturing research and development wages above a base amount, based on the federal definition of qualified research. It is capped at $50,000 per business each year, inside a statewide pool of $7 million a year. If total approved claims exceed the pool, the Department of Revenue Administration prorates every business's credit down.
The credit is nonrefundable, and it requires a separate application, Form DP-165, filed with a copy of federal Form 6765. That application has a hard postmark deadline of June 30 following the close of the tax year, with no extensions.
How it stacks with the federal credit
New Hampshire's credit stacks with the federal R&D credit, which is worth roughly 6% to 10% of qualified research spend. Because New Hampshire has no general sales tax and no personal income tax, the state credit mainly matters to companies that owe Business Profits Tax or Business Enterprise Tax.
Startups under $5 million in revenue can apply the federal credit against up to $500,000 a year in payroll taxes, which helps pre-revenue New Hampshire companies get value now instead of waiting to owe Business Profits Tax.
Example: a New Hampshire hardware startup with 9 engineers and an average salary of $99,000 spends about $891,000 a year on qualified research. If that is $241,000 more than its base amount, the state credit at 10% comes to about $24,100, comfortably under the $50,000 per business cap. The federal credit on the same spend runs roughly $62,370. Combined, that is about $86,470 in credits for the year, assuming the statewide pool is not oversubscribed.
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Eligibility and how to claim it
New Hampshire's credit is aimed at qualified manufacturing research and development, so it fits companies building physical products or manufacturing processes best, though the underlying wage based calculation follows the federal research definition.
The credit is claimed by filing Form DP-165, the Research and Development Tax Credit Application, with a copy of federal Form 6765, directly with the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. This is an application, not a self-calculated credit on the return, so it has to be submitted and approved before the credit can be used.
Claimship preps the federal Form 6765 study that Form DP-165 requires as backup. The company's CPA submits the application to the Department of Revenue Administration and later claims the approved credit against Business Profits Tax or Business Enterprise Tax.
Official source: New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration.
Carryforward and deadlines
Unused credit carries forward for 5 years. Form DP-165 must be postmarked by June 30 following the close of the tax year it covers, with no extension or cure period, so this deadline needs to be tracked closely.
Because the credit draws from a fixed $7 million statewide pool, filing early in the window does not change the amount awarded, but the Department of Revenue Administration does prorate every approved claim if total requests exceed the pool for the year.