Who is responsible when the accountant misses it?
You are, with the state and with the IRS. The IRS reasonable cause relief page says you're generally responsible for complying with tax law even if someone else handles your taxes, and it lists reliance on a tax professional among the factors that don't generally qualify as a reason for filing late. It also tells you to know what your preparer files and get proof the return went in on time.
New Hampshire's rule reads the same way. RSA 21-J:31, the state's late filing penalty, applies to any taxpayer who fails to file a return when due. It carves out returns covered by an extension and failures due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect. It doesn't mention the preparer at all.
So split this into two questions. What you owe the state and the IRS is settled by tax law. What your accountant owes you is between the two of you. Mix them up and a fixable problem turns into a long argument while interest runs.
Which New Hampshire returns could have been missed?
For most small businesses, two: the Business Profits Tax (BPT) and the Business Enterprise Tax (BET). The DRA's 2025 Business Tax Summary instructions say a business active in New Hampshire files a BPT return once gross business income from everywhere passes the filing threshold, even with no profit, and a BET return once receipts or the enterprise value tax base pass a separate, higher one. The DRA adjusts the BPT threshold for inflation every two years, so check the current figure on its BPT questions page.
Those instructions set the due dates. For calendar-year filers, partnership returns must be postmarked by March 15, and proprietorship, corporation, combined group and fiduciary returns by April 15.
What does New Hampshire charge for a late return?
Up to a quarter of the tax due, or a small fixed minimum, for not filing, plus 10% for not paying, plus interest. Each piece is separate, and what it costs depends on how much tax was owed and for how long. The filing penalty is in RSA 21-J:31, the 10% failure to pay penalty and the interest method are in the DRA 2025 instructions, and the rate is on the DRA's interest rate page.
| Charge | Rate (%) | Charged on | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Failure to file, per month or part month | 5 | Tax due, or a small fixed minimum if greater | RSA 21-J:31 |
| Failure to file, most in total | 25 | Tax due, or a small fixed minimum if greater | RSA 21-J:31 |
| Failure to pay | 10 | Tax not paid when due | DRA 2025 instructions |
| Interest a year, 2026 and 2027 | 9 | Balance due, from the original due date to the date paid | DRA interest rate page |
Check one thing before you panic. The same DRA instructions grant an automatic 7-month extension to file when 100% of the BPT and BET due was paid by the original due date. If the tax went in on time, a return filed inside those 7 months draws no late filing penalty.
And the federal side?
The IRS failure to file penalty on a 1040 or an 1120 is 5% of the tax due for each month or partial month the return is late, up to 25%. Partnership and S corporation returns are charged per partner or per shareholder per month, for up to 12 months. Where both penalties apply, the IRS notes the filing penalty maxes out after 5 months while the failure to pay penalty continues.
Which situation are you in?
| Your situation | First move | Relief to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Years of on-time filing, then one slip | File both returns now | IRS First Time Abate or Automatic Exemption from Penalty |
| Something genuinely went wrong that year | File, then write down what happened and when | Reasonable cause, with the IRS and under RSA 21-J:31 |
| Not the first time, found out from a notice | File, then pull your own records for every year | Penalty relief, and a new way of checking |
Years of on-time filing, then one slip
The strongest federal position. The IRS page on First Time Abate and Automatic Exemption from Penalty says AEP begins summer 2026 for eligible returns, Forms 1040, 1065 and 1120 among them: if the same return type was filed on time and the tax paid for the three prior years, with no penalty assessed or one later abated for reasonable cause or IRS error, a late filing isn't penalized. It starts with 2025 tax year returns, business filers face extra conditions, and First Time Abate, which you have to ask for, still covers earlier years. Both are IRS programs. The text of RSA 21-J:31 has no clean-record rule of its own. What it does excuse is a return covered by an extension and a failure due to reasonable cause, so those are the two arguments its wording gives you in New Hampshire.
Something genuinely went wrong that year
The IRS lists examples that may count: fires, natural disasters, an inability to get records, death or serious illness in the immediate family, and system issues that delayed an electronic filing. Say a burst pipe in a Manchester storage unit took a year of paperwork with it. That may count as an inability to get records, and it's worth describing with dates. Lack of knowledge, ordinary mistakes and lack of funds don't generally qualify on their own.
Not the first time, found out from a notice
Then the filing is the smaller problem. An owner in Nashua who gets one notice has had a bad year. A second one points to a setup that never reports back, and the fix is a check you control. Putting the books and the tax filing in one place is one route, but checking costs nothing.
What order should you fix it in?
File the outstanding returns first, state and federal. New Hampshire returns can be filed online through Granite Tax Connect, the DRA portal for filing and amending returns, viewing balances and making payments. Interest doesn't wait while everyone works out whose fault it was.
Then separate tax, penalty and interest. Penalty relief removes the penalty, not the tax underneath it. Then ask. For the IRS, call the number at the top right of your notice, and if relief can't be approved on the call, use Form 843. For New Hampshire, the DRA's instructions give Taxpayer Services on (603) 230-5920.
Then decide about the accountant. If missing books were the real reason nothing got filed, that's a different job. Rebuilding a year of records is what catch-up and cleanup bookkeeping is for, and it comes before an accurate return.
Behind on a year of books?
Book a free consultation or call (603) 805-2308. No obligation, and bring the messy version of where the year stands.
How do you check a return actually went in?
Look yourself. The DRA says Granite Tax Connect lets you view balances and correspondence, and suggests connecting your tax preparer to your account. Keep the account in your own name and you can see what was filed without asking. Federally, the IRS transcript page covers your own online account and points to how to get a business tax transcript.
Then list every return the business owes in a year, federal and state, with its due date. If you also file in Vermont or Massachusetts, those go on the same list. Ask to be told when each return is accepted. A firm that finds that insulting has told you something.
Ledger House does the bookkeeping and the tax filing, so the books and the return sit in one place. If that sounds better than your current setup, get in touch and talk through where the year stands. The first consultation is free and commits you to nothing.
