New Hampshire Freelance Contract Review
New Hampshire runs two separate contractor tests, and a freelancer has to clear each one that applies. For wage and hour purposes, RSA 275:42 lists seven criteria and the Department of Labor requires every one to be met. For unemployment, RSA 282-A:9 uses an ABC test. Add no general sales tax and no broad tax on wages, and the state's real friction for freelancers is classification, not tax.
Non-compete / non-solicit in New Hampshire
Non-competes limited
Non-competes and non-solicits for freelancers in New Hampshire
Banned for low-wage employees and requires advance notice before a job offer is accepted. Otherwise must be reasonable.
Client contracts often include a non-solicitation clause, sometimes an overbroad one that tries to bar you from an entire industry. Whatever New Hampshire allows, narrow it to the client's own staff and named customers, for a short period, before you sign.
Freelancer payment protection in New Hampshire
New Hampshire does not yet have a dedicated freelance payment-protection law (New York, Illinois and California have statewide laws), so your contract is your main protection against late or non-payment. Insist on a deposit, milestone payments tied to dates, and a kill fee if the client cancels.
Who owns your work
Under the federal Copyright Act, work is not automatically “work for hire” for an independent contractor, it takes a written assignment. Read whether the contract assigns only the final deliverables or reaches your concepts, drafts, and pre-existing tools, and add a carve-out for the reusable methods you bring to every project.
How strict is the New Hampshire seven-part test?
RSA 275:42 II exempts someone from the employee definition only if they meet all of the listed criteria. They include having a federal employer identification number or Social Security number, controlling the means and manner of the work, being responsible for satisfactory completion and contractually liable for failure, and not being required to work exclusively for the client.
Department of Labor hearing officers apply this literally. In a 2015 wage claim the claimant met every criterion but one and was still classified as an employee. A signed independent contractor agreement, on its own, did not change the outcome.
What changes for unemployment purposes?
New Hampshire Employment Security applies the ABC test in RSA 282-A:9, III. You must be free from control, the work must be outside the client's usual course of business or performed outside all its places of business, and you must be customarily engaged in an independently established business. The client carries the burden on every part.
Non-compete rules in RSA 275:70 and 275:70-a are written for employees, so they rarely help a true freelancer. Negotiate restrictions directly.
What should New Hampshire freelancers check in a contract?
Look for terms that undercut the RSA 275:42 criteria: a ban on working for others, client-set hours, or a clause making the client rather than you responsible for fixing defective work. Each one weakens contractor status. Add payment dates, a deposit and late interest, because New Hampshire has no freelance payment statute and your remedy for slow payment is the contract.
New Hampshire sources checked 2026-10-09: NH Department of Labor wage claim decision applying RSA 275:42 II · McLane Middleton, ABC test under RSA 282-A:9, III. Laws change; confirm the current rule before relying on it.
What ClauseAudit checks in a New Hampshire freelance contract
- Non-compete / non-solicit enforceability under New Hampshire law
- IP assignment and work-for-hire scope, with a pre-existing-tools carve-out
- Payment terms, deposit, milestones, and a kill fee
- Unlimited "reasonable" revisions with no cap
- Payment gated on subjective client approval
- Liability caps and indemnification
New Hampshire freelance contract FAQ
Can a client make me sign a non-compete in New Hampshire?
In New Hampshire, non-competes are enforceable only in limited cases. Banned for low-wage employees and requires advance notice before a job offer is accepted. Otherwise must be reasonable. As a freelancer, push to narrow any restriction to the client's actual customers and a short term.
Does New Hampshire protect freelancers from late or non-payment?
As of October 2026, New Hampshire does not have a dedicated "Freelance Isn't Free" style payment-protection law (New York, Illinois and California have statewide laws). So your contract's payment terms, milestones, deadlines, a kill fee, are your main protection. Make them specific.
Who owns the work I create for a New Hampshire client?
Under US copyright law, work is not automatically "work for hire" for an independent contractor, it requires a written assignment. Read whether the contract assigns only the final deliverables or sweeps in your concepts and pre-existing tools, and add a carve-out for your reusable methods. This is federal law and applies in New Hampshire.
Does a New Hampshire non-compete apply to an independent contractor?
New Hampshire is one of 13 jurisdictions allowing them only in restricted circumstances. Banned for low-wage employees and requires advance notice before a job offer is accepted. Otherwise must be reasonable. Contractor restraints are often argued differently from employee ones, since the bargain and the bargaining power differ, so how you are actually engaged matters as much as the label on the agreement.
If the restriction in my New Hampshire agreement is too broad, what happens?
Courts may rewrite an overbroad restriction to something reasonable. That cuts against you: an employer has little to lose by drafting wide, because a court can pare the clause back rather than discard it. Negotiating the wording before signing matters more here than in states where an overbroad clause simply fails.
Does it matter which state's law the agreement names?
It can, because New Hampshire's neighbours do not all agree: Vermont (generally enforceable). Which law applies turns on the governing-law and venue clauses and on where the work is actually done, so those two clauses are worth reading before signing a freelance contract.
Is a signed contractor agreement enough in New Hampshire?
No. New Hampshire Department of Labor decisions treat the paperwork as one fact among many. Under RSA 275:42 every criterion must be met, including real control over how you work and freedom to take other clients. If the client sets your hours, supplies your tools and bars other work, the label in the contract will not hold for wage purposes.
Do I charge sales tax on freelance services in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire has no general sales tax, so ordinary freelance service invoices to New Hampshire clients carry no state sales tax. The state does tax specific things such as meals and rooms, which rarely affect freelancers. If you bill clients in other states, check whether their rules tax your type of service.
Have a New Hampshire client contract to sign?
Upload it and get every clause checked against New Hampshire law in about a minute, with a fix for each problem.
How neighbouring states treat restrictive covenants
Nationally: 4 jurisdictions treat employee non-competes as void, 13 allow them only in limited circumstances, 34 generally enforce them if reasonable.
New Hampshire rules summarized as of October 2026; laws change and localities may add their own. This is automated educational information, not legal advice. ClauseAudit verifies current New Hampshire law when you run your contract, and you should confirm anything critical with a qualified attorney.