New Hampshire has no general sales tax, so the food tax in NH works differently than in most states: groceries you take home to cook are not taxed at all, but prepared food ready to eat carries an 8.5% Meals and Rentals Tax whether you order it at a restaurant, grab it from a drive-through, or pick up a hot sandwich at a convenience store.1NH Department of Revenue Administration. Meals & Rooms (Rentals) Tax The line between the two is not always obvious, and it moves around inside a single store.
Groceries Are Not Taxed
Raw and unprepared food bought for home consumption carries zero state tax. Milk, eggs, fresh produce, raw meat, flour, canned goods, frozen dinners, snacks, and everything else in the typical supermarket aisle rings up at the shelf price with nothing added. Because the state has no general sales tax, your grocery receipt has no tax line at all.2New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. Does New Hampshire Have a Sales Tax
Where you shop does not change this. A loaf of bread from a chain supermarket, a bag of apples from a farm stand, and a steak from a local butcher are all untaxed. What matters is that the food still needs preparation before you eat it. Once it crosses into ready-to-eat territory, the 8.5% meals tax applies.
What Counts as a Taxable Meal
Under RSA 78-A:3, a “meal” is any food or beverage prepared for human consumption and sold in a form ready to eat without further significant preparation. It does not matter whether you eat it on-site or take it home. Sit-down dining, takeout, food trucks, and drive-through orders are all taxed at 8.5%.3New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code Title V Chapter 78-A Section 78-A:3
A few categories catch people off guard because they look like grocery items:
- Sandwiches are taxable meals, including cold pre-made ones in a wrapper. The statute excludes food packaged entirely off-site but carves sandwiches back in.
- Unsealed beverages count as meals. A fountain soda, a fresh-squeezed juice, or any drink in an open container is taxed.
- Catered and delivered food is taxable, including meals brought to weddings and events.
- Alcohol served at a restaurant is subject to the 8.5% tax whether or not food comes with it.4New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. NH Department of Revenue Reminds Taxpayers of Meals and Rooms Tax Rate Reduction
One exemption is worth remembering at the bakery counter: bakery products sold in units of six or more are not taxable meals. Buy five muffins and each one is a taxable meal. Buy a half-dozen and the purchase is treated as a grocery item.3New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code Title V Chapter 78-A Section 78-A:3
Convenience Stores, Delis, and Bakeries
The confusing area is any business that sells both groceries and prepared food. New Hampshire’s administrative rules draw a line between a “restaurant” and a “store.” A business primarily in the meal business is a restaurant, even if it calls itself a deli, bakery, or market. A business that is not primarily in the meal business is a store, though it may have a “restaurant portion” if it sells any prepared food.5New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. Chapter Rev 700 Meals and Rentals Tax
A convenience store with a hot dog roller and a warmer of ready sandwiches has a restaurant portion. The hot dogs and heated sandwiches are taxed at 8.5%, while the bags of chips, bottled water, and candy bars from the regular shelves are not. The same rule applies to grocery stores with deli counters, soup bars, or rotisserie chicken stations. Prepared, ready-to-eat food from those sections is taxable; the rest of the store is not.
The rule also runs in reverse. A bakery that mostly sells individual pastries and coffee counts as a restaurant, but it can still sell a sealed bag of flour without the meals tax, because that item is being sold the way a retail food store would sell it. A single cupcake over the same counter is taxable.
How Delivery Apps Are Taxed
Food ordered through DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and similar services is still taxed at 8.5%. When you pay the app directly, the delivery service is treated as the meals tax operator and is responsible for collecting and remitting the tax; the restaurant’s sale to the app is a wholesale sale for resale.6Legal Information Institute. New Hampshire Code Rev 702.15 – Meal Delivery Service Businesses
When the delivery company is only running a courier service for a separate fee and the restaurant charges you directly for the food, the restaurant collects the tax. Either way, you pay 8.5% on the meal itself. Delivery fees and service charges sit outside the taxable meal price.
Meals That Are Exempt
RSA 78-A:6-c exempts several narrow categories of meals from the 8.5% tax.
- Meals served on the premises of a nonprofit organized exclusively for religious or charitable purposes, as long as net proceeds go toward the organization’s mission.7New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code Title V Chapter 78-A Section 78-A:6-c
- Meals served by schools exempt under IRC 501(c)(3) to enrolled students, employees, faculty, and volunteers. The exemption falls away if meals are offered at a location open to the general public on a regular basis without connection to an educational activity.
- Meals served to patients and employees at hospitals licensed under RSA 151, convalescent homes, nursing homes, and homes for the aged. A restaurant inside a hospital that serves the general public does not qualify.
- Meals provided to inmates and employees of state and federal institutions.
- Meals served at seasonal camps for children under 18 to campers and employees.
- Food served aboard a train, bus, or airplane during paid passenger transport.
The hospital line is the one people ask about most. A tray delivered to a patient’s room is exempt. A coffee kiosk in the hospital lobby that anyone can walk up to is not. The question is whether the meal goes to patients and staff or to the general public.