Register your business in South Carolina

LLCs, corporations, nonprofits, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships file with the Secretary of State's Office. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not file with the Secretary of State¹. A name you trade under, other than the legal name, is not a filing there either.

What’s different in South Carolina

• An LLC’s filing is $110⁴, and there is no yearly Secretary of State report on the forms list. A business corporation’s instructions say to pay $135⁶. Stay compliant has the yearly license fee that comes later.
• A South Carolina attorney certifies the articles of incorporation. The certificate says the articles meet the statute. The LLC articles do not ask for that certificate.
• A name reservation lasts a nonrenewable one hundred twenty-day period. It cannot be renewed. An LLC reservation is twenty-five dollars⁷. A corporation reservation is $10⁸.
• The Secretary of State does not register a DBA.
• Two official lines disagree on a corporation’s certificate of existence. The LLC fee statute sets ten dollars⁷. The corporation fee statute sets $2⁸ for a corporation’s. The Secretary of State’s business-entities page lists $10¹ for every certificate and says that fee is set by statute.* Check the total at checkout.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit, partnership, or sole proprietorship. A sole proprietor or general partnership has no formation filing and can skip to the name and tax steps. Pick an entity compares them. A licensed profession uses the professional corporation form if you incorporate. The forms list does not show a separate professional LLC.
2. Check the name in Business Entities Online. An LLC name must contain limited liability company or limited company, or L.L.C., LLC, L.C., or LC. Limited may be abbreviated Ltd., and company may be abbreviated Co., and it must be distinguishable on the Secretary of State's records from corporations, limited partnerships, and companies already on file, and from reserved names⁷. On exclusive rights, the office will not file a name identical to one already in its database, and it does not decide who may use a name². Search the web and the federal trademark database too. Not ready to file? Reserve the name. You do not have to reserve it if you are ready to file now.
3. Choose a registered agent with a South Carolina street address. For an LLC, the agent is an individual who lives in South Carolina, a South Carolina corporation, another limited liability company, or a foreign corporation or company authorized to do business in South Carolina⁷. The articles ask for a street address in South Carolina⁵. For a corporation, the statute says the agent may be an individual who lives in South Carolina, or a domestic or authorized foreign corporation, and the agent's office is the registered office¹¹. The CL-1 instructions say the registered agent must be a South Carolina resident¹². The statute is the rule, so a corporation it lists can serve.
4. File in Business Entities Online. The fee depends on the structure, below. Paper forms go to 1205 Pendleton Street, Suite 525, Columbia, SC 29201³. The forms list and the FAQ do not state how many days an ordinary filing takes.* Check the screen when you submit.
5. File a trade name only if some other office asks for it. The Secretary of State will not take a DBA. Details are below.
6. Calendar the tax account, not an LLC annual report. Selling taxable goods means a retail license before you collect tax. Get your tax IDs.

By structure

LLC

File Articles of Organization for $110⁴. You need at least one organizer. If managers will run it, the articles name each initial manager⁵. The company exists when the articles of organization are filed, unless a delayed effective date is specified. A delayed date counts only up to the ninetieth day after filing. A later date takes effect on the ninetieth day⁷.

The forms list does not include an operating agreement or a yearly LLC report. Keep the operating agreement with the company. Changing the agent later is ten dollars⁷.

If a fee, tax, or penalty is missed, the Secretary of State may start dissolution if the company does not pay a fee, tax, or penalty within sixty days after it is due. Reinstatement is within two years of the administrative dissolution, and the statute fee is twenty-five dollars⁷. If the problem was a tax return, you also need a Certificate of Tax Compliance from the Department of Revenue, if the dissolution was for failing to file a tax return².

Corporation

File Articles of Incorporation. The instructions say to enclose $135⁶, and that total includes the $25 CL-1 fee. The forms list shows the same split: $110⁴ for the articles plus CL-1¹². The fee statute’s pieces come to the same total: a filing fee of $10 and, before it will file, one hundred dollars plus the minimum license fee⁸.

The articles must include a certificate signed by an attorney licensed in South Carolina that the articles meet the statute⁹. The FAQ lists a missing attorney certificate as a reason a business corporation filing is rejected. The name must contain corporation, incorporated, company, or limited, or corp., inc., co., or ltd., or the same idea in another language¹⁰.

A delayed effective date, if you use one, is not later than the ninetieth day after the filing date⁸.

CL-1 is for a domestic corporation filing articles of incorporation, or a foreign corporation applying for a certificate of authority. An LLC files the CL-1 only if it is taxed as a corporation. The form says to send it to the Department of Revenue within 60 days after you start business in South Carolina, or use capital in the state, if you did not file it with the Secretary of State. A miss can mean 5 percent of the fee per month, up to 25 percent, and 0.5 percent of the fee per month, up to 25 percent, plus interest at the federal rate¹².

The corporation then files an annual report each year. It is Schedule D of the SC1120, filed with the Department of Revenue, not as a separate Secretary of State report¹⁴. Stay compliant has the license fee and the due date. S corporation status is a federal election. The Department of Revenue still wants SC1120S¹⁵.

A professional corporation, a statutory close corporation, and a benefit corporation use the same $135⁶ total on the forms list, and those forms cite the same articles section, so the attorney certificate applies to them too. A benefit corporation also files a yearly benefit report for $10⁴.

If the corporation is administratively dissolved, reinstatement is at any time after administrative dissolution², for $25⁸.

Nonprofit

File articles for $25. There is an additional 25 dollars for the CL-1, and only if the nonprofit is a political association. The 501(c)(3) attachment on the forms list is $0⁴. Filing articles does not make the nonprofit tax-exempt. That is a separate IRS application². Past formation, the rest of this series is written for for-profit businesses.

Partnership

Sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not file with the Secretary of State¹. A limited partnership files a Certificate of Limited Partnership for $10⁴. The forms list does not show a yearly renewal for that certificate.

A limited liability partnership registers for $100. The same form renews it, every year⁴.

Sole proprietorship

No formation filing. The Secretary of State does not register DBA or trade names². Sales tax registration and any local license still apply.

Trade names

The Secretary of State does not register DBA or trade names². Filing an LLC or corporation name does not reserve a product name either. The articles form says filing the name does not by itself give you the exclusive right to use it on a product or service⁵. If a name conflicts with someone else’s, the FAQ says to consult legal counsel. This page does not decide that dispute.

Formed in another state

An LLC formed elsewhere files for a certificate of authority for $110. A corporation’s foreign application is $135⁴. Bring a certificate of existence that is not more than 30 days old². You need a South Carolina registered agent before you apply. If the legal name is already taken, the FAQ says the foreign entity must file a fictitious-name form. That form is for the unavailable legal name. It is not a DBA for a South Carolina sole proprietor. Forming in another state covers the tradeoffs.

What you get back

A filed articles record in Business Entities Online, and a certificate of existence if you order one. The LLC fee statute prices that certificate at ten dollars⁷, and the corporation fee statute at $2⁸. The Secretary of State’s page lists $10 for every certificate and says that fee is set by statute.* Check the total at checkout. Keep the filed articles as evidence of the company for banking and records. The IRS asks legal entities to form with the state before requesting an EIN, but the EIN application does not require uploading the articles. The Secretary of State does not have the names or addresses of a company's officers or directors¹. Director names for a business corporation go on the Department of Revenue annual report, not to the Secretary of State.