Stay compliant in South Carolina

South Carolina’s recurring dates are income tax in the spring, a corporate license fee that rides with that return, sales tax due the 20th of the month after the month of the sale⁶, and employer accounts if you have people on the payroll. An LLC does not have a Secretary of State anniversary fee on the forms list. A missed tax can still put the company at risk.

What’s different in South Carolina

• An LLC has no yearly Secretary of State report. A corporation files its annual report inside the income tax return and pays a license fee of at least $25¹.
• Individual income tax is due April 15 of the following year, for a calendar-year return. You pay no penalties or interest if you file and pay electronically by May 1. Paper returns and the federal return do not get that extra time⁵.
• Workers’ compensation applies once you regularly employ four or more employees, and part-time workers and family members count¹¹. The exemptions are under Employer rules, below.
• South Carolina has no state minimum wage law¹⁵. Employers the federal Fair Labor Standards Act covers pay at least $7.25¹⁶ an hour.

Do this

1. For an LLC, do not wait on a Secretary of State annual report. The forms list does not have one. File the tax return that matches the LLC. A multiple-member LLC that is not taxed as a corporation files SC1065³. An LLC files the CL-1 only if it is taxed as a corporation¹⁷. If a fee, tax, or penalty is unpaid, 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 dollars¹⁴. You may also need a Certificate of Tax Compliance from the Department of Revenue, if the dissolution was for failing to file a tax return¹³.
2. For a corporation, file its tax return and pay the license fee. A corporation taxed as an S corporation uses the S corporation filing instructions. A C corporation files SC1120 by the 15th day of the fourth month after the end of the business year, tax at 5%. The annual report is Schedule D of the SC1120, filed with the Department of Revenue, not as a separate Secretary of State report. The license fee is 0.1 percent of capital and paid-in surplus, plus 15 dollars, and not less than $25. It is due with the return or the extension, and it applies to the tax year after the income tax year¹. An S corporation files SC1120S by the 15th day of the third month after the end of the business year, at 5% on the income it is taxed on, and it pays the same yearly license fee as a C corporation: 0.1 percent of capital and paid-in surplus, plus 15 dollars, and at least 25 dollars. Nonresident owners are a withholding problem. Partnerships withhold 5%. S corporations withhold 5%, on SC1120S-WH, due the 15th day of the third month, with no extension for that form². An extension to file does not extend the withholding payment³.
3. File individual income tax if the profit lands on your own return. The tax year 2026 rates are 1.99% under $30,000 and 5.21% above that, minus $966. File by April 15 of the following year, for a calendar-year return. You pay no penalties or interest if you file and pay electronically by May 1. Paper returns and the federal return do not get that extra time⁵. A 2025 return uses that year’s top rate, 6%⁴.
4. File sales tax on MyDORWAY if you are registered. Returns are due the 20th of the month after the month of the sale. A return is due even when you had no sales, and even when every sale was exempt⁶. Filing is monthly unless the Department of Revenue approves quarterly or annual filing¹⁸. The sales tax page does not print the late penalty.* Check MyDORWAY. Rates are on Get your tax IDs.
5. If you have employees, keep the employer accounts current. File withholding on MyDORWAY and unemployment wage reports in SUITS. Withholding returns are quarterly, due the end of the month after the quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. A resident withholding agent pays on the same schedule as the federal payments. Do not use the nonresident dollar schedule for a resident payroll unless the withholding page says you are a nonresident withholding agent. File and pay electronically on MyDORWAY if you withhold 15,000 dollars or more in a quarter, or make 24 or more withholding payments in a year⁷. Unemployment reports are due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31, on the first $14,000⁸ of wages. File a quarterly wage report every quarter, even with no payroll. A late report is ten percent of the contributions due, for each late report. Late tax adds one percent of the unpaid contributions, charged monthly. A returned payment is $25. Employers with ten or more employees must file wage reports electronically. South Carolina does not recognize professional employer organizations. Each employer keeps its own account¹⁰. Report new hires within 20 days, and run E-Verify within three days of employment¹².
6. Renew the local license and any trade license on their own dates. The state does not set one business-license day. Licenses and permits explains who to ask. A commercial contractor’s renewal depends on its license: General contractor licenses expire October 31 of even-numbered years. Mechanical contractor licenses expire October 31 of odd-numbered years¹⁹. Check the board’s renewal instructions for any late fees. A home-food ID number is not a yearly permit. An alcohol license follows the Department of Revenue’s own renewal.
7. If your registered agent leaves, replace it through Business Entities Online. An LLC’s change costs ten dollars¹⁴. If the company was dissolved for an unpaid fee or tax, the LLC clock is within two years of the administrative dissolution. A corporation may reinstate at any time after administrative dissolution¹³, for $25²⁰.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation: required when you regularly employ four or more employees, and part-time workers and family members count. Exemptions on the employer FAQ include casual employees, fewer than four employees, or an annual payroll under 3,000 dollars, plus agricultural employees and some other listed groups. The Commission does not certify that an employer is outside the law. Whether a general contractor must carry it is decided case by case. Paying by 1099 does not, by itself, end the duty. The FAQ says the way you pay is not the only test. Buy coverage from a licensed insurance carrier, the assigned-risk plan run by NCCI, self-insurance, or a self-insurance fund¹¹.

Unemployment: the handbook’s liability tests are 1,500 dollars of wages in a quarter, or one employee for 20 weeks for a general employer, four employees for 20 weeks in a calendar year. The weeks do not have to be consecutive or the same employees for a nonprofit, 1,000 dollars paid in a quarter for household work, and 20,000 dollars in a quarter, or ten employees for 20 weeks in a calendar year¹⁰ for agriculture. Business One Stop says to file with DEW if you have at least one employee. DEW then decides whether the account is liable¹². A new employer’s rate is the rate for tax class 12 that year, or one percent, whichever is higher, which the contribution table puts at 1.06%⁹ for 2027. Your own history sets the rate after 12 months of liability, on the next rate computation⁸.

Pay: South Carolina's labor laws are based on federal labor laws¹². South Carolina has no state minimum wage law¹⁵, so employers the Fair Labor Standards Act covers pay at least the federal minimum, $7.25¹⁶ an hour. Check the U.S. Department of Labor for who is covered and who is exempt before you set a wage.

What you get back

Filed tax returns, a paid corporate license fee if you are a corporation, and current employer accounts. An LLC that misses a tax long enough can be administratively dissolved, and the reinstatement window is within two years of the administrative dissolution¹³. The Department of Revenue notice is the date to trust for a tax. The Secretary of State will not send an LLC a yearly report reminder, because that report is not on its forms list.