On this page we are describing the sales taxes in the State of South Carolina, we aim to educate you on the differences that occur throughout the state so you get a better understanding of it in regards to whether you may have:

  • Have taken a South Carolina job in the are
  • Applied for a South Carolina school
  • Opened a South Carolina bank account in the state of South Carolina
  • People who may be unable to find their Social Security Card or have lost it.

What is the lowest and highest sales tax in South Carolina?

In the map of South Carolina is pictured below there are a total of 46 countries that are within the state. You can go directly to the page and see which area has the highest and lowest sales tax in your county of choice.

Abbeville Aiken Allendale Anderson Bamberg Barnwell Beaufort Berkeley Calhoun Charleston Cherokee Chester Chesterfield Clarendon Colleton Darlington Dillon Dorchester Edgefield Fairfield Florence Georgetown Greenville Greenwood Hampton Horry Jasper Kershaw Lancaster Laurens Lee Lexington Marion Marlboro McCormick Newberry Oconee Orangeburg Pickens Richland Saluda Spartanburg Sumter Union Williamsburg York
The state sales tax for businesses and so forth is a standard rate of 6% which allows the local government to be able to collect up to another 3% on top of this:

  • the average sales tax for the entirety of South Carolina is 7.491%,
  • the highest is within the Charleston, Jasper, Kershaw County that consists of Charleston, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Charleston, Ladson, Johns Island, Hollywood, Isle Of Palms, Ravenel, Ridgeland, Hardeeville, Pineland, Tillman, Coosawhatchie and this equates to 9% sales tax,
  • the lowest sales tax is in the Georgetown, Oconee which includes cities like Georgetown, Pawleys Island, Seneca, Westminster, Walhalla, Salem, West Union, Fair Play, Mountain Rest, Seneca and the sales tax in these areas total to 6%

This is a brief overview, and we suggest that you go directly to the page if you wish to get a clearer image of the different ranges of sale tax in a particular county. Please note that the ones that have an asterisk means they are below the usual county level of sales tax.

How to calculate your own sales tax in the state of South Carolina.

So, what does this mean for you, if you are looking into how much sales tax you are going to charged dependant on what sort of county you are residing or working out of. You can go ahead and use a sales tax calculator which will give you a section that is exampled below.

 

$
-or- Specify Sales Tax Rate
-or- Specify ZIP Code
%

 

You do need to know the purchase ZIP code and purchase amount in order to get an accurate figure. For an example we will use the amount of $400 and see what the ranges could be from the highest area to the lowest.

In Charleston, SC with the highest sales tax of 9% would mean that your $400 purchase would incur a $36 sales tax, taking the total amount to $436.

Whereas in Walhalla, SC the sales tax is only 6% and a $400 purchase would equate to $24 tax, taking the total to $424.

The sales tax calculator makes it as easy as it can be to find out what sort of sales tax you will be charged by simply adding the amount and the ZIP code. Though there might be some purchases that are exempt from sales taxes or have some special leniency which do need to be taken into consideration.

City Sales Tax Rate Zip-code Population
Greenville 6.00% 29605, 29608, 29609, 29610, 29611, 29613, 29615, 29617 115458
Charleston 9.00% 29401, 29402, 29403, 29407, 29409, 29412, 29413, 29414, 29416, 29417, 29422, 29424, 29425, 29492 111501
Columbia 8.00% 29201, 29202, 29203, 29204, 29205, 29207, 29208, 29209, 29211, 29214, 29215, 29217, 29218, 29220, 29222, 29225, 29226, 29227, 29230, 29240, 29250, 29290, 29292 93802
Summerville 7.00% 29483, 29484, 29485 92342
Rock Hill 7.00% 29730, 29731, 29732, 29733, 29734 84268
Spartanburg 7.00% 29301, 29302, 29303, 29304, 29305, 29306, 29307, 29319 81443
Lexington 7.00% 29072, 29073 71489
Anderson 7.00% 29621, 29624, 29625, 29626 70036
Simpsonville 6.00% 29680, 29681 61809
Mount Pleasant 9.00% 29464, 29465, 29466 60917
Greer 6.00% 29650, 29651 60562

Conway

8.00% 29526, 29527 43340

Goose Creek

8.00% 29445 43301

North Charleston

9.00% 29405, 29415, 29418, 29419 37417

Florence

8.00% 29501, 29502, 29503, 29504 36168

Hilton Head Island

7.00% 29925, 29926, 29928, 29938 34184

Sumter

8.00% 29153, 29154 34028

Taylors

6.00% 29687 32851

Lancaster

8.00% 29720 32663

Orangeburg

7.00% 29115, 29118 31226

Myrtle Beach

9.00% 29572, 29577, 29578 30381

Gaffney

8.00% 29340, 29341 29161

Irmo

8.00% 29063 28536

Bluffton

7.00% 29910 27033

Easley

7.00% 29641, 29642 26098

North Augusta

8.00% 29841, 29861 25802

Seneca

6.00% 29672, 29678 24494

Moncks Corner

8.00% 29461 23943

Inman

7.00% 29349 23590

Clover

7.00% 29710 23561

York

7.00% 29745 22847

Greenwood

7.00% 29646, 29647, 29648 21234

Murrells Inlet

8.00% 29576 20949

Fort Mill

7.00% 29715, 29716 20749

Ladson

7.00% 29456 20484

Georgetown

6.00% 29440 20441

Piedmont

6.00% 29673 20014

Aiken

8.00% 29801, 29802, 29804, 29808 19867

Darlington

8.00% 29532, 29540 19615

Boiling Springs

7.00% 29316 19403

Camden

8.00% 29020 17071

West Columbia

7.00% 29169, 29171 17001

Elgin

8.00% 29045 16992

Walterboro

8.00% 29488 16772

Chapin

7.00% 29036 16448

Laurens

7.00% 29360 15909

Newberry

7.00% 29108 15490

Travelers Rest

6.00% 29690 15487

Chester

8.00% 29706 15352

Fountain Inn

7.00% 29644 14854

Why do I need to collect sales tax in South Carolina?

You will need to collect sales tax if you have any sort of nexus there, and what this means is that if you have assets that are physical or economic then you need to do this.

Physical meaning having a tangible activity or some sort of presence in any of the states of South Carolina, economic nexus is simply passing the states’ economic threshold for total revenue, or the maximum number of transactions that can occur in the period of time within the state.

Two easy ways to see if you have either a physical or economic nexus in any of the counties is the following:
Physical:

  • Tangible personal property
  • Business assets or property
  • Own, renting properties
  • Made more than $500,000 in a service or content delivery in the state

Economic:

  • Made more than $100,000 in sales annually
  • More than 200 transactions in the last calendar year

How do I get a sales tax permit?

The main way to go about this is to register online at the South Carolina Business Gateway. Follow the steps that are presented to you and ensure that you have the following to hand to use as information:

  • Business identification information
  • Business entity
  • Location/s that you will be conducting this from
  • Date you will start collecting South Carolina sales tax from a business/property
  • NAICS Code (North American Industry Classification System.)

What is the best way to file sales taxes?

Before you think of doing anything else there are three things that we recommend that you do in order to make this process as easy and smooth as possible.

First of all, find out how much tax you owe (remember the sales tax calculator we mentioned before) so that you know how much you need to pay the state at the end. Second is get onto the South Carolina Department Of Taxation ready to submit them, and third have the money ready so you can make the payment straight away.

There are two main options as well to filing and paying your South Carolina sales tax, these are:

  • Filing online. This is where merchants are required to file all of their sales taxes through the department of taxation in the state of South Carolina, you can also pay your taxes on this platform, so it is one to keep close to you for future reference.
  • Filing by mail. Simply fill out the form UST-1, but this is not the recommended way of filing your taxes due to the possibilities of them getting lost in the post and then it could mean that you are subject to late fees if they are not filed within the allotted time.

We hope this document was able to allow you to feel more confident when it comes to sales tax in the state of South Carolina depending on where you operate out of.