• Workforce recruiting and training programs at little or no cost to qualifying companies;
• Numerous ways to reduce, or in some cases eliminate, your company's corporate income taxes;
• A wide range of sales tax exemptions to reduce start-up and annual operating costs;
• Property tax incentives can be tailored to meet your company's needs;
• Special discretionary incentives at the local and state level can be used to meet specific needs of a company on a case-by-case basis;
• To quantify the value of state and local incentives, please provide information on capital investment (real and personal), number of jobs and anticipated hourly wages.

 Corporate Income Tax

•  5% corporate income tax, among the lowest in the nation.
• Corporations engaged in multi-state operations are taxed only on the portion of income derived from doing business in South Carolina.
• The basis for South Carolina's gross corporate income and taxable corporate income is based primarily upon a corporation's federal gross income and taxable income.
• Numerous credits and methods to reduce and eliminate corporate income tax liability (see tax credits tab).

Personal Income Tax

South Carolina imposes an income tax on individuals at graduated rates ranging from 0% to a maximum rate of 7% for income over $13,150. There are six income tax brackets adjusted annually for inflation.

• In South Carolina, only local governments levy property taxes.
• There is no state tax on real or personal property, and there is no tax — state or local — on inventories, intangibles or pollution control equipment.
•  A local millage rate is applied to assessed value to determine total annual tax amount. Millage rates are set annually by the local governments.

Sales And Use Tax

• Electricity and fuels used in the manufacturing process.
• Machinery, equipment and replacement parts used for manufacturing.
• Equipment used in research & development.
• Raw materials to become part of the finished product.
• Air, water and noise pollution control equipment.
• $300 maximum sales tax applies to sale or lease of motor vehicles, trucks, aircraft, boats and other related items.

This example includes a home located in the unincorporated area of Horry County. (Qualified legal residence)

This example includes a commercial property located in the unincorporated area of Horry County.

Although a taxpayer receives just one property tax bill, there are other agencies that utilize that one tax bill to collect their own taxes. These agencies are itemized out on your bill, which include the School District, municipalities, special tax districts, etc. Any increase by any of these agencies will result in an increase to the overall tax bill.

How do I get the best tax rate on my home?

What if I have other tax questions about my tax notice or other tax matters, who should I call?

Real Property (Land, buildings) Horry County Assessor's Office - (843) 915-5040

Tax Payments (Billing addresses, tax payments) Horry County Treasurer's Office - (843) 915-5470

Incentive Programs

To offset property tax liability, qualified companies may take advantage of one of two incentives programs.

1. Companies may apply for a five-year exemption from county property taxes (the exemption does not apply to school taxes) for the following:
2. $50,000 investment in manufacturing facilities
3. $50,000 investment in research and development facilities
4. $50,000 investment (and 75 new jobs) in corporate headquarters or distribution facilities

• This discretionary local incentive allows qualifying companies to negotiate a fee instead of paying property taxes. Advantages include:
• Significantly lowering property tax payments by negotiating a lower assessment ratio (from 10.5% to as low as 6%)
• Negotiating the applicable millage rate to a 20-year locked rate or a five-year adjustable rate
• Stabilizing payments to local government for the term of the agreement (up to 20 years)

•  Rewards new and expanding companies for creating jobs in South Carolina.
• To qualify, companies must create and maintain a certain number of net new jobs in a taxable year.
• The number of new jobs is calculated as the increase in the average monthly employment from one year to the next.
• This credit is then used against your South Carolina corporate income tax liability.
• Unused credits can be carried forward for 15 years.

South Carolina provides a generous credit against corporate income tax or corporate license fees to offset costs associated with establishing, relocating or expanding a corporate headquarters facility with at least 40 employees.
The credit is equal to 20% of qualifying real property costs and direct construction or lease costs for the first five years of operation.

• Designed to reward companies for increasing research and development activities in a taxable year.
• Offers a credit equal to 5% of the taxpayer's qualified expenditures for R&D made in the state.
• Unused credits may be carried forward for 10 years.

With the approval of the South Carolina Coordinating Council, qualified companies are provided funds to help offset the cost of locating or expanding a business facility in the state. Effectively, the credit uses the state withholding taxes of new employees to reimburse the company for eligible expenditures including:

• Utility upgrades
• Fixed transportation facilities
• Real estate (site or building improvements)
• Manufacturing pollution control equipment
• Approved training costs
• Employee relocation expenses for technology-intensive facilities, R&D and certain corporate headquarters

 Eligibility Criteria

•  Minimum of 10 new jobs with healthcare benefits.
• Positive cost/benefit analysis.
• Company must be financially viable and creditworthy.
• Wages for new jobs must be equal to or above county average.
• Application must be submitted and approved by S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development.
• A company must submit an application to the Coordinating Council for Economic Development for consideration (a $500 application fee applies).

Common Terms

Ad Valorem: according to value

Fair Market Value (FMV): the amount the property might bring on the open market between a buyer and seller of which neither being under duress to buy or sell.

Assessment Ratio:

• Legal Residence: 4%
• Commercial Fishing: 5%
• All Other: 6%
• Airplanes/Trucking: 9.5%
• Vehicles, RV's, Watercraft: 10.5%
• MFG. & Indus Real /Personal: 10.5%

Assessed Value (AV) - The product of fair market value multiplied by the assessment ratio.

Millage (M) - The rate of taxation expressed in whole numbers. Varies according to municipality/location within the county.

Real Property - All land and the buildings, structures or improvements on that land.

Assessment - An appraised or determined value of real property multiplied by the appropriate corresponding ratio equals the assessment or assessed value.

Fair Market Value - The amount for which property can reasonably be expected to sell on the open market with a willing buyer and willing seller.

Reassessment - Process required by law to determine changes in market value of property over a certain period of time in order to provide equity among taxpayers.

Millage Rate - The amount of mills levied in order to meet the budget of a school district, county, city or other political subdivision. One mill equals 1/1000 of a dollar (.001).

Tax Map Number - This is a unique ten (10) digit number that is the basis for property identification and location.

GIS/Geographic Information System - This is the linking of tabular data to maps residing in a computer as graphics files. Either maps or data can be called interactively.

Assessable Transfer of Interest - A transfer of an existing interest in real property that subjects the real property to appraisal. For purposes of this definition, an existing interest in real property includes life estate interest.

Capped Value - Each political subdivision shall value real property by a method in which the value of each parcel of real property, adjusted for improvements and losses, does not increase more than fifteen percent every five years unless an assessable transfer of interest occurs.

Special Assessments

• Legal Residence (4%) Owner occupied dwellings
• Agriculture (4%) Agriculture properties with bonafide agriculture use.
• Agriculture (6%) Agriculture properties with bonafide agriculture use owned by a corporation with 10 or more stakeholders

Rollback Taxes - When real property which is in agriculture use and is being valued, assessed and taxed under the provisions of this article, is applied to another use other than agriculture, it shall be subject to additional taxes, hereafter referred to as rollback taxes, in the amount equal to the difference, if any, between taxes payable or the basis of the agricultural use valuation and assessment and the taxes that would have been paid had the property been taxed at the market value appraisal and 6% assessment ratio. The rollback can be applied to the five years preceding the first year the property is taxed at 6% due to the change in use. Rollback taxes are billed to the December 31 owner of record in the year the use changed in October of the following year.

(Source:  SC Department of Commerce, Horry County Government, SC Department of Revenue)