South Carolina — statewide
South Carolina Department of Revenue
In short
South Carolina Department of Revenue issues 4 permits we publish for South Carolina — statewide, last verified 2026-09-03. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Annual Report and License Feeonly if it applies to you | South Carolina Department of Revenue | $15 plus $1 for every $1,000 of capital stock and paid-in surplus, with a $25 minimum — and nothing at all for an LLC that has not elected corporate treatment | annual — due on the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the tax year ends | 2026-09-03 |
| Automotive Repair Shop — South Carolina positiononly if it applies to you | South Carolina Department of Revenue | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-03 |
| Retail License | South Carolina Department of Revenue | $50 for each permanent location, and it is not refundable | no expiry while the same person trades at the same location | 2026-09-03 |
| Local Business License | South Carolina Department of Revenue | A tax on gross income at a rate each county or city sets, using a class schedule and license year that are the same statewide | 1 May to 30 April, the same in every South Carolina jurisdiction | 2026-09-03 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Corporate Annual Report and License Fee
The common claim that South Carolina has no annual report is true for LLCs and wrong for corporations. A corporation files one, but it is not a Secretary of State filing at all — it is schedule D of the corporate income tax return, filed with the revenue department, and the fee is the corporate license fee. That fee scales with capitalisation rather than being flat: $15 plus a dollar for every thousand dollars of capital stock and paid-in surplus, which works out at a tenth of one per cent, subject to a $25 floor. It is due when the return is due, on the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the tax year closes. A new corporation's first version of this is the CL-1, due within sixty days of commencing business.
Automotive Repair Shop — South Carolina position
The chapter list of the occupational licensing title (S.C. Code title 40), which runs to more than sixty chapters covering everything from accountancy to veterinary medicine, contains none for automotive repair, mechanics or repair facilities, so this record carries no fee. The motor vehicle title regulates manufacturers, distributors, dealers, recreational vehicle dealers, motorcycle dealers, chop shops, damage disclosure, driver training schools and car sharing — and never repair. The motor vehicle title's chapter list also contains no vehicle safety inspection chapter, so it creates no licensed inspection station category either. What a repair shop does need is the $50 retail license for each location if it sells parts, tyres or fluids, and a local business license in every jurisdiction it works in. Selling vehicles as well as repairing them brings dealer licensing into play, and salvage or dismantling work brings its own statute.
Retail License
South Carolina is one of the minority of states that charges for sales tax registration, and it charges per location rather than per business — a chain pays $50 for every permanent branch. In exchange the license never expires: it stays valid as long as the same person carries on the same business at the same place, with no renewal cycle at all. Two lower rates exist: $20 for artists and craftsmen selling their own work at shows and festivals, and $50 for a transient or temporary business. The one obligation that catches dormant businesses is the twenty-four month rule — go two consecutive years without a retail sale and the law requires you to surrender the license, although an affidavit can preserve it through a known gap.
Local Business License
S.C. Code § 6-1-400 defines a business license as 'a license issued to a taxpayer by a county or municipality', so the state issues no business license of its own — but it did something more useful than creating one. An act effective from 2022 left roughly two hundred and thirty local licenses in place while forcing them onto a single license year running 1 May to 30 April, a single class schedule built from industry codes and federal profitability statistics, a single appeal route that starts with thirty days to request an adjustment and an informal conference within fifteen, and a single portal for reporting and paying. What is not standardised is the rate, which each jurisdiction still sets for itself. The tax is computed on the gross income of the preceding calendar or fiscal year, or on a projection for a new business, and a license tied to a construction contract expires when the project completes rather than in April. You need one in every jurisdiction you do business in.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- South Carolina — statewide
- Phone
- (803) 898-3153
- Website
- dor.sc.gov/businesses
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- South Carolina Code chapter 12-20 — the corporate license fee, its computation and its $25 minimumSouth Carolina General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- South Carolina Code section 33-1-220 — corporation filing fees and the annual report payable to the Department of RevenueSouth Carolina General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- South Carolina Code sections 12-36-510 and 12-36-550 — retail license tax and its indefinite validitySouth Carolina General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- South Carolina Code title 40 — the complete list of licensed professions and occupations, which contains no auto repair chapterSouth Carolina General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- South Carolina Code title 56 — the complete list of motor vehicle chapters, which regulates dealers but not repair facilitiesSouth Carolina General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- South Carolina Code title 6 chapter 1 — the Business License Tax Standardization Act, defining a business license as one issued by a county or municipalitySouth Carolina General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- South Carolina Department of Revenue — corporate tax, the annual report as schedule D and the license fee rateSouth Carolina Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- South Carolina Department of Revenue — retail license, $50 per location and the twenty-four month dormancy ruleSouth Carolina Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other South Carolina statewide offices
- South Carolina Department of Agriculture, Retail Food Safety and Compliance
- South Carolina Secretary of State, Division of Business Filings
- South Carolina Board of Barber Examiners, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
- South Carolina Board of Cosmetology, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
- South Carolina Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
- South Carolina Contractor's Licensing Board, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
- South Carolina Department of Social Services, Division of Early Care and Education
- South Carolina Residential Builders Commission, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
South Carolina jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.