South Carolina Business License Tax Standardization Act (2020 Act No. 176)

As you are aware, in 2020 the South Carolina General Assembly revised the statutes regarding business licenses and taxes with adoption of the South Carolina Business License Tax Standardization Act (2020 Act No. 176); it affects the business license tax procedures for all municipalities and counties which levy the tax.

The Municipal Association of South Carolina (MASC) has drafted a model ordinance to reflect the new statutory requirements for a municipal business licensing scheme – please contact MASC to request the model ordinance from the MASC; the MASC also can provide a helpful user guide, and can assist you in taking the required measures necessary (e.g., adopting a standardized business license class schedule) to make implementation of the new model ordinance a far less challenging task. 

The following is from a recent MASC newsletter:

“The Association advises cities and towns to repeal your existing business license ordinance and replace it with Association’s new model ordinance. The law creates numerous, specific requirements of municipalities that collect the tax, and attorneys have carefully vetted the model ordinance to comply with all of them. This focus on compliance makes the new model ordinance different from past model ordinances, which only provided suggestions on best business license practices.

In an effort to track the transition process across all municipalities, and because of the new format and many changes to the ordinance, the Association is releasing a copy of the model ordinance to each city or town on request.

Contact Melissa Harrill at mharrill@masc.sc for a copy of the new model ordinance.”

Whether you are supplementing your code this year or recodifying, please note that the new state law is effective on Jan. 1, 2022, so it is imperative that you take the necessary steps to adopt conforming legislation and make the appropriate internal administrative preparations to implement the new business license tax requirements.