South Carolina sales tax on invoices (2026 guide)

South Carolina's statewide sales and use tax rate is 6%. On top of that, counties (and in some places municipalities) can add local sales taxes once voters approve them, so the rate on your invoice depends on where the sale is delivered. On the Department of Revenue's current charts, combined rates range from 6% to 9%.

Two things set South Carolina apart. Its sales tax is a vendor tax — the retailer owes it whether or not it was collected from the customer. And most services are not taxed, with one big exception that catches out tech businesses: communications services, which in South Carolina include software as a service.

South Carolina sales tax rates

South Carolina's local taxes come in several types, each usually 1%: Local Option, Capital Projects, School District, Education Capital Improvement, Transportation (up to 1%), and a municipal Tourism Development tax. A county can have more than one. On the Department's May 2026 county map, Beaufort, Greenville and Oconee counties have no local sales tax, while Berkeley, Charleston and Jasper counties are at 9%.

Local tax follows the point of delivery. The Department says you report local tax by the county and municipality where delivery happens, and you can't rely on mailing addresses. Use the Department's municipal rate chart (ST-575) or district lookup, and note that rates change — Williamsburg County added a Capital Projects tax on May 1, 2026, for example.

Which services are taxable in South Carolina?

South Carolina taxes the retail sale of tangible personal property and certain services. The services most likely to affect a small business are:

• Communications services — including telephone and answering services, fax, streaming, cloud-based services and database access. The Department treats charges to access a website as taxable database access, and has concluded that software as a service is taxable as a communications service.
• Laundry and dry cleaning services.
• Hotel and short-term accommodations, which also carry a separate accommodations tax.

Services that are part of selling goods are taxed with the goods. For example, a photographer's charges for materials, labor and other expenses as part of selling prints are taxable.

Most professional and personal services are not taxed. The Department's manual lists examples such as accounting, legal, clerical, payroll, research, janitorial, security, garbage disposal and hairstyling services. Construction work is also a service: a landscaper who only contracts landscaping improvements is treated as the consumer of the plants and supplies it buys, and isn't entitled to a retail license unless it also runs a retail business, like a nursery.

Getting a South Carolina retail license

Anyone making retail sales in South Carolina — including online-only sellers — must get a Retail License before starting. The license costs $50, and you need a separate license for each retail location. You apply through the Department's free portal, MyDORWAY.

Once licensed:

1. file a return monthly, by the 20th of the following month (the Department can allow quarterly filing if your tax is $100 or less a month),
2. report local taxes on Schedule ST-389 with your state return if you file on paper, and
3. keep records for four years, with separate records for wholesale and retail sales.

Remote sellers: an out-of-state seller with no physical presence has economic nexus — and must get a retail license and collect — if its gross revenue from sales into South Carolina exceeds $100,000 in the previous or current calendar year. Sellers whose products are sold only through a marketplace facilitator don't need their own license for those sales.

What a South Carolina sales tax invoice should show

• your business name and address,
• the customer's name and address,
• a unique invoice number and the invoice date,
• a description and price for each item or service,
• sales tax as a separate line, with the combined rate for the delivery location, and
• the total due.

State installation charges separately. The Department says a reasonable installation charge on a sale of goods isn't taxable if it's separately stated on the bill; if it isn't, it becomes part of the taxable amount. In Invoice Native, put installation on its own line and tick Tax only on the taxable lines.

Customers aged 85 or older get a 1% reduction in the state sales tax on purchases for their personal use, with proof of age at the time of sale, and retailers must post a sign telling them about it.

Resale and exemption certificates

A business buying from you to resell gives you a resale certificate, Form ST-8A. You need only one certificate per customer, not one per purchase. Form ST-8A isn't mandatory: a letter from the buyer or another state's resale certificate works if it contains the same information, and buyers can also use the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Certificate.

Accepting a fully and properly completed certificate moves the tax liability to the buyer — as long as you didn't fraudulently fail to collect the tax or encourage an improper resale claim. Keep certificates with your records. For other exempt buyers, see how to invoice a tax-exempt customer.

A worked example

Say you sell and install a commercial espresso machine for a café, delivered in a county where the combined rate is 8% (6% state plus 2% local — a hypothetical local rate for this example). You invoice:

• $2,000 for the machine, and
• $150 for installation, listed separately.

Only the machine is taxed: $2,000 × 8% = $160.00, and the invoice total is $2,000 + $150 + $160 = $2,310.00.

If you'd lumped installation into a single $2,150 price, the whole amount would be taxable: $2,150 × 8% = $172.00.

Selling to customers in other states

South Carolina exempts goods you deliver to customers outside the state, but the other state's rules may then apply. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require out-of-state sellers to register and collect once sales into the state pass a threshold the state sets. Check each state's rules and use that state's rate on those invoices.

Common mistakes on South Carolina invoices

• Using the customer's mailing address for local tax instead of the place of delivery.
• Treating SaaS or website-access subscriptions as untaxed services — South Carolina taxes them as communications.
• Lumping installation into the price, which makes it taxable.
• Not collecting tax and hoping to skip it — as a vendor tax, you owe it either way.
• Keeping records for only three years — South Carolina requires four.

You can check totals with our sales tax calculator.

Quick checklist for South Carolina invoices

• ✅ $50 Retail License for each location before your first sale
• ✅ Checked whether your service is taxable (most aren't, communications are)
• ✅ 6% state plus local taxes for the delivery location
• ✅ Installation and other non-taxable charges on separate lines
• ✅ Form ST-8A (or equivalent) on file for resale customers, records kept four years