South Carolina Certificate of Authority / License fee and report
The annual report and corporate license fee in South Carolina
A South Carolina LLC pays no yearly fee to the Secretary of State, but a corporation's license fee starts at $25 and, with its annual report, goes to the Department of Revenue. An LLC taxed as a corporation does the same.
Who owes what each year
| Entity | To the Secretary of State | To the Department of Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| LLC not taxed as a corporation | Nothing | No corporate license fee due |
| LLC taxed as a corporation | Nothing | Report and license fee, filed with Revenue |
| Business corporation | Nothing | Report plus license fee, filed with Revenue |
| Limited liability partnership | Yearly renewal of registered status | Under its own tax |
When is the corporate report due?
On the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the close of the tax year. An extension for good cause moves the report but not the license fee.
How is the license fee worked out?
Capital stock and surplus drive the figure, at $15 plus $1 per thousand dollars, with a floor of $25. The due date is the original date of the report.
The first report for a corporation
A foreign corporation delivers its initial annual report with the application, together with the minimum license fee, and the Secretary of State passes both to the Department of Revenue.
Why does an LLC not file one?
The LLC Act names no annual report or annual fee for a foreign LLC. Corporate rules apply to an LLC only if it has to file corporate income tax returns.
What if a corporation misses the report?
If the report is not delivered to the Department of Revenue on time, that is a revocation ground; the corporation gets 60 days after notice to put it right, and reinstatement later needs a tax-paid certificate.
What should every entity do each year?
Check that the agent still accepts papers at the address on file and that the designated office is current. Failing to keep an agent, or to report an agent change, can lead to revocation.
Examples
A Georgia LLC that is a partnership for tax owes the Secretary of State nothing yearly and no corporate license fee. A Tennessee LLC that chose corporate tax treatment sends its annual report to the Department of Revenue by the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the close of the tax year with a fee of $25 or more, and a Delaware corporation follows the same path.
What to have ready
Have the capital stock and paid-in surplus figures, since the license fee is computed from them, and the date of the entity's tax year end, since the report falls due on the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the close of the tax year.
Which department revokes for a missed return?
The Department of Revenue can notify the Secretary of State that a required return went unfiled sixty days past its own notice, and the Secretary of State revokes the certificate. The corporation may later cure the default and ask to be reinstated.
What counts as capital for the license fee?
The basis is the capital stock and surplus shown on the corporation's applicable financial statement, measured on the first day of the taxable year in which the report is filed.
Can the report be late?
Good cause can earn more time for the report, though the license fee stays due on the original date. A report not delivered on time is a revocation ground.
What happens at the Secretary of State?
For an LLC, nothing recurs. The Secretary of State keeps the agent and office record and revokes only for the listed grounds, after notice.
What changes for a nonprofit?
An out-of-state nonprofit corporation files under the nonprofit chapter. Its yearly obligations follow that chapter and its tax status, and it should raise them with us before ordering.
When is it due?
The report goes to the Department of Revenue and falls due on the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the close of the tax year, so put that date in your own calendar.
Yearly fee questions
Is there an annual fee for my South Carolina LLC?
Not to the Secretary of State.
What is the least a corporation pays in license fee?
$25.
Where does the corporate report go?
To the Department of Revenue.
Price summary
Get your South Carolina certificate
Georgia or any stateSouth Carolina
$199
+ $110 to the state
- Your certificate of authority application, drafted from a questionnaire
- The home-state certificate requested on the right date
- A South Carolina agent for service if you need one
- The filed copy and the state's receipt
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
The $110 state fee is the LLC and corporation fee, paid to the Secretary of State and itemized separately; a corporation also pays a license fee, and other entity types are priced on the cost page. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Official sources
- Form F0008, application for a certificate of authority (foreign LLC), with filing instructions
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 44, Uniform Limited Liability Company Act
- South Carolina Secretary of State, FAQs about business entities
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 1, general provisions, fees and taxes
- Form F0002, application by a foreign corporation for a certificate of authority
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 31, nonprofit corporations
- South Carolina Business Entities Online
- S.C. Code Title 12, Chapter 20, corporate license fee and annual report
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 41, partnerships and limited liability partnerships
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 15, foreign corporations
Need a South Carolina certificate of authority?
Send the entity type and we take over the filing.