What sales, transactions, services or intangibles are subject to the Sales and Use Tax?

Modified on Tue, 24 Aug 2021 at 01:09 AM

The Sales Tax is imposed on the sales at retail of tangible personal property and certain services.

The Use Tax is imposed of the storage, use or consumption of tangible personal property and certain services when purchased at retail from outside the state for storage, use or consumption in South Carolina. There are also special imposition sections that tax the fair market value of tangible personal property when used, stored or consumed by its manufacturer and a special imposition section that taxes transient construction property brought into South Carolina.

The services and intangibles subject to the Sales and Use Tax are:

Furnishing of Accommodations (the state rate for this service is 7%)
Dry Cleaning and Laundering Services
Electricity
Communication Services including, but not limited to:

Telephone services (not specifically exempted under SC Code § 12-36-2120(11)), including telephone services provided via the traditional circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a wireless transmission system, a voice over Internet protocol ("VoIP"), or any of other method

- Teleconferencing Services
- Paging Services
- Cable Television Services
- Satellite Programming Services and Other Programming Transmission Services (includes, but is not limited to, emergency communication services and television, radio, music or other programming services)
- Fax Transmission Services
- E-Mail Services
- Electronic Filing of Tax Returns when the return is electronically filed by a person who did not prepare the tax return.
- Database Access Transmission Services (On-Line Information Services), such as legal research services, credit reporting/research services, charges to access an individual website (including Application Service Providers), etc. (not including computer database information services provided by a cooperative service when the database information has been assembled by and for the exclusive use of the members of the cooperative services).
- Prepaid Wireless Calling Arrangements (sale or recharge at retail) as defined in SC Code § 12-36-910(B)(5) (For information on prepaid telephone calling cards that do not come within the definition of prepaid wireless calling arrangements, see Revenue Ruling #04-4.)
- 900/976 Telephone Service (the state tax rate on this type of communication service is 11%, not 6%)