South Carolina Overview

Eds. Note: Boat tax is subject to change by state and local legislation and its application can change based on the facts.  Please call for advice concerning you individual matter.   

Vessel sales tax in South Carolina, is capped at ($300), and the corresponding use tax is at the same rate. Boats in South Carolina, therefore, are most at risk for the imposition of personal property tax.  Liability for South Carolina’s personal property tax arises when a boat is in the state for 60 consecutive days or 90 total days in a calendar year.   

SC Code Ann. § 12-37-714 provides:

(2) A boat, including its motor if the motor is separately taxed, which is not currently taxed in this State and is not used exclusively in interstate commerce, is subject to property tax in this State if it is present within this State for sixty consecutive days or for ninety days in the aggregate in a property tax year. Upon written request by a tax official, the owner must provide documentation or logs relating to the whereabouts of the boat in question. Failure to produce requested documents creates a rebuttable presumption that the boat in question is taxable within this State.

 The personal property tax rates are set at the County level.  Myrtle Beach (Horry County), for example, charges tax with respect to boats on 58% of the vessels value, at a rate of 10.5%.  If a boat were to become taxable in Horry County, it would be taxed at $6,142 per $100,000 of assessed value.   Because of the steep annual costs, an owner must carefully evaluate whether to keep a boat in this County.  This is particularly true for a boat that has previously paid a significant amount of sales tax to another state — such payments do not offset the South Carolina annual tax.  Personal property tax paid to South Carolina will also not reduce the amount of tax due to a sales tax state if the boat should be come taxable there at a future time.