South Carolina Personal Property Tax Rates and Exemptions

South Carolina’s personal property tax applies to movable assets you own — most commonly vehicles, boats, aircraft, and business equipment. Counties send the bills and collect the money, though the South Carolina Department of Revenue sets the values for motor vehicles, manufacturing property, and utility property. What you owe depends on three things: the property’s market value, the assessment ratio state law assigns to its class, and the millage rate where you live.

What Gets Taxed

The tax is ad valorem, meaning it tracks current market value, and it reaches tangible property that isn’t permanently attached to land. The main categories are:

Motor vehicles, including cars, trucks, motorcycles, and campers
Watercraft, outboard motors, and documented vessels
Aircraft
Business furniture, fixtures, machinery, and other tangible operating assets
Manufacturing, utility, and mining equipment

Household goods and furniture kept in your home are fully exempt, along with built-in appliances such as ranges and dishwashers. Livestock, poultry, and most non-motorized farm equipment are also exempt.¹ The full framework sits in Title 12 of the South Carolina Code.²

How Your Bill Is Calculated

South Carolina doesn’t tax the full market value. State law applies an assessment ratio to shrink that value first, and only the reduced number gets multiplied by the local millage rate. A “mill” equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, and your combined rate stacks levies from the county, municipality, school district, and any special purpose districts covering your property. State law caps annual millage increases for general operations at roughly inflation plus population growth.³

Say you own a personal vehicle valued at $15,000 in a county with a combined millage rate of 300 mills:

Fair market value: $15,000
Assessment ratio for a personal vehicle: 6%
Assessed value: $15,000 × 0.06 = $900
Tax due: $900 × 0.300 = $270

For motor vehicles, the SCDOR determines fair market value using nationally accepted industry pricing guides, and county auditors work from the SCDOR Motor Vehicle Values Guide. Business property values come from what you report on your return, adjusted for depreciation. Because millage rates vary widely across South Carolina’s 46 counties, two identical vehicles can generate very different bills.

Assessment Ratios by Property Class

The ratios are fixed statewide by statute, so the class your property falls into does a lot of the work on your bill.⁴

Personal-use vehicles and campers: 6%
Business personal property: 10.5%
Manufacturing and utility property: 10.5%
Other personal property (general default): 10.5%
Transportation-for-hire property such as railroads, airlines, and pipelines: 9.5%
Commercial fishing boats, tugboats, and pilot boats: 5%
Boats generally: 10.5%, though certain boats used for personal recreation may qualify for the 6% rate

The gap matters. Business equipment worth $20,000 has an assessed value of $2,100, while a $20,000 personal vehicle is assessed at $1,200. That difference carries straight through to what you pay.

When Payment Is Due

Motor Vehicles

Vehicle taxes don’t share the January 15 deadline that applies to other property. Your vehicle tax is due in the month that matches the registration date shown on your tag decal, which staggers payments across the year. Buy a new vehicle from a dealership and you’ll receive a 120-day tax notice after the dealer processes the plate registration; payment is due before that window closes. If you buy from a private seller who already had a South Carolina title, the county auditor generates a tax notice based on your sale documentation.

Everything Else

Tax notices for business equipment, rental property, boats, outboard motors, documented vessels, aircraft, mobile homes, and campers typically go out in October, with payment due by January 15 of the following year.⁵ You can pay online through your county treasurer, by mail, or in person.

Penalties for Paying Late

Missing January 15 triggers a stacking penalty schedule:⁶

After January 15: 3% penalty added
After February 1: additional 7% penalty, 10% total
After March 16: additional 5% penalty, 15% total

If taxes remain unpaid after March 17, the county treasurer issues a tax execution and the account moves to a delinquent tax collector.

Vehicle taxes carry a separate consequence. Fall behind and the county treasurer can notify the DMV to suspend both your driver’s license and your vehicle registration. The county has to send a warning letter first and give you 30 days to pay before the suspension takes effect.⁷ Once a suspension is on your record, paying the tax alone won’t clear it. You’ll also owe a $50 reinstatement fee to the DMV before your license and registration come back.

Exemptions Worth Checking

Disabled Veterans

A disabled veteran can exempt up to two private passenger vehicles from personal property tax. The veteran must designate the vehicles and have either special license tags from the DMV or a certificate of disability on file. For a partial disability rating rather than total and permanent disability, the exemption is proportional: a 70% service-connected disability produces a 70% exemption on the vehicle’s tax. The exemption extends to a surviving spouse for life or until remarriage.²

Active-Duty Military

Service members stationed in South Carolina who keep legal residency in another state don’t owe South Carolina personal property tax on their vehicles. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act blocks a state from taxing military members solely because military orders put them there, and the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act extends the same protection to a spouse who shares the out-of-state domicile.

Watercraft and Trailers

Watercraft and motors with an assessed value of $50 or less are exempt, and watercraft trailers are fully exempt. A county governing body may also pass an ordinance exempting 42.75% of the fair market value of a watercraft and its motor, whether or not the motor is attached at the time.⁸ Whether your county has adopted that optional exemption is a call to your county auditor. Commercial semitrailers and trailers commonly used with large commercial motor vehicles are fully exempt from property tax.²

Business Categories

Several classes of business property are fully exempt, with no application required for the first three:⁸

All business inventories
Intangible personal property
Bank and savings institution personal property, including motor vehicles
Pollution control equipment for water, air, or noise pollution as required by state or federal government

One boundary worth noting: the Homestead Exemption you may have heard of is a real property exemption, not a personal property one. It covers the first $50,000 of your primary residence’s fair market value if you are at least 65, totally and permanently disabled, or legally blind as of December 31 of the prior tax year.⁹ It won’t reduce your vehicle or boat tax.

Appealing a Valuation

If you think the value on your notice is too high, you have 90 days from the mailing date of your assessment notice to file a written objection. The protest must state what you believe the correct fair market value and property classification should be. If you’re claiming exempt status, you have to explain the basis.¹⁰

For vehicles, the most common winning argument is high mileage. The SCDOR publishes a high-mileage discount chart, and an odometer reading well above the average for your year and model can qualify you for a reduced valuation. Ask your county auditor to apply the high-mileage adjustment before your appeal window closes.

Where the appeal goes depends on who set the value. Property valued by the SCDOR — manufacturing, utilities, and similar categories — is appealed in writing to the SCDOR director or a designee. County-assessed property is appealed first to the county assessor, and unresolved disputes move to the county board of assessment appeals.

Refunds When You Sell a Vehicle or Move Out of State

Sell a vehicle, or become a legal resident of another state and register the vehicle there, and you’re entitled to a prorated refund for the complete months left in the tax year.¹¹

To collect, turn in your license plate and registration certificate for cancellation and submit a written request with Form 5051 to the county auditor. The auditor has five days to forward the cancellation to the DMV, and the treasurer issues the refund or credit. Skipping the cancellation is a common mistake. Without it, you stay on the books as owner and can receive another tax bill the following year.

If You Own Business Property

Every business operating in South Carolina, including an out-of-state company that leases equipment located here, must file a Business Personal Property return. The standard form is the PT-100, and any business with a tax liability of $15,000 or more must file and pay electronically.⁵

The filing deadline is four months after your accounting year-end. Books that close December 31 mean an April 30 return; a June 30 fiscal year-end means October 31. On the return you report total asset cost, income tax depreciation, and net depreciated value. The SCDOR then calculates assessed value and sends it to the county where the business sits. Manufacturers and utilities file with the SCDOR; most other businesses file with the county.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-37-220 – General Exemptions From Taxes
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 12 Chapter 37 – Assessment of Property Taxes
3
South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. Millage Rate Increase Limitations
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-43-220 – Classifications of Property and Assessment Ratios
5
South Carolina Department of Revenue. Business Personal Property Tax (BPP)
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 12 Chapter 45 – Collection of Taxes
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-37-2740 – Suspension of Drivers License and Vehicle Registration for Failure to Pay Personal Property Tax
8
South Carolina Department of Revenue. Business Property Tax and Exemptions
9
South Carolina Department of Revenue. Homestead Exemption
10
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-60-2120 – Property Taxpayer Appeal by Written Protest
11
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-37-2725 – Cancellation of License Plate and Registration Certificate