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Here's the rare good news in state compliance: a standard South Carolina LLC — one taxed the default way, as a partnership or a disregarded entity — files no annual report at all, with anyone. Not with the Secretary of State, and not with the Department of Revenue. That isn't folklore; it's the SCDOR's own published position: the entities "not subject to the annual report or the License Fee" begin with "A Limited Liability Company (LLC) not taxed as a corporation" (SCDOR Corporate FAQs). But read that sentence again, because it contains the trap. The exemption follows your tax classification, not your entity type. The moment an LLC elects S-corporation or C-corporation taxation — an election thousands of small businesses make for the self-employment-tax savings, often on an accountant's one-line recommendation — it becomes "taxed as a corporation for South Carolina purposes" and inherits the full corporate reporting stack: an annual report, a license fee with a $25 annual minimum (owed even in a year with zero income), and a CL-1 initial report due within 60 days. And none of those deadlines look like an "annual report" deadline — they're camouflaged inside the tax return.
| Item | South Carolina LLC |
|---|---|
| LLC taxed the default way | No annual report, no license fee — to the SOS or the DOR (SCDOR Corporate FAQs, exemption list item 1) |
| LLC taxed as an S corp or C corp | Files the corporate return (SC1120S or SC1120) with the SCDOR — and the annual report is Schedule D inside that return |
| When | March 15 (S corp) or April 15 (C corp) for calendar-year filers — i.e., the 15th day of the 3rd or 4th month after the tax year ends |
| License fee | 0.1% of capital and paid-in surplus + $15, minimum $25/year — paid a year in advance with the return, and due even if the LLC is dormant with no income |
| CL-1 initial report | Required when the LLC elects corporate taxation: within 60 days of commencing business in South Carolina, with a $25 fee; late filing draws 5%/month penalties (max 25%) plus interest |
| Late return / late fee | 5% of unpaid tax per month (max 25%) for a late return; 0.5%/month (max 25%) on a late license fee (SC Code § 12-54-43) |
| Worst case | Failure to file "can result in your account being forfeited by the SCSOS" (SCDOR) — the corporate-taxed entity loses its standing with the Secretary of State |
| Getting back | C-268 Certificate of Tax Compliance from the SCDOR ($60, all tax types reviewed) → then an Application for Reinstatement with the SC Secretary of State |
Not sure which bucket you're in? The question isn't "am I an LLC" — it's "what does my LLC file federally." If your accountant files a Form 1120-S or 1120 for it (rather than a 1065 or your personal Schedule C/E), your LLC is taxed as a corporation, and South Carolina's annual report and license fee apply to you. Many owners made this election years ago and remember only the payroll paperwork, not the state-report consequence.
In most states, the annual report is its own event — its own form, portal, and confirmation email. South Carolina bolted it onto the tax return: the SCDOR instructs corporations (and corp-taxed LLCs) to update officers "each year on the annual report (Schedule D) when filing your Corporate Tax return." That design has a predictable failure mode — owners who moved to South Carolina from a separate-report state keep waiting for an annual-report notice that never comes, while owners who leave assume other states work the same way and miss real deadlines elsewhere (South Carolina's neighbor North Carolina charges $200 every April 15, one of the most expensive reports in the country). Two more edges worth knowing. The dormant-year rule: a corp-taxed entity with zero income and zero activity must still file the return, the Schedule D annual report, and the minimum $25 license fee, every year from charter until formal dissolution paperwork is recorded — skipping "because nothing happened" is exactly how accounts go delinquent. And the advance-payment quirk: the license fee period runs a year ahead of the income-tax period, which is why a final return generally owes no license fee — it was prepaid.
A corp-taxed LLC (or corporation) that stopped filing can be administratively dissolved by the Secretary of State. South Carolina's road back runs through the tax agency first: submit a C-268 Certificate of Tax Compliance Request to the SCDOR with its $60 non-refundable fee (fastest via MyDORWAY), the department reviews every tax type you're responsible for and flags delinquencies, you get 30 days to clear them, and only then is the certificate issued — which the Secretary of State requires before it will process the reinstatement application. It's a two-agency loop like Indiana's or Tennessee's: the state that dissolved you isn't the state office that decides whether you've earned the way back.
South Carolina sits in the small no-report club with Arizona, Missouri, Ohio, and New Mexico — but it's the only member whose exemption is conditional on tax classification, which makes it the club's most dangerous seat. A no-report state is also a magnet for official-looking "annual report compliance" mailers demanding fees for filings that don't exist (Ohio's version of this scam is documented in the Ohio guide) — for a default-taxed South Carolina LLC, any such letter is selling you nothing. Confused about which obligation is which kind? See franchise tax vs. annual report, explained, and if a deadline has already slipped, what to do if you missed your annual report.
"No annual report" is only true until a tax election makes it false. EntityMinder tracks which bucket each of your entities is actually in — across every state you operate in — and reminds you before the deadlines that don't announce themselves. The beta waitlist is open; planned pricing is $9/month.
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