South Carolina Sales And Use Tax

South Carolina State Sales And Use Tax

The state of South Carolina levies a 6% state sales tax on the retail sale, lease or rental of most goods and some services. Local jurisdictions impose additional sales taxes up to 2.5%. The range of total sales tax rates within the state of South Carolina is between 6% and 8.5%.

Use tax is also collected on the consumption, use or storage of goods in South Carolina if sales tax was not paid on the purchase of the goods. The use tax rate is the same as the sales tax rate. Returns are to be filed on or before the 20th day of the month following the month in which the purchases were made. For example, purchases made in the month of January should be reported to the state of South Carolina on or before the 20th day of February.

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Monika Miles

When it comes to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, there’s often confusion regarding both nexus and the taxability of this revenue stream.

And while the Wayfair decision seems like it’s directed only at online sellers, traditional multi-state sellers (including those that generate revenue from SaaS and software) are also affected, as nexus is now easier to establish. Once it is established – either by traditional physical presence or by sales volume – then companies will need to consider the taxability rules of SaaS in each state in which they have nexus.

Is SaaS even taxable? Because SaaS and cloud computing don’t always clearly fall into existing tax definitions, different states interpret its taxability in different ways. Some regard it as similar to electronically downloaded software, while others consider it a service, which may be taxable or not. And what about electronically downloaded software? Is it treated differently from SaaS?

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Monika Miles- Taxability of SAAS In North dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska

In the wake of the Wayfair decision, there are a lot of questions surrounding sales taxes across the many U.S. states. While many queries we receive revolve around establishing physical presence and nexus for retail items, the next important question a company must always ask is, “If I have nexus, is my product taxable?” In that regard, there are a few areas many business often overlook: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cloud computing and electronically downloaded software. Are these items taxable? It depends.

A few months ago we explored the taxability of SaaS, cloud computing and electronically downloaded software in 15 states across the country; today we’re taking a look at the tax ramifications of three more states: North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Nexus & Constitutional Issues for Middle America Companies

Following the Wayfair decision, do companies in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska need to pay online sales tax to states in which they’ve established nexus? And if so, what is the tax threshold?

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The South Dakota Supreme Court recently decided a unique case which may be persuasive to jurists in many other states that have adopted the Uniform Trust Code, particularly as it relates to literal compliance with shortened time frames for beneficiaries to take action under the Code. In doing so, the Court ruled that an informal objection to a revocable trust did not constitute an effective contest of the trust’s validity under their trust law, because it was not a timely filed suit. Read More

If you’ve been following the online sales tax debate on our blog, you know South Dakota recently passed, “Senate Bill 106, allowing the state to collect taxes from sales made from online retailers – even if they don’t have nexus within South Dakota itself.”

The 2016 law mandated a sales tax collection responsibility from sellers grossing over $100,000 in sales to South Dakota customers, or transactions numbering more than 200 in a year – even if the seller has no physical presence or other connection with the state. Then NetChoice and the American Catalog Mailers Association sued the state, claiming the law violates Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, a ruling which established businesses need a physical presence in the state to be responsible for sales tax and fees. Read More

This month takes us to the Mount Rushmore state of South Dakota. South Dakota is the 5th least populous state in the U.S., with a population of 865,454 people in 2016. It is also the 5th least densely populated state in the country. South Dakota is in the north-central United States, and is considered part of the Midwest by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is also part of the Great Plains region, which covers most of the western two-thirds of the state. West of the Missouri River the landscape becomes more and more rugged, consisting of rolling hills, plains, ravines, and steep flat-topped hills called buttes. In the south part of the state, east of the Black Hills, lies the Badlands of South Dakota. Erosion from the Black Hills, marine skeletons that fell to the bottom of a large shallow sea that once covered the area, and volcanic material, all contribute to the geology of this area. Read More