General Information
Under South Carolina law, you are required to pay personal property taxes on your vehicle before you can obtain a license plate. Taxes must be paid annually thereafter in order to receive a new decal. Property tax is based on the retail value of the vehicle and the taxing district in which you reside. Vehicles are also taxed at different ratios depending on ownership and weight. The ratios are as follows:
- Privately owned passenger vehicles: 6% of retail value
- Business owned vehicles: 10.5% of retail value
- Trucks with an empty weight over 9,000 lb or a gross weight over 11,000 lb: 10.5% of retail value (the weight used is provided by the manufacturer) including privately owned vehicles.
The retail value of your vehicle is determined by using guides provided by the South Carolina Department of Revenue.
Registration
New residents to South Carolina have 45 days to pay their vehicle taxes and get their South Carolina license plate and registration. In South Carolina, taxes on your vehicle are paid a year in advance. In order to register a vehicle, we need one of the following:
- Bill of Sale
- Title
- Registration from previous State
Address Changes
The address you provide when registering a vehicle for the first time will be used for all tax bills and other correspondence from our office. We can make address changes on our system after you have received your tax bill. However, the changes we make are only temporary. It will be necessary for you to make a permanent address change with the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). You may do this online though the South Carolina DMV website. We receive all of our billing information from the DMV records. Any address changes made on your vehicle registration through their office will be sent to our office.
