Short-term rentals in Surfside Beach, explained properly.

The Town imposes a local accommodations tax of one-half (0.5) percent on every person engaged in the business of furnishing accommodations to transients within the Town, applied to gross proceeds from rooms, lodging or sleeping accommodations furnished to transients, including a residence. Sleeping accommodations supplied to the same person for ninety (90) continuous days are not treated as proceeds from transients. The transient owes the tax; the provider collects it at the time of service and holds it in trust until remitted to the Town (Secs. 4-111 to 4-113). The article took effect July 1, 2021 (Sec. 4-122). This is separate from the State's accommodations taxes, and this page does not add the two together.

Monthly installments are due on or before the twentieth day of each month. A return filed on or before the due date earns a two (2) percent discount on taxes collected. Taxes not timely remitted carry a penalty of five (5) percent per month. If no true and correct return is filed, the Town makes a return from the information it can obtain, assesses the tax and adds a penalty of ten (10) percent (Sec. 4-114).

South Carolina charges a 7% tax on rent for rooms, lodgings or sleeping accommodations furnished to transients, including rentals of a residence (S.C. Code § 12-36-920(A)). The South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR) describes this as 5% sales tax plus 2% accommodations tax, together with any local sales and use taxes that SCDOR collects for counties. SCDOR's ST-575 chart lists the total accommodations rate for each county and city.

SCDOR applies accommodations tax to sleeping accommodations of any kind rented to guests for less than 90 consecutive days, including rooms or spaces in your own home and condos. Rentals to the same person for 90 continuous days are not taxed. A home with six or fewer bedrooms is exempt only when the owner or operator lives on the same premises at the time and does not use a rental agency or online travel company to rent the rooms.

SCDOR says owners who book short-term rentals directly must hold a Retail License to file and pay accommodations tax, with one license for each rental location. If you rent only through a property management or online travel company that takes the reservation and the payment, that company remits the tax for the full booking and you do not need a Retail License. A license is also not required if you rent a room or space for no more than one week each calendar quarter, but the tax must still be filed and paid once a year.

Accommodations tax returns and payments must be filed electronically (SCDOR's MyDORWAY or approved software), by the 20th of the month following the end of the filing period.

Under the Local Accommodations Tax Act, a city or county may add a local accommodations tax of up to 3% on stays taxed under S.C. Code § 12-36-920(A). A county may not charge more than 1.5% inside a city or town without that municipality's consent. SCDOR notes that many local accommodations taxes are not administered by SCDOR, so owners must contact the city or county where the rental is located to report them.