What is a resale certificate called in South Carolina?

South Carolina calls it the Resale Certificate (Form ST-8A). The buyer fills in and signs the South Carolina Resale Certificate and gives it to the seller.

Resale certificate · South Carolina

How to Use the South Carolina Resale Certificate

The short answer. The South Carolina Resale Certificate (Form ST-8A) is the document a business gives a supplier to buy goods for resale without paying South Carolina sales tax. The buyer fills in and signs the South Carolina Resale Certificate and gives it to the seller. South Carolina publishes a form, but any document that carries the information the state requires is accepted.

Resale Certificates in South Carolina at a Glance

What South Carolina calls it	Resale Certificate (Form ST-8A)
How you get it	The buyer fills it in
Documents accepted	The state's form, or any document with the required information
Blank form	Download it from the state
Who may give one	Another state's registration accepted (any buyer not registered in South Carolina)
MTC uniform certificate	Accepted
Streamlined Sales Tax certificate	Not confirmed
How long it lasts	Does not expire
Blanket certificate	Allowed
What protects the seller	Accepting it in good faith
Seller keeps it for	3 years (the state's general sales tax records period)
Law	South Carolina law, cited in the sources

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 29, 2026. See the sources.

Who May Give a Resale Certificate in South Carolina

A buyer that is not registered in South Carolina may buy for resale using a registration number issued by another state. The document it gives is its own state's resale certificate and number, or Form ST-8A showing the other state and its number.

The buyer fills in and signs the South Carolina Resale Certificate and gives it to the seller.

Which Documents Are Accepted

South Carolina publishes a form, but any document that carries the information the state requires is accepted.

South Carolina accepts the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate.

We have not confirmed whether South Carolina accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption; check with the South Carolina Department of Revenue.

What the certificate must contain is set by South Carolina law, cited in the sources.

How Long It Lasts

The South Carolina Resale Certificate does not expire.

One blanket certificate may cover repeat purchases from the same seller.

For Sellers Who Accept One

Under South Carolina's law, a seller that takes a resale certificate in good faith is relieved of liability for the tax on that sale. The certificate must be fully completed, and the seller loses this protection if it fraudulently failed to collect the tax or solicited the buyer to claim the exemption unlawfully.

The state's general sales tax records period is 3 years.

Worth Knowing in South Carolina

A Social Security number, an FEIN or a South Carolina Use Tax registration number does not qualify as the license number on a resale certificate. A South Carolina wholesaler exemption number may be used in place of a Retail License number.

More for South Carolina Businesses

South Carolina's sales tax registration page
Sales tax nexus checker, to see where your sales may require you to register.
South Carolina LLC guide, for forming and running an LLC in the state.
LLC guide for eBay sellers in South Carolina, for selling through a marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

: South Carolina calls it the Resale Certificate (Form ST-8A). The buyer fills in and signs the South Carolina Resale Certificate and gives it to the seller.
: A buyer that is not registered in South Carolina may buy for resale using a registration number issued by another state. The document it gives is its own state's resale certificate and number, or Form ST-8A showing the other state and its number.
: South Carolina accepts the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate. We have not confirmed whether South Carolina accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption; check with the South Carolina Department of Revenue.
: The South Carolina Resale Certificate does not expire. One blanket certificate may cover repeat purchases from the same seller.
: Under South Carolina's law, a seller that takes a resale certificate in good faith is relieved of liability for the tax on that sale. The certificate must be fully completed, and the seller loses this protection if it fraudulently failed to collect the tax or solicited the buyer to claim the exemption unlawfully. The state's general sales tax records period is 3 years.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's tax agency, or the multistate bodies' published notes, say about the certificate a buyer gives a supplier when it buys goods for resale, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you whether your own purchase qualifies: that turns on what you buy, whether you resell it, and where you are registered, and a certificate given for a purchase that does not qualify can leave the buyer owing the tax. Confirm your own position with the tax agency named on this page before you give or accept one.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified South Carolina sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.

dor.sc.gov/sites/dor/files/forms/ST8A.pdfSCDOR Form ST-8A Resale Certificate (Rev. 12/29/25)
dor.sc.gov/sales-use-tax-resale-certificateSC Revenue Procedure #98-2, Resale Certificates (Sales and Use Tax)
scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c036.phpS.C. Code Title 12 Chapter 36 (12-36-950, 12-36-2510, 12-36-2540)
mtc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Unif-Resale-Cert-revised-10-14-22.pdfMTC Uniform Sales & Use Tax Resale Certificate, Multijurisdiction (rev. 10/14/2022)
Law on resale certificates in South Carolina: S.C. Code 12-36-950
What the certificate must contain: S.C. Code 12-36-950; Form ST-8A

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.