Is there an annual report late fee for a South Carolina LLC?

There is none, because South Carolina LLCs file no annual report with the Secretary of State. South Carolina's LLC Act contains no annual report section at all, and its fee schedule, which lists every LLC filing fee, includes no recurring one. The $25 figure often quoted as a report fee is the reinstatement filing fee. It is what you pay to undo an administrative dissolution, not an annual charge. South Carolina corporations do file an annual report, but not with the Secretary of State either. State law routes it through the tax code and combines it with the income tax return, so it appears as a schedule on the SC1120. That is the regime most wrong answers about South Carolina are borrowed from.

Does my LLC owe anything annually if it elected corporate taxation?

Yes, and this is the one real exception. South Carolina tax law defines "corporation" to include "a limited liability company... taxed for South Carolina income tax purposes as a corporation". That pulls a corporate-taxed LLC into the corporate annual report duty and the corporate License Fee. So an LLC taxed as a C corp or S corp files the annual report as part of its SC1120 or SC1120S and pays a License Fee of 0.1% of capital stock and paid-in surplus plus $15, with a statutory minimum of $25 a year. It also files a one-time CL-1, the Initial Annual Report of Corporations, with $25, within 60 days of commencing business in the state. An LLC taxed as a partnership or disregarded owes none of it. The Department of Revenue's own guidance lists "a Limited Liability Company (LLC) not taxed as a corporation" among the entities not subject to the annual report or the License Fee.

What can actually get my South Carolina LLC dissolved?

Not paying something. South Carolina law gives the Secretary of State one ground: the company "does not pay a fee, tax, or penalty imposed by this chapter or other law within sixty days after it is due". That is the entire list. There is no report to miss, and, contrary to what is often written, letting your registered agent lapse is not a ground either. A separate South Carolina rule handles that differently: the Secretary of State becomes your agent for service of process, which means a suit can be served without anyone telling you. Before dissolution issues, South Carolina law requires the Secretary of State to serve a record of its determination, giving you 60 days to correct the ground or show it did not exist. For an LLC taxed as a corporation, the practical trigger is an unpaid Department of Revenue License Fee, which is a "tax... imposed by... other law".

Does administrative dissolution cost me my liability protection?

No. Two provisions work against that reading. South Carolina law provides that an administratively dissolved LLC "continues its existence but may carry on only business necessary to wind up", and that the dissolution "does not terminate the authority of its agent for service of process". The entity does not vanish. And South Carolina law makes a successful reinstatement retroactive: it "relates back to and takes effect as of the effective date of the administrative dissolution, and the company may resume its business as if the administrative dissolution had never occurred". The gap closes rather than leaving a period of exposure behind it. What does put a South Carolina LLC's shield at risk is the ordinary judicial doctrine: commingling funds, ignoring the entity's separateness, or using it as an alter ego. No filing prevents that, and no missed filing causes it.

How do I check my South Carolina LLC's status?

Search your entity through the Secretary of State's business filings system at sos.sc.gov. Because an LLC has no periodic filing, an active LLC generally stays active unless it dissolves voluntarily or is administratively dissolved for non-payment. If the record shows administrative dissolution and the cause is a Department of Revenue matter, the Secretary of State's own guidance directs you to contact the Department first, because the Certificate of Tax Compliance is a prerequisite to reinstatement. For documentary proof of standing, order a Certificate of Existence. South Carolina law sets the fee at $10, and the Secretary of State publishes an anti-scam notice making the same point, because third-party services resell it at a markup.

Can I negotiate or reduce the fees?

The filing fees are statutory and not negotiable: $25 for the reinstatement application, $10 for a certificate of existence, $60 for the Department of Revenue's Certificate of Tax Compliance. The underlying tax or fee that caused the dissolution is a different matter, and if you believe it was assessed wrongly that is a dispute to raise with the Department of Revenue rather than a request for relief. What is worth doing instead is watching the two-year reinstatement clock, because it is the one thing here that cannot be cured with money once it runs out. This page is general information about South Carolina's statutes and filing requirements, not legal or tax advice.

South Carolina LLC Late Fees: There Is No Report to File Late

No annual report goes to the Secretary of State, so no report late fee exists. What can dissolve a South Carolina LLC is not paying a fee or tax, and the window to reinstate is a hard two years.

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: October 2026

South Carolina LLCs have no annual report deadline, so there is no annual report late fee. See details below.

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Late Fee Facts at a Glance

Annual report due

None required

Base fee

$0 to the Secretary of State

Late penalty

None. South Carolina's LLC Act contains no annual report and no report late fee.

Grace period

Not applicable

Dissolution timeline

Administrative dissolution follows non-payment of a fee, tax or penalty for 60 days, plus a further 60 days after the Secretary of State serves notice

Step diagram for returning an LLC to good standing in South Carolina, which requires no annual report. — South Carolina requires no LLC annual report. What it still asks of an LLC, and how to fix a lapse. Source: South Carolina Secretary of State.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

Stage 1

Missing an annual report deadline

Nothing, because there is none. South Carolina's LLC Act contains no annual report section, and its fee schedule lists every LLC filing fee without any recurring one. Any page quoting a South Carolina LLC annual report fee, an April 15 deadline or a report late penalty is describing a filing that does not exist.

Fix:There is nothing to fix.

Stage 2

Not paying a fee, tax or penalty for 60 days

This is the only statutory trigger. South Carolina law lets the Secretary of State begin dissolution "if the company does not pay a fee, tax, or penalty imposed by this chapter or other law within sixty days after it is due." The phrase "or other law" is what makes it bite: an LLC that elected corporate taxation and stops paying its Department of Revenue License Fee is squarely within it.

Fix:Yes. South Carolina law gives you 60 days after the Secretary of State serves its determination to correct the ground or show it never existed, before the certificate of dissolution issues.

Stage 3

After administrative dissolution

The LLC "continues its existence but may carry on only business necessary to wind up" under South Carolina law, and the dissolution "does not terminate the authority of its agent for service of process". You can still be sued.

Fix:Yes, for two years. South Carolina law sets a hard two-year window from the effective date of dissolution, and unlike a South Carolina business corporation, an LLC cannot reinstate after it.

Stage 4

Letting the registered agent lapse

Not a ground for dissolution in South Carolina, despite what is often written. South Carolina's dissolution rule lists non-payment only. What actually happens is set by a separate rule: the Secretary of State becomes your agent for service of process, so a lawsuit can be served on the state rather than on someone who will tell you about it.

Fix:Yes. File a change of agent; South Carolina law sets the fee at $10.

How to Fix It: Step-by-Step

Find out what was actually unpaid

Dissolution follows money, not paperwork. If your LLC is taxed as a corporation, start with the Department of Revenue License Fee, which is 0.1% of capital stock and paid-in surplus plus $15, with a $25 minimum. If your LLC is taxed as a partnership or disregarded, the Department of Revenue's own guidance excludes it from both the annual report and the License Fee, so the unpaid item is something else.

Get a Certificate of Tax Compliance from the Department of Revenue

This is mandatory and is the part most guides omit. South Carolina law requires the reinstatement application to "contain a certificate from the Department of Revenue reciting that all taxes owed by the company have been paid." You request it with a $60 non-refundable fee, and the Department notifies you of any delinquency with 30 days to comply.

File the reinstatement application with the Secretary of State

The form is the "Application for Reinstatement by a Limited Liability Company Dissolved by Administration", filed with a $25 fee set by state law. Note the form number: F0048. There is no South Carolina form LLC-12, which is a California Statement of Information, and no form LLCREIN.

Watch the two-year clock

South Carolina law allows reinstatement only "within two years after the effective date of dissolution". South Carolina business corporations may reinstate at any time; LLCs may not. If the application is denied, state law gives you 30 days to appeal to the circuit court.

Renew the local business license, which is the deadline people actually miss

South Carolina business licenses are issued by counties and cities, not the state. South Carolina law fixes a license year running May 1 to April 30 and requires renewal before May 1, with the tax computed on the previous calendar year's gross income at a rate each jurisdiction sets. This is annual, not biennial.

Reinstatement After Dissolution

Reinstatement Possible?: Yes, within two years
How Long Allowed: Two years from the effective date of dissolution, under South Carolina law. This is a hard limit for LLCs, unlike South Carolina business corporations, which may reinstate at any time.
Reinstatement Fee: $25 to the Secretary of State, plus a $60 non-refundable Department of Revenue fee for the Certificate of Tax Compliance, plus whatever fee or tax was actually unpaid
What You Lose During Dissolution: Less than is usually claimed, and only temporarily. A dissolved LLC continues to exist for winding up and its agent's authority survives. More importantly, South Carolina law makes reinstatement retroactive: it "relates back to and takes effect as of the effective date of the administrative dissolution, and the company may resume its business as if the administrative dissolution had never occurred."

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 publishes about filing deadlines, fees, and the consequences of missing them, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you what your own company owes: the date turns on when and where you formed, states change these rules between our reviews, and in several states an entity-level tax falls due in a year when no report does. Confirm your own dates with the filing office named on this page before you rely on one here, because missing a deadline can cost the company its good standing or, in many states, its existence.

Read this guide for another state:

Frequently Asked Questions

: There is none, because South Carolina LLCs file no annual report with the Secretary of State. South Carolina's LLC Act contains no annual report section at all, and its fee schedule, which lists every LLC filing fee, includes no recurring one. The $25 figure often quoted as a report fee is the reinstatement filing fee. It is what you pay to undo an administrative dissolution, not an annual charge. South Carolina corporations do file an annual report, but not with the Secretary of State either. State law routes it through the tax code and combines it with the income tax return, so it appears as a schedule on the SC1120. That is the regime most wrong answers about South Carolina are borrowed from.
: Yes, and this is the one real exception. South Carolina tax law defines "corporation" to include "a limited liability company... taxed for South Carolina income tax purposes as a corporation". That pulls a corporate-taxed LLC into the corporate annual report duty and the corporate License Fee. So an LLC taxed as a C corp or S corp files the annual report as part of its SC1120 or SC1120S and pays a License Fee of 0.1% of capital stock and paid-in surplus plus $15, with a statutory minimum of $25 a year. It also files a one-time CL-1, the Initial Annual Report of Corporations, with $25, within 60 days of commencing business in the state. An LLC taxed as a partnership or disregarded owes none of it. The Department of Revenue's own guidance lists "a Limited Liability Company (LLC) not taxed as a corporation" among the entities not subject to the annual report or the License Fee.
: Not paying something. South Carolina law gives the Secretary of State one ground: the company "does not pay a fee, tax, or penalty imposed by this chapter or other law within sixty days after it is due". That is the entire list. There is no report to miss, and, contrary to what is often written, letting your registered agent lapse is not a ground either. A separate South Carolina rule handles that differently: the Secretary of State becomes your agent for service of process, which means a suit can be served without anyone telling you. Before dissolution issues, South Carolina law requires the Secretary of State to serve a record of its determination, giving you 60 days to correct the ground or show it did not exist. For an LLC taxed as a corporation, the practical trigger is an unpaid Department of Revenue License Fee, which is a "tax... imposed by... other law".
: No. Two provisions work against that reading. South Carolina law provides that an administratively dissolved LLC "continues its existence but may carry on only business necessary to wind up", and that the dissolution "does not terminate the authority of its agent for service of process". The entity does not vanish. And South Carolina law makes a successful reinstatement retroactive: it "relates back to and takes effect as of the effective date of the administrative dissolution, and the company may resume its business as if the administrative dissolution had never occurred". The gap closes rather than leaving a period of exposure behind it. What does put a South Carolina LLC's shield at risk is the ordinary judicial doctrine: commingling funds, ignoring the entity's separateness, or using it as an alter ego. No filing prevents that, and no missed filing causes it.
: Search your entity through the Secretary of State's business filings system at sos.sc.gov. Because an LLC has no periodic filing, an active LLC generally stays active unless it dissolves voluntarily or is administratively dissolved for non-payment. If the record shows administrative dissolution and the cause is a Department of Revenue matter, the Secretary of State's own guidance directs you to contact the Department first, because the Certificate of Tax Compliance is a prerequisite to reinstatement. For documentary proof of standing, order a Certificate of Existence. South Carolina law sets the fee at $10, and the Secretary of State publishes an anti-scam notice making the same point, because third-party services resell it at a markup.
: The filing fees are statutory and not negotiable: $25 for the reinstatement application, $10 for a certificate of existence, $60 for the Department of Revenue's Certificate of Tax Compliance. The underlying tax or fee that caused the dissolution is a different matter, and if you believe it was assessed wrongly that is a dispute to raise with the Department of Revenue rather than a request for relief. What is worth doing instead is watching the two-year reinstatement clock, because it is the one thing here that cannot be cured with money once it runs out. This page is general information about South Carolina's statutes and filing requirements, not legal or tax advice.

Sources

26 documents

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.

South Carolina statute: Title 33 Chapter 44 (LLC Act)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-1204 (LLC filing fees)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-1204(a)(11) (reinstatement fee)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-16-220 (corporate annual report)
South Carolina statute: Title 12 (taxation)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 12-20-130 (report filed with income tax return)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-809, 33-44-810 (administrative dissolution)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-809 (grounds for administrative dissolution)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-810 (notice, cure period and effect of dissolution)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-811(a) (two-year reinstatement window)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-111(b) (Secretary of State as agent)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-1204(a)(9) (change of agent fee)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-811(a)(4) (tax compliance certificate)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-811 (reinstatement application)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-812 (appeal of denied reinstatement)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 6-1-400(B)(1) (business license year)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-811(c) (reinstatement relates back)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 12-2-25(A)(3) (Title 12 definition of corporation)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 12-20-20 (corporate annual report)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 12-20-50 (corporate License Fee)
South Carolina statute: SC Code 33-44-1204(a)(13) (certificate of existence fee)
South Carolina statute: 33-44-1204(a)(13) (certificate of existence fee)
sos.sc.gov/online-filings/business-entitiesSouth Carolina Secretary of State: business entity filings
scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.phpSouth Carolina statute: annual report exemption
scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c020.phpSouth Carolina statute: Annual Report and License Fee
dor.sc.gov/business-income-taxes/corporateSouth Carolina Department of Revenue: file the Annual Report and License Fee

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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.

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