South Carolina Sales Tax Calculator (2026) — Add or Reverse Tax
South Carolina's combined sales tax rate is 7.49% (6.00% state + 1.49% average local). Use the calculator below to add South Carolina sales tax to a price, or reverse a tax-included total to find the pre-tax price and exact tax amount.
How to use this calculator:
- Adding tax — enter a pre-tax price, pick "Add tax to price," and the calculator applies the South Carolina rate to show the tax amount and final total.
- Reversing (extracting) tax — enter a total that already includes tax, pick "Extract tax from total," and the calculator divides by 1 + the rate to isolate the pre-tax price and the exact tax paid.
- Pick the rate that matches your situation: the average combined rate is a good statewide estimate, but the state-only or maximum-local rate is more precise if you know the exact city or county.
Understanding South Carolina Sales Tax
South Carolina's state sales tax rate is 6.00%, and local jurisdictions add an average of 1.49% on top, bringing the typical combined rate to 7.49%. Rates vary by city and county — the highest combined rate in South Carolina can reach 9.00%.
South Carolina also levies a state income tax, which shapes how much the state relies on sales tax revenue relative to other funding sources.
Groceries
Exempt from South Carolina state sales tax.
Largest city
Charleston
State income tax
Yes
Why Reverse Sales Tax Calculation Matters
Receipts, invoices, and marketplace payouts usually show only the tax-included total — not the pre-tax price. Reversing the calculation matters for bookkeeping (separating revenue from tax collected), expense reports (reimbursing only the pre-tax cost), and price comparisons (checking what an item actually costs before South Carolina's tax is applied). Because dividing by (1 + rate) is not the same as simply subtracting the rate from the total, doing this by hand is a common source of errors — the calculator above handles it exactly.
South Carolina Taxability at a Glance
🛒 Groceries
Exempt
👕 Clothing
Taxable
💊 Prescription drugs
Exempt
History & Rate Breakdown
South Carolina adopted its sales and use tax in 1951 at a rate that has since risen to 6%. Local option taxes were added later and now come in several distinct flavors that counties can adopt separately by referendum — general Local Option Sales Tax (L.O.S.T.), Capital Project Sales Tax, Transportation Sales Tax, and Education Improvement Sales Tax among them.
South Carolina's 7.49% average combined rate layers the 6% state rate with county-level local option taxes (capped at 3% total) that average 1.49% statewide — but because counties can stack multiple named local option taxes for different specific purposes, the exact combination varies significantly county to county.
Where the Money Goes
Because South Carolina's local option taxes are each earmarked for a specific purpose — school construction, transportation projects, property tax relief — voters can approve or reject each one independently, giving county sales tax revenue in South Carolina an unusually itemized, purpose-specific structure.
Business Use Case: Registering & Collecting South Carolina Sales Tax
A retailer in a South Carolina county that has adopted both a Capital Project tax and an Education Improvement tax on top of the state rate must correctly stack all applicable local option taxes for that specific county — since the combination (not just the total rate) can vary from a neighboring county with a different mix of adopted local taxes.
Sales Tax Terms Glossary
Combined rate
The state sales tax rate plus any applicable local (city, county, or special district) rates — the actual rate charged at checkout in a given location.
Reverse sales tax
The process of working backward from a tax-included total to find the pre-tax price and the exact tax amount, using total ÷ (1 + rate) = pre-tax price.
Economic nexus
A sales threshold (in dollars, transaction count, or both) that obligates an out-of-state seller to collect and remit sales tax even without a physical presence in the state.
Marketplace facilitator
A platform (e.g. Amazon, Etsy, eBay) that collects and remits sales tax on behalf of third-party sellers under most states’ marketplace facilitator laws.
Real-World Example
A $500.00 purchase in South Carolina at the average combined rate of 7.49%:
- Tax amount: $500.00 × 7.49% = $37.45
- Total price: $500.00 + $37.45 = $537.45
South Carolina Sales Tax Compliance for Sellers
Remote and online sellers establish economic nexus in South Carolina once they exceed $100,000.00 in annual sales (no separate transaction-count test). Once nexus is established, a seller must register with the state, collect South Carolina sales tax at checkout, and file returns on the state's required schedule. Marketplace facilitators (Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart) generally collect and remit on behalf of third-party sellers automatically.
Frequently Asked Questions — South Carolina Sales Tax
What is the sales tax rate in South Carolina?▾
Does South Carolina tax groceries?▾
Does South Carolina have a state income tax?▾
When do online sellers need to collect South Carolina sales tax?▾
How do I calculate South Carolina sales tax on a purchase?▾
How do I reverse South Carolina sales tax to find the price before tax?▾
What is the formula to back out sales tax from a receipt in South Carolina?▾
References & Sources
Rates last verified January 2026. South Carolina sales tax rates and thresholds can change — always confirm current figures with the South Carolina Department of Revenue before filing or invoicing. This tool is for estimation and educational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Jordan Hayes
Verified AuthorLead Content Editor & Personal Finance Specialist
Jordan Hayes is a personal finance content strategist with 9+ years building educational finance and health resources. He has written and fact-checked over 200 personal finance guides covering mortgage amortization, retirement planning, tax strategy, and budgeting. His work applies IRS publications, Federal Reserve data, and peer-reviewed research to make complex calculations accessible.