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Hotel And Lodging Tax In South Carolina 2026: TOT Rates By City
South Carolina exempts stays over 90 days, and the same Charleston metro property can owe 12% or 14% depending on which county it's in. See 2026 rates by city and where properties get compliance wrong.
August 28, 2026
6
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TL;DR
- South Carolina calls its state charge the Accommodations Tax, combining a 5% sales tax component and a separate 2% state Accommodations Tax component for 7% total.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," "bed tax," and "accommodations tax" all describe pieces of this stack, but cities and counties each add their own local rate on top.
- Local Accommodations Tax is capped at 3%, but the exact branding varies, Columbia calls its version a Tourism Development Fee instead of the standard statewide term.
- South Carolina's exemption threshold is 90 continuous days, considerably longer than the 30-day rule common in most other states.
- No voter referendum is required; a local council imposes or changes the tax by ordinary majority-vote ordinance.
- No South Carolina fee-transparency law was found; the state's own consumer protection agency points to the federal FTC rule instead of a state statute.
- The same Charleston-metro short-term rental can owe a materially different combined rate depending on which county side of the metro it sits in.
How South Carolina's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
South Carolina calls its state-level charge the Accommodations Tax, made up of two components: a 5% state sales tax and a separate 2% state Accommodations Tax, for 7% total on the room charge, plus a further 5% on additional guest charges. Cities and counties can each layer a Local Accommodations Tax on top, capped at 3%.
There's no voter-referendum requirement. A local governing body imposes or raises its Local Accommodations Tax by ordinance and a positive majority vote of the council, not a public ballot measure. A proposed statewide "Taxpayer's Bill of Rights" constitutional amendment discussed in the 2025 legislative session would require advance voter approval for new or increased taxes, but it hasn't been adopted, current law doesn't require it.
The tax applies to hotels, motels, and short-term rentals booked through platforms like Airbnb, and the specific naming of the local levy can vary: Columbia, for instance, calls its version a Tourism Development Fee rather than the standard Local Accommodations Tax term used elsewhere in the state.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because each city and county layers its own local rate, and some add distinctly branded charges on top, the combined total varies by location. Here's where the major South Carolina markets stand as of 2026.
| City / county | Combined rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Charleston (Charleston County side) | 14% | 5% state sales tax, 2% state Accommodations Tax, 2% county local tax, 2% city local tax, plus 3 points of local-option, transportation, and education sales taxes stacked on top |
| Charleston (Berkeley County side) | 12% | Same city and state rates, but Berkeley County's own add-on sales taxes differ from Charleston County's, producing a lower combined total for the same metro area |
| Beaufort (city and county combined) | 3% city plus 3% county, on top of the state rate | Collected separately by the city's Business License Office and the county, two distinct 3% charges on the same stay |
| Greenville (city) | 3% local Accommodations Tax | An Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee recommends how proceeds are spent |
| Columbia | 3% Tourism Development Fee | Branded differently from the standard statewide term; applies specifically to short-term rental gross proceeds |
| Hilton Head Island | 3% local total, split 1% Accommodations Tax + 2% Beach Preservation Fee | Two-thirds of the local levy is earmarked specifically for beach renourishment, not general tourism marketing |
| Myrtle Beach | 0.5% Local Accommodations Tax + 1% Hospitality Fee | Reset to these lower rates in 2021 after a legal dispute with Horry County over which government could collect a hospitality fee inside city limits |
Rates change after a council ordinance, so treat this table as a starting point and confirm the current published rate with the specific city before filing.
South Carolina doesn't have a state-authorized tourism marketing district mechanism comparable to California's. Instead, tourist cities layer several separately named statutory levies: the state Accommodations Tax, a local Accommodations Tax capped at 3%, sometimes a distinctly branded add-on like Hilton Head's Beach Preservation Fee, and a separate Local Hospitality Tax that applies to prepared food and beverage, not lodging directly. These combine to roughly 12% to 14% in coastal and metro tourist destinations, but that's a range built from named, verifiable component taxes, not one district-assessment figure.
Collection and Remittance
The guest pays the tax, and the property remits it, but the cadence varies by jurisdiction and taxpayer size. The state return is filed monthly or quarterly depending on liability tier, due the 20th of the following month, with an annual option for operators providing accommodations one week or less per quarter. Charleston County's local tax and Beaufort's city fee are both filed monthly. Hilton Head Island's Accommodations Tax and Beach Preservation Fee are filed quarterly instead.
Exemptions From South Carolina's Hotel Tax
South Carolina's exemption threshold is 90 continuous days, written directly into the state statute and echoed in local ordinances like Hilton Head Island's, considerably longer than the 30-day rule common in many other states. A stay reaching that mark falls outside the definition of a taxable transient stay entirely.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Assuming a 30-day exemption threshold. South Carolina's actual threshold is 90 continuous days, a property using the more common national rule is taxing guests too early.
- Applying one Charleston-metro rate to both counties. A short-term rental on the Charleston County side owes 14% combined, while the Berkeley County side owes 12%, for genuinely different reasons tied to each county's own add-on sales taxes.
- Looking for "Local Accommodations Tax" in Columbia. The city brands its equivalent charge a Tourism Development Fee, a naming quirk that could trip up a filing or content written assuming the standard statewide term.
- Confusing the Local Hospitality Tax with the Accommodations Tax. The Hospitality Tax applies to prepared food and beverage, not lodging directly, even though the same city often administers both.
- Missing a jurisdictional turf issue. Myrtle Beach's current lower rates exist because of a real 2021 legal settlement with Horry County, worth knowing before assuming either government's fee stacks freely with the other's.
- Not retraining front desk staff after a rate change. When a council changes a local rate, staff quoting the old number to walk-in guests creates disputes at checkout.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of the above is about software. It's about a South Carolina property tracking which combination of state, county, and city charges actually applies to it, especially in a metro area like Charleston where the county line itself changes the total. Where a PMS actually helps is in keeping each component configured as its own tax code, and pulling revenue reports by date range for whichever filing cadence applies. roommaster lets properties configure tax codes per rate, so a local ordinance change is a configuration update once, not a manual recalculation on every folio.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does South Carolina have a statewide hotel tax rate?
South Carolina has a 7% state Accommodations Tax that applies everywhere, but cities and counties can each add a local rate on top, up to 3%, so the combined total varies by location.
2. What is South Carolina's hotel tax?
South Carolina's hotel tax is officially called the Accommodations Tax, a 7% state charge combined with whatever local Accommodations Tax the specific city or county adds.
3. What is South Carolina's lodging tax?
Lodging tax is the same charge as South Carolina's Accommodations Tax, just a different common name for it, though some cities like Columbia use their own distinct branding.
4. How long can a guest stay in South Carolina before the hotel tax stops applying?
90 continuous days, considerably longer than the 30-day rule common in many other states.
5. Do South Carolina voters have to approve hotel tax increases?
No. A local council imposes or raises the Local Accommodations Tax by ordinary majority-vote ordinance, not a public referendum.
6. Does South Carolina require hotels to disclose the total price before booking?
No South Carolina-specific law requires this. The state's own consumer protection agency points businesses to the federal FTC rule rather than an independent state statute.
7. Who is responsible for collecting and remitting South Carolina's hotel tax?
The property collects the state and local charges from the guest and remits them, on a schedule that's typically monthly, though some cities like Hilton Head Island use quarterly filing instead.
