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South Carolina LLC: No Annual Report, and $0 Recurring for a Default LLC

South Carolina LLCs file no annual report with the Secretary of State, ever, and a default LLC owes no annual report and no license fee to the Department of Revenue either. The recurring bill for a partnership-taxed LLC is $0. The duties that remain are a tax return and keeping every fee and tax paid.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

There is no South Carolina LLC annual report at the Secretary of State

Say it plainly, because search results will try to sell you one: the Secretary of State requires no annual or biennial report from a South Carolina LLC, and charges no recurring Secretary of State fee. The proof is structural, from the state's own texts. The complete fee schedule in section 33-44-1204(a) lists formation, amendment, merger, foreign authority, name reservation, statement of change, termination, reinstatement, and certificate fees, with no annual report line of any kind. A full read of Title 33, Chapter 44 contains no annual-report provision for domestic or foreign LLCs. The only annual fee in the chapter is the $10 annual application to register or renew a foreign LLC's registered name, which is a name item, not an entity report. There is no fee to budget, no window to miss, and no late penalty for a report that does not exist.

At the Department of Revenue, the default LLC files a return, not a report

Tax classification	South Carolina rule
Multi-member, not taxed as a corporation	Taxed as a partnership. Files Form SC1065, Partnership Return, with the Department of Revenue, due by the 15th day of the third month after the taxable year ends. The return carries no Schedule D annual report and no license fee.
Single-member, not taxed as a corporation	Disregarded. Not regarded as an entity separate from its owner, so it files no SC1065 of its own and owes no entity-level charge.
Taxed as a corporation	The exception, covered in the next section. Files SC1120 or SC1120S with the annual report as Schedule D, and pays the annual license fee.

The Department of Revenue states the exemption directly. In its list of entities not subject to the annual report or the license fee, item one is a limited liability company not taxed as a corporation. That sentence is the reason the recurring total on the cost page is $0, stated with the reasoning rather than as a bare zero.

The corporate track: CL-1 once, then a license fee every year

Everything the other guides attribute to every South Carolina LLC belongs here, to the minority that elect corporate taxation. An LLC taxed as a corporation completes Form CL-1, the Initial Annual Report of Corporations, and submits it to the Department of Revenue within 60 days of commencing business in South Carolina or using a portion of capital in the state, paying the $25 minimum license fee with it. Thereafter it files its corporate return each year, SC1120 due by the 15th day of the fourth month after year-end or SC1120S by the 15th day of the third month, with the annual report included as Schedule D and the annual license fee of $15 plus one dollar for each thousand dollars of capital stock and paid-in or capital surplus, in no case less than $25. The license fee is paid a year in advance, and the return, Schedule D, and fee are due each year even with no income or activity, until voluntary dissolution or withdrawal is recorded with the Secretary of State. Late on this track, a return draws a penalty of 5% per month up to 25%, and a late license fee payment 0.5% per month up to 25%. None of this touches a default LLC.

Administrative dissolution: one ground, and a 60-day cure

South Carolina gives the Secretary of State exactly one ground to dissolve an LLC administratively. Under section 33-44-809, the Secretary of State may commence a proceeding if the company does not pay a fee, tax, or penalty imposed by Chapter 44 or other law within sixty days after it is due. That nonpayment ground is the only ground stated in the section. The procedure is notice and time to fix it: the Secretary of State enters and serves a record of the determination, and if the company does not correct each ground, or show it does not exist, within 60 days after service, the Secretary of State administratively dissolves it by signed certificate. An administratively dissolved company continues only to wind up, and dissolution does not terminate its agent's authority. Note what is not a ground here: Chapter 44 states no domestic administrative-dissolution ground for agent failure alone. If a domestic LLC fails to maintain an agent, the Secretary of State becomes an agent of the company for service of process instead. For a foreign LLC, failure to appoint and maintain an agent is an express ground for revocation of its certificate of authority, after notice sent at least 60 days before the revocation takes effect and a chance to cure.

Reinstatement: $25, within 2 years, with a tax certificate

An administratively dissolved LLC may apply to the Secretary of State for reinstatement within two years after the effective date of dissolution, and the deadline is real. The application must recite the name and the dissolution date, state that the ground did not exist or has been eliminated, state that the name satisfies section 33-44-105, and contain a certificate from the Department of Revenue reciting that all taxes owed by the company have been paid. The Secretary of State fee is $25. The Department of Revenue certificate is requested on Form C-268, the Certificate of Compliance request, which carries a $60 nonrefundable fee, and the certificate is valid 30 days from issue, so sequence the request close to the reinstatement filing. Add the underlying unpaid fee, tax, or penalty itself, and the full reinstatement stack is $25 plus $60 plus whatever went unpaid. Reinstatement, when effective, relates back as if the dissolution had never occurred.

Closing a South Carolina LLC on purpose

Ending the LLC deliberately is a filing, not a lapse. At any time after dissolution and winding up, file Articles of Termination with the Secretary of State for $10, stating the name of the company, the date of the dissolution, and that the company's business has been wound up and its legal existence terminated. The existence of the LLC is terminated upon the filing, or upon a later effective date if one is specified. Section 33-44-805 lists only those items, and states no Department of Revenue clearance precondition for the Secretary of State to accept the filing, so do not let a guide sell you a clearance step that section does not contain. Final tax returns with the Department of Revenue are still owed through the termination date, and filing a final return does not itself close the Secretary of State record. A foreign LLC cancels its authority with a certificate of cancellation, also $10. Our dissolution guide covers the order of operations for winding down before you file.