Start a South Carolina LLC for FREE^*

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LLCs are a type of business entity that have the key benefit of providing liability protection to its owners (referred to as members). This means the members’ personal assets are generally safeguarded against the company’s debts or legal disputes, except in cases where they may be personally liable under other laws. 

In the state of South Carolina, an LLC is defined as “a limited liability company organized under [Chapter 44]” (Section 33-44-101(9)). That means an LLC in South Carolina is a company created within the state or a company that becomes subject to South Carolina’s state regulations surrounding LLCs (Title 33 Chapter 44). 

LLCs are popular among business owners because they offer flexibility and simplicity in managing their operations. Owners have the option to decide whether the company will be managed by its members or by appointed managers. Additionally, compared to corporations, LLCs typically have fewer legal compliance requirements and a more straightforward operational structure. 

Finally, LLCs allow business owners to pay taxes for business income as part of their individual taxes, although LLC owners may elect to pay their business taxes as a separate entity, similar to how a corporation is taxed. This can give business owners more flexibility to choose the tax classification that is right for them as they grow and evolve their business.

LLCs can protect your personal assets against business debts and lawsuits in many cases, as long as you take careful steps to separate your business and personal affairs and maintain compliance.

Here are some common ways to separate your affairs and stay compliant:

• Take care to maintain separate bank accounts.
• Keep your personal and business assets separate.
• Keep records of your business matters.
• Formally document business decisions.
• Conduct business under your business name.
• Uphold LLC compliance requirements in South Carolina, including:
  • Fulfilling franchise tax requirements.

If you don't maintain your compliance obligations or fail to properly separate your business and personal matters, then you may be opening yourself up to personal liability for business activities or responsibilities.

You may want to register for an LLC in South Carolina when:

• You own or want to start a business in South Carolina, or want to expand an existing business into South Carolina, and want to stay legally compliant. 
• You own or want to start a business, and want more flexibility on how you will manage the business or pay taxes than a corporation would provide.
• You want to protect your personal assets from potential liability resulting from business you conduct in the state of South Carolina. 
• You own or want to start a business, and want to register in South Carolina to open accounts, lease or buy property, secure funding, or hire employees.

There are a few steps required to start your LLC in South Carolina, including:

• Find a unique name for your LLC. South Carolina has a few requirements on business names, including a requirement to be unique. You can search the state of South Carolina's database of business entities in the state to ensure your business' name is unique. Rocket Lawyer can also help you identify a unique name when you register your business.
• Provide a South Carolina address that will be used as your official LLC address. The address that you list may either be your home, an office, or another physical location, but it cannot be a PO box.
• Appoint an initial agent. An initial agent for service of process, or registered agent, is the person or company that serves as the contact point between the state and the LLC. The registered agent also receives official correspondence from other businesses. In many cases, you can act as your own registered agent if you have a business address in South Carolina, but you may consider using a registered agent service if you are not located in South Carolina or would like an extra layer of privacy. Rocket Lawyer can act as your registered agent or specify your registered agent when you register your LLC.
• File your Articles of Organization with the state of South Carolina to register your LLC. Once you have a business name and initial agent identified, you can register your business as a South Carolina LLC with the South Carolina Secretary of State by filing your Articles of Organization. Rocket Lawyer can assist you in filing your LLC's Articles of Organization with the South Carolina Secretary of State.
• Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The EIN is crucial for tax filing, payroll management, employee payments, and opening a business bank account. Rocket Lawyer can assist you with securing your LLC's EIN in order to do these vital business tasks.
• Create your LLC Operating Agreement (Optional). In South Carolina, it is optional to have an LLC Operating Agreement, which helps govern the ownership structure, member rights and responsibilities, and decision-making process of your LLC, among other things.

To start an LLC in South Carolina, you must file a document called Articles of Organization with the state of South Carolina. This document may be referred to informally as an LLC's "Articles," or in other states, it may be called a "Certificate of Organization," "Certificate of Filing," or "Certificate of Formation."

In South Carolina, you will need the following information to file your Articles of Organization:

• The LLC's name.
• The LLC's principal office in South Carolina.
• The LLC's initial agent for service of process information, also known as a registered agent in other states.
• The LLC's management structure (member-managed or manager-managed).
• Names and addresses of at least one of the LLC's owners.
• The LLC's federal tax classification choice.

In South Carolina, there are a few fees that you may be charged when you choose to start your LLC. They include the following:

State fee: $125

Rocket Lawyer filing fee: $0 $99.99

• First filing FREE for RocketLegal+ members.
• Get additional filings HALF OFF with RocketLegal+.

Processing time: 24-48 hours

Note: The above state fees and processing times are provided as a summary and may encompass various fees mandated by your state or local authorities. If you have questions, speak to a Rocket Lawyer representative to understand the costs and processing times that apply to your specific filing.

Taxes for your LLC will depend on how you file and how much your LLC earns.

The default method for LLC taxes is called "pass-through taxes." This means that the profits and losses of the LLC are passed through to the individual members, who report them on their personal tax returns. The share of profits or losses each member receives and reports on their taxes is determined by the terms in the LLC's operating agreement. With pass-through taxes, the LLC itself does not file its own tax returns, and the owners only pay taxes on the business once. (Note: The term "pass-through taxes" is an informal term. Single-member LLCs are treated as a "disregarded entity" and taxed as a sole proprietorship, and LLCs with multiple members are treated as a partnership.)

With pass-through taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes are not withheld from the members' paychecks, so they are responsible for paying these as "self-employment taxes" instead. In addition to Social Security and Medicare taxes, LLC members will need to pay taxes as a percent of their share of profits every quarter as estimated taxes. LLC members can also deduct business expenses and losses from their personal tax returns, which can significantly reduce the amount of profits reported to the IRS.

Alternatively, if the LLC members prefer not to utilize pass-through taxes, they have the option to elect for the LLC to be taxed as a corporation instead. This may be preferred when the corporate tax rate is lower. To elect a different tax classification, you need to file the necessary forms with the IRS.

If you do not want to tackle your LLC's taxes alone, our Rocket Tax services can help you by gathering some information about your business and then matching you with the right tax professional.

The state of South Carolina requires that the names of all LLCs in the state:

• Must contain "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C.," "LLC," "L.C.," or "LC." "Limited" may be abbreviated as "Ltd.," and "company" may be abbreviated as "Co."
• Are not too similar to existing LLCs in the state.

Rocket Lawyer can help you determine whether your business' name is eligible for registration in South Carolina and may be able to help you reserve the name before you file your LLC.

Any LLC that does business in South Carolina must register with the State of South Carolina. South Carolina does not outline any specific actions that constitute transacting business, however, these actions, among others, are not considered to be doing business in South Carolina:

• Maintaining, defending, or settling an action or proceeding.
• Holding meetings of its members or managers or carrying on other activity concerning its internal affairs.
• Maintaining bank accounts.
• Maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange, and registration of the foreign company's own securities or maintaining trustees or depositories with respect to those securities.
• Selling through independent contractors.
• Soliciting or obtaining orders, by mail or through employees or agents or otherwise, if the orders require acceptance outside this State before they become contracts.
• Creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages, or security interests in real or personal property.
• Securing or collecting debts or enforcing mortgages or other security interests in property securing the debts, and holding, protecting, and maintaining property so acquired.
• Conducting an isolated transaction that is completed within thirty days and is not one in the course of similar transactions of a like manner.
• Transacting business in interstate commerce.
• Owning, without more, an interest in a limited liability company organized or transacting business in this State.

LLCs based in South Carolina are called "domestic LLCs," and out-of-state LLCs are called "foreign LLCs." Foreign LLCs and domestic LLCs may have different filing and compliance requirements -- Rocket Lawyer can help you navigate foreign LLC registration, regardless of where you live.

If you are planning to conduct business in another state, you may need to register an LLC in that state. Rocket Lawyer can help you determine which states you should register in. 

Other states may have their own rules for taxing foreign LLCs that originate in South Carolina or domestic LLCs that also operate in South Carolina. Talk to an attorney to understand the tax requirements for the state(s) in which you plan to operate.

Yes, LLCs with only one owner can still register their business in South Carolina. In this case, the LLC would be referred to as a single-member LLC (SMLLC), whereas if there is more than one owner, the LLC may be called a multi-member LLC. 

The main difference between single-member and multi-member LLCs lies in ownership structure and management. With a single-member LLC, you have full control over the business. In contrast, a multi-member LLC has multiple owners, each with a specific percentage of ownership as defined in the operating agreement. This means that in a multi-member LLC, owners share profits, losses, and tax responsibilities based on their ownership percentage.

However, many aspects of LLCs remain the same whether they are single-member or multi-member. Both types of LLCs default to pass-through taxation (though separate filing is an option), and owners can choose to manage the LLC themselves ("member managed") or hire designated managers to handle day-to-day operations ("manager managed").

An LLC is a structure establishing your business as an entity that can legally conduct business in the state(s) within which it is filed. Alternatively, a "Doing Business As" filing (or "DBA"), is a legal mechanism to specify another name under which you plan to do business. DBAs may also be called a "Fictitious Business Name" (or "FBN"), "Assumed Business Name" (or "ABN"), and are commonly confused with sole proprietorships. While DBAs can help you specify a name for a business, they do not establish a legal business entity and also do not provide business owners with liability protection. In South Carolina, filing a DBA, or Fictitious Business Name, is required if your business is planning to operate under a different name than the one that is filed with your Articles of Organization.

If you have an existing company and would like to conduct business under a new or additional name, a DBA will allow you to conduct business with the new name through your existing LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, or Nonprofit. If you're not sure if you should form an LLC or file a DBA, a Rocket Lawyer representative can help you understand the differences and take the next step.

After organizing an LLC in South Carolina, the state requires you to:

• Establish a Registered Office and Agent: The State of South Carolina requires all limited liability companies to have a Registered Office and a Registered Agent within the state. We can help with our Registered Agent Services.
• Initial Annual Report: An Initial Annual Report must be submitted at the time of filing.

Although not required, you may also want to:

• Create an Operating Agreement: While creating an Operating Agreement is not mandatory, it's highly advisable. We can help you create your South Carolina LLC Operating Agreement online.
• Hold a meeting: A first meeting with members of an LLC is not required by law, but it is highly suggested in order to get organized. Also, unlike corporations, LLCs are also not required to maintain Meeting Minutes, but these documents are also recommended as they provide records for important decisions made.

An LLC is one of the easiest businesses to maintain. Here is something to keep in mind when looking to maintain your South Carolina LLC:

• You must pay an annual franchise tax and fill out form SCDOR-111.

The State of South Carolina has no requirements for keeping any specific records pertaining to your LLC, but you may be required to provide to members any records kept by the company that pertain to its activities and financial condition, and other circumstances.