When does a South Carolina ecommerce seller need to collect sales tax?
South Carolina requires remote sellers to register and collect sales tax once gross revenue from sales into the state exceeds $100,000 in either the previous calendar year or the current calendar year. There’s no separate transaction count threshold. The trigger is purely based on dollars sold to South Carolina customers.
Gross revenue means total sales, not just taxable sales. Shipping charges, sales of exempt items, and even sales that ultimately get refunded all count toward the $100,000 figure. Sellers who think they’re under the threshold because most of their products are exempt often find out they crossed it months ago when they add up everything correctly.
Physical presence in South Carolina creates nexus immediately, regardless of revenue. That includes inventory stored in a fulfillment warehouse in the state, employees or contractors working from South Carolina, attending trade shows there, or any other meaningful in-state activity. Amazon FBA sellers should pay close attention since inventory placement in South Carolina warehouses creates nexus the moment product arrives.
Marketplace facilitators like Amazon, Etsy, Walmart, and eBay collect and remit South Carolina sales tax on your behalf for sales made through their platforms. You don’t separately collect on those transactions. However, sales through your own Shopify store, WooCommerce site, or direct channels still count toward the $100,000 threshold and require you to register and collect once you cross it. Multi-channel sellers need to track this carefully since marketplace sales and direct sales get treated differently for collection but the same for threshold calculation.
Once you cross the threshold, register with the South Carolina Department of Revenue, get a retail license, and begin collecting at the correct destination-based rate. South Carolina has a 6% state rate plus local rates that vary by jurisdiction. Filing frequency depends on your tax liability, ranging from monthly to annually. Late registration after crossing the threshold creates back-tax liability and penalties.
Tracking nexus across multiple states is one of the more tedious parts of running an ecommerce business. Sellers shipping nationwide can quickly create obligations in a dozen states without realizing it. Setting up automation through TaxJar or similar tools handles most of the calculation and filing work once nexus is established, which is why small business accounting, bookkeeping and tax services in Jacksonville, NC often includes sales tax monitoring as part of monthly bookkeeping for ecommerce clients.
The cost of ignoring sales tax nexus usually exceeds the cost of staying compliant. South Carolina, like most states, looks back several years when they catch unregistered sellers. Back taxes, penalties, and interest on years of uncollected tax can wipe out the profit those sales generated in the first place.
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