Incentives

Greenville has a variety of tax incentives and programs that help companies hold down operating costs and increase their return on investment. South Carolina rewards businesses when new jobs are created and new investment occurs. The downtown Greenville Development Initiative works with partners regionally and across the state to secure the types of funding necessary to bring your company to Greenville. Here is a sampling of what we have available and we would be pleased to look into these and other options .

Corporate Income Tax: We have one of the lowest corporate income taxes in the Southeast (5%). In South Carolina, businesses are only taxed on the portion of income derived from their in-state operations.

Jobs Tax Credits: We reward new and expanding companies for creating jobs in South Carolina. In order to qualify, companies must create and maintain a certain number of net new jobs in a taxable year. The number of new jobs is calculated as the increase in the average monthly employment from one year to the next. The credit earned is then used against your South Carolina corporate income tax liability.

Sales and Use Tax Incentives: The SC sales & use tax rate is 6 percent. The sales tax applies to all retail, leases, and rentals of tangible personal property, including the value of property purchased at wholesale and used or consumed by the purchaser, unless specifically exempt. The use tax is based on the sales price of such property. However, South Carolina supports new and expanding industry with a wide range of valuable exemptions to the sales tax (state and local).

Property Taxes: In South Carolina, only local government levies property taxes. There is no state tax on real or personal property. In addition, in support of business, South Carolina exempts three classes of property from local property taxation:

Furthermore, manufacturers (investing $50,000 or more) and distribution or headquarters facilities (investing $50,000 or more and creating 75 new jobs) are entitled to a five-year property tax abatement from county operating taxes. This abatement usually represents an offset of between 20 to 50 percent savings. South Carolina also uses discretionary incentives at the state and local level to address the specific needs of individual companies on a case-by-case basis: 20-Year Fee-in-Lieu of Property Taxes (FILOT). Under this program, companies making substantial capital investments may negotiate a lower assessment ratio and stabilize millage rates for up to 20 years. South Carolina law allows a county to negotiate with a company for a FILOT agreement if total capital investment is $5 million or greater. The FILOT replaces the 5-year abatement and is offered at the discretion of the county. Companies may include both real and personal property under the FILOT agreement.

Job Development Credit: This program is substantially different from the state’s other tax incentives because it does not reduce a particular tax liability. Instead, it provides companies with funds to offset the cost of locating or expanding in the state of South Carolina. A company can collect these benefits for up to 10 to 15 years. This incentive is awarded to the company at the discretion of the State of South Carolina Coordinating Council. An application must be completed with certain criteria obtained.

Customized Worker Training Program: ReadySC is South Carolina’s unique and outstanding employment training program for companies locating or expanding in the state of South Carolina. The State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education operates the program and oversees the statewide Technical Education College System. ReadySC recruits, screens, and trains individuals for specific assignments with new and expanding businesses. The training program is funded by the state so it is free to the company (with the exception of very specialized areas). This assures a trained workforce ready to go to work when the facility opens. The training programs are usually located near the facility and often conducted at the facility itself, if feasible. Each program is customized to a company’s unique specifications. In 2003, Expansion Management ranked our program as the best training program in America.

SC Launch: This program helps entrepreneurs take ideas to market with a mix of seed funding, counseling, and access to a powerful commercialization resource network. Since 1983, SCRA has generated about $7 billion in economic impact on South Carolina and more than 15,000 technology-related jobs. Thus far, 125 companies have received some sort of support and funding, and 60,000,000 dollars in follow-on funding has been secured by SC Launch supported companies. SC Launch is dedicated to mentoring, training, and offering networking opportunities to the entrepreneurial companies that will build a brighter economic future for South Carolina. It is collaboration between SCRA and South Carolina’s University research foundations: Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina.

The Upstate Carolina Angel Network, LLC (UCAN): This group consists of accredited investors located in Upstate South Carolina who invest in and support start-up and early-stage, high-growth businesses in the Southeastern United States. UCAN is not an investment fund, but rather, a network of investors who make individual investment decisions after working together to evaluate candidate companies.