South Carolina investment property tax???

Question

Looking for some clarity on South Carolina "investment" property tax, which I believe is 6% (and primary residence is taxed at 4%)... Today someone told me to expect the property taxes on an investment property in SC to be 60% higher and I'm still trying to understand exactly what that means? Hopefully what I'm trying to ask makes sense to someone out there...while I wait to hear back from my tax advisor.

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance!

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated.  Many thanks in advance!

Andrew R. Lucas · Answer

@Krista Dunn here is an example that I put on another forum....

There are many other people better qualified to give the full low-down on the tax calculation but here is my best try:

When a owner moves out the assessment goes from 4% to 6%.  That property also loses the School Tax Deduction.  That was a law passed a few years ago that gives owner occupants a deduction on school district operating costs.  So the deduction basically reduces the millage rate.  This is for Richland County.  I don't know about other counties.  Example...

$100,000 taxable value.

$100,000 x 4% (owner occupied) = $4,000 Assessment

$4,000 x .260 (district millage rate) = $1,020 Tax amount

$4,000 x .130 (district millage discount) = $510 property tax relief

$1,020 Tax amount - $510 property tax relief = $510 Property tax for owner occupant.

$100,000 taxable value

$100,000 x 6% (Non-owner occupied) = $6,000 Assessment

$6,000 x .260 (district millage rate) = $1,530 Tax amount for Non-owner occupied

Johnny Situ · Answer

Just want to give you a gist. For a 150K investment property, taxes is around 3K and above. If it's primary residence, it would be around 1K.

Ryan McCue · Answer

@Andrew R. Lucas hit the nail on the head with the Richland County millage rates.  Because there is so much high value land in Richland County that doesn't bring in tax revenue, think University of South Carolina and government buildings,  they make it up by charging the remaining land owners higher taxes.You will find more favorable tax scenarios  in surrounding counties, like Lexington, which is a major reason industry moves there(Amazon, Nephron Pharmaceuticals, etc).

Chad Whittaker · Answer

I've been doing some research on this topic as well. I live in Fort Mill and I'm debating whether it is worth investing in rentals here.

You essentially get hit twice with the taxes. Not only does the appraised value get multiplied by 6% rather than 4%, but the millage rate is significantly higher as well for investment properties. You can find a PDF with all of the millage rates broken down per county.

Property Taxes = appraised value * (4% or 6%) * millage rate

Here is the math for Fort Mill with real 2017 millage rates:

6% investment property millage rate: 490.0

4% owner occupied property: 275.8

Example taxes for $100,000 home:

Investment property taxes =  $100,000 * 0.06 * .490 = $2940.00

Owner occupied property taxes = $100,000 * 0.04 * .2758 = $1103.20

I live in Fort Mill and I verified this math is correct for my property. Google 2017 York county millage rates and you'll find the pdf.

@Tim Melton was correct in saying taxes are about 3x for investment properties vs OO

Davis Evans · Answer

here is an explanation as to why the property tax on SC property for rentals is so high. we were blindsided by this and it really messed up our cashflow

https://greenvillejournal.com/business/want-rent-house-well-youre-going-pay/

Krista Dunn · Answer

@Andrew R. Lucas - Thank you so much for the detailed breakdown involving the millage rate/discount. I knew the millage rate related to the school tax but I didn’t realize it involved a rate and a discount so thanks for the clarification.

Adam Odom · Answer

@Krista Dunn Depends on "millage" rate I think? Not just a straight 4 to 6% - my old house went from $990 to $4k as investment! This is Richland County specifically which mauls you on investment property. Some other counties I believe are more friendly but I have to defer to others on the board. I know we have a condo in Myrtle as well and it's not nearly as bad but they get you other ways if you rent it - which we do.

Krista Dunn · Answer

@Adam Odom - Wow!  That’s a huge jump!  Thanks for the mention of “millage” info. I was just able to find more online about York Co millage rates and additional examples.

Krista Dunn · Answer

@Johnny Situ - Thank you for the example!

Krista Dunn · Answer

@Chad Whittaker - thanks so much for the breakdown and example. Definitely makes buy and holds less appealing and the need to be very strategic with timing of flips and the tax year. This is just another thing to factor into the numbers and if it all makes sense then great but definitely a 3x factor to keep on the forefront...because there’s not enough spinning plates, right?Bahaha!

South Carolina investment property tax???

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