Search and verify licenses
  1. Home
  2. South Carolina License Lookup
  3. South Carolina Business License
  4. South Carolina Secretary of State
South Carolina Secretary of State

South Carolina Secretary of State

The Secretary of State of South Carolina is an elected body in the local government's executive branch. The official is responsible for railroads and cable franchises, Governor’s official acts, and legislature. Other duties include business and trademark registration, charity regulation, and apostille issuing.

So, if you want to start a new business, you will need to deal with the South Carolina Secretary of State. 

Business Registration in South Carolina

It is important to consider the state’s requirements and rules when registering an entity in South Carolina. So, here are the steps to fulfill.

Defining a Structure for Your Business

The way of registration, personal liability protection, tax policy, and other documentation highly depend on the type of entity you want to run locally. 

There are certain options to choose from:  

  • General Partnership

  • Corporation

  • LLC (Limited Liability Company)

  • Sole Proprietorship

Name Availability Check

When selecting a certain name for your company, you have to take into account its uniqueness. This is because you cannot use a title that has already been used by another individual or entity. 

Moreover, the title should not include the “bank” or “credit union” components if you do not have approval from the board.

To prevent filing for a used name, you have to complete a search through the South Carolina Secretary of State business search website.

In the case of LLCs and Corporations, completing the name availability search is essential. Meanwhile, for informal ones like Sole Proprietorships and General Partnerships, conducting a search is not a mandatory step to fulfill.

Besides, it will be better to check the domain availability as well. Whether you want to have a website or not, it will be great to reserve the domain to prevent others from getting your company name on their websites.

If your desired title is available, you can secure it by choosing a trademark. It costs from $225 to $400. This amount does not contain attorney fees and renewal for 10 years.

The trademark will protect your business identity with federal law. So, if you are going to make your entity national, then a trademark is a must-have item for you.

Business Formation 

Once the above-mentioned steps are done, you can move forward to form an entity with South Carolina. For this, you must present formation documents. 

For LLCs, you have to file for the Articles of Organization. You should issue it to the South Carolina Secretary of State. The applications can be filed both online and by mail.  Filing Articles of Organization costs $110.

Operating Agreement for an LLC in South Carolina

South Carolina federal law confirms that LLCs can enter into an operating agreement with the SC Code of Laws. Yet, they are not obliged to do so by the law.

However, the operating agreement offers many benefits to take into account. So, first of all, it proves your LLC ownership. Secondly, it assists to strengthen the Limited Liability Company’s status. Besides, the written agreement can be highly important with the rising conflicts and disputes. 

It helps to run your company on your own terms by overriding the SC default laws.

South Carolina Business License

If your company is legally engaged in retail sales, then you must receive an SC sales tax license. This can be issued in the Department of Revenue. The license fee is $50.

However, if your business does not present products but professional services, you do not need to have licensure.

Moreover, for some types of businesses, you will be required to get other licenses in addition to general and sales tax licenses. The said types include liquor, food, taxi, and limousine licenses.  

To know whether your business needs to get additional permits or not, you can contact your local Small Business Development Center of SC. They will determine what permits are necessary to operate legally statewide.

South Carolina Secretary of State Contact Information

If you have any issues or inquiries about business formation in the State of South Carolina, then you are free to contact the Secretary of State's office.

Address: 1205 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC 29201, United States of America

Phone number: +1 (803) 734-2170  

Anahit V

Anahit V

Anahit has three main professions: Arabist, Content writer, SMM specialist. She has graduated from the Faculty of Oriental studies, Department of Arabic studies. She has also graduated from Kuwait State University, a one-year course- “Arabic for Foreigners”. She speaks four languages and the desire of self-development, writing skills, working with foreign languages and using her whole potential brought her to the huge world of Digital Marketing. She gained a new profession as an SMM specialist and Content writer. During a short time, she has written some articles for LicenseLookup.org, and several other websites, and guest posts also. She knows that the reader may appreciate simple and available information about a certain topic that he/she looks for. So, she writes only Google-friendly articles that have a good readability rank. Anahit uses some important tools that can help to optimize the content.

Table of contents

License Lookup © Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.

DISCLAIMER: LicenseLookup.org is not a "consumer reporting agency" per FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). This website does not provide "consumer reports" under the FCRA. LicenseLookup.org unambiguously prohibits the user of search results and information contained within (1) to discriminate against any consumer, (2) for the purposes of decision making on consumer’s eligibility for insurance or personal credit, housing, employment, or a government license or benefit; or (3) otherwise to impact a consumer’s financial or economic status or standing.

Information obtained on our website is not verified and/or may not be up to date, even though we do our best to keep it fresh. We do not guarantee, verify or create this information. Availability and/or accuracy of this information depends on the public sources that our platform utilizes. By using our services you agree to our FCRA disclaimer, terms or service and privacy policy. You may not use our services or information contained within for an unlawful purposes (stalking, harassing, investigating public officials or celebrities, etc.). Violators may be subject to criminal and civil litigation and penalties.