South Carolina Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator

South Carolina's Deed Recording Fee under Code Section 12-24-10 is itself a two-part combination baked into a single statutory rate: $1.30 per $500 for the state portion plus $0.55 per $500 for the county portion, totaling $1.85 per $500, or 0.37%, of the value. Unlike Maryland or Ohio, where the state and county pieces can vary independently by jurisdiction, South Carolina's combined rate is fixed and uniform across all 46 counties.

Local custom places the fee on the seller in most transactions, though the specific allocation is ultimately addressed in the purchase contract and can be negotiated. At 0.37%, South Carolina's rate matches Tennessee's exactly and lands close to Minnesota's 0.33%, states with structurally different statutes that happen to land on a similar effective rate.

Because the fee is embedded in the recording process itself rather than collected separately, South Carolina's register of deeds offices calculate and collect it as part of accepting the deed for recording, so the $1.85-per-$500 math is applied consistently across all 46 counties without any local variation to track.

South Carolina's Deed Recording Fee is a flat rate applied to the entire sale price, combining a state and a county component into a single statutory figure:

$$\text{Transfer Tax} = \text{Sale Price} \times 0.0037$$

The calculator's engine runs this through the calculateStateRealEstateTransferTax primitive with South Carolina's combined statutory rate of 0.0037 (0.37%), reflecting the $1.30 state portion and $0.55 county portion per $500 of value that together make up the $1.85 total. The primitive returns the fee due, the effective rate (always 0.37% since there is no bracket structure), and net proceeds after subtracting the fee from the sale price.

Because there is no bracket schedule or value threshold in South Carolina, the calculation shape never changes with price. A $80,000 rural lot and a $8,000,000 commercial parcel are both taxed at exactly 0.37% of consideration.

Using the calculator's baseline $380,000 sale price:

• Sale Price: $380,000
• South Carolina Deed Recording Fee rate: 0.37% ($1.85 per $500 of realty value)
• Transfer Tax Due: $380,000 × 0.0037 = $1,406.00
• Net Proceeds After Tax: $380,000 minus $1,406 = $378,594.00
• Effective Rate: 0.370%

At the higher-value scenario of $1,500,000, the same flat rate applies with no jump to a higher tier: $1,500,000 × 0.0037 = $5,550.00 in fee due. The rate holds at 0.37% whether the sale price is $60,000 or $60,000,000, which makes South Carolina's Deed Recording Fee simple to estimate for a transaction of any size.

• Exemptions for certain transfer types. Transfers between spouses, transfers into certain trusts, transfers securing a debt, and transfers by operation of law may be exempt from all or part of the Deed Recording Fee under South Carolina law. This calculator assumes a standard arm's-length taxable sale.
• Mortgage or deed of trust recording fees. South Carolina charges separate flat recording fees for mortgages and other loan documents, distinct from the Deed Recording Fee modeled here, which applies specifically to the deed conveying the property.
• Title insurance, attorney fees, and survey costs. The Deed Recording Fee is only one line item on a South Carolina closing statement; title search fees, attorney charges, and survey costs are separate and not modeled here.
• The distinction between the state and county portions on itemized statements. Some South Carolina closing documents itemize the $1.30 state and $0.55 county components separately rather than as a single combined figure; this calculator returns the combined total consistent with the effective 0.37% rate.

• Assuming "recording fee" means a flat administrative charge unrelated to value. Despite the name, South Carolina's Deed Recording Fee is a value-based tax proportional to the sale price, not a flat per-document administrative fee like a simple filing charge.
• Forgetting who customarily pays. In most South Carolina transactions the Deed Recording Fee is paid by the seller (grantor), though this is ultimately a matter of contract and can be negotiated between the parties.
• Applying an out-of-state rate by habit. Buyers and agents relocating from bracket-heavy states sometimes overestimate South Carolina's fee by applying a marginal rate structure that does not exist here.
• Confusing the Deed Recording Fee with a separate mortgage tax. South Carolina's recording fee structure for mortgage instruments is calculated separately from the deed transfer fee modeled in this calculator, and mixing the two produces the wrong total.

• South Carolina Department of Revenue: Deed Recording Fee guidance under S.C. Code 12-24-10
• Engine table: engine/tables/2026/state-real-estate-transfer-tax.json, South Carolina entry, verified 2026-08-21