South Carolina Code of Laws
Chapter 45 - County Treasurers And Collection Of Taxes
Section 12-45-180. Penalties on delinquent taxes; collection; execution.

(A) When the taxes and assessments or any portion of the taxes and assessments charged against any property or person on the duplicate for the current fiscal year are not paid before the sixteenth day of January or thirty days after the mailing of tax notices, whichever occurs later, the county auditor shall add a penalty of three percent on the county duplicate and the county treasurer shall collect the penalty. If the taxes, assessments, and penalty are not paid before the second day of the next February, an additional penalty of seven percent must be added by the county auditor on the county duplicate and collected by the county treasurer. If the taxes, assessments, and penalties are not paid before the seventeenth day of the next March, an additional penalty of five percent must be added by the county auditor on the county duplicate and collected by the county treasurer. If the taxes, assessments, and penalties are not paid before the seventeenth day of March, the county treasurer shall issue his tax execution to the officer authorized and directed to collect delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties, and costs for their collection as provided in Chapter 51 of this title and they must be collected as required by that chapter. The United States postmark is the determining date for mailed payments. If the county treasurer or the office authorized and directed to collect delinquent taxes determines by proper evidence that the mailing of a tax payment was improperly postmarked, and this error results in the imposition of a penalty provided in this subsection, then the penalty imposed may be waived by the county treasurer or the office authorized and directed to collect delinquent taxes.
(B) If title to real property is transferred during a tax year and the records of the county indicate that the tax notice was mailed or otherwise forwarded to the prior owner and the current owner received no timely notice of the tax due on the property, the treasurer shall waive any penalties imposed pursuant to subsection (A) of this section.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 65-2008; 1952 Code Section 65-2008; 1942 Code Section 2782; 1932 Code Section 2830; Civ. C. '22 Section 505; Civ. C. '12 Section 454; Civ. C. '02 Section 406; G. S. 276; R. S. 333; 1881 (17) 1027; 1887 (19) 862; 1902 (23) 972; 1909 (26) 76; 1936 (39) 1389; 1938 (40) 1872; 1953 (48) 23; 1959 (51) 553; 1985 Act No. 166, Section 3; 1990 Act No. 335, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 9, Section 1; 1995 Act No. 60, Section 4E; 1997 Act No. 106, Section 7; 2015 Act No. 87 (S.379), Section 37, eff June 11, 2015.
Effect of Amendment
2015 Act No. 87, Section 37, in (A), inserted "or the office authorized and directed to collect delinquent taxes" and "or the office authorized and directed to collect delinquent taxes" in the last sentence.

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