2019 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 12 - Taxation
Chapter 8 - Income Tax Withholding
Section 12-8-520. Incomes subject to withholding and amounts to be withheld.

(A) An employer paying wages to an employee shall withhold income tax for that employee if at the time of payment the wages are expected to equal one thousand dollars or more during the year, except as provided in (C), using the tables and rules promulgated by the department.

(B) In determining the amount to be withheld, the employer may compute wages to the nearest dollar.

(C) The following wages are not subject to the withholding requirements of this chapter:

(1) Wages of a resident employee receiving wages in another state if:

(a) the wages are subject to the withholding laws of the state in which they are earned; and

(b) the employer is withholding income taxes on behalf of the other state.

(2) Wages of an employee obtaining a waiver of withholding pursuant to Section 12-8-1040.

(D) For purposes of this chapter "wages" is all remuneration for services of any nature performed by an employee for an employer, including the fair market value of all remuneration paid in a medium other than cash, except the term does not include remuneration paid:

(1) for agricultural services performed by an employee on a farm in connection with:

(a) cultivating the soil, or raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, fur-bearing animals and wildlife;

(b) the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of a farm and its tools and equipment; or

(c) salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a hurricane if the major part of the service is performed on a farm.

(2) for domestic services performed in a private residence;

(3) for personal services performed in this State by nonresident employees in connection with their regular employment outside of this State when the gross South Carolina wages are equal to or less than the personal exemption amount provided in Internal Revenue Code Section 151(d) as defined in Section 12-6-40. However, this item does not apply to employees performing construction, installation, engineering, or similar services where the situs of the job is in this State;

(4) for services performed by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of the ministry or by members of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by the order;

(5) for services performed by an individual on a boat with a crew of ten or fewer engaged in catching fish or other forms of aquatic animal life under an arrangement with the boat owner or operator in which the individual receives only a share of the boat's catch or a share of the proceeds from the sale of the catch and for services involving a multiple boat operation, with each boat's crew being ten or fewer, in which the individual receives a share of all the boats' catch or a share of the proceeds from the sale of all the boats' catch;

(6) for reimbursement of employee business expenses if, at the time of the payment, it is reasonable to believe that the reimbursement is excluded from South Carolina taxable income;

(7) for employee moving expenses if it is reasonable to believe that the reimbursement is excluded from South Carolina taxable income;

(8) for group-term life insurance premium payments on the life of an employee that is excluded from South Carolina taxable income;

(9) in the form of payments to or from employee benefit plans which are excluded from South Carolina taxable income;

(10) for payments to a self-employed retirement fund (Keogh Plans) or to an individual retirement account or program as permitted under the Internal Revenue Code if, at the time of the payment, it is reasonable to believe that the amounts are excludable or deductible from South Carolina gross income;

(11) for services performed by a disabled person:

(a) as defined by the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs;

(b) employed in a program approved by the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs; and

(c) with a projected income of seven thousand five hundred dollars a year, or less.

(E) Withholding in addition to that required under this section is permitted in cases in which the employer and the employee agree to the additional withholding. This additional withholding is considered tax required to be deducted and withheld under this chapter.

HISTORY: 1995 Act No. 76, Section 2; 1998 Act No. 419, Part II, Section 62A; 2005 Act No. 145, Section 19.A, eff June 7, 2005.

Editor's Note

2005 Act No. 145, Section 19.B, provides as follows:

"Subsections (A) and (D)(3) of Section 12-8-520 of the 1976 Code, as amended by this section, apply for taxable years beginning after 2005."