Practices: Tax Credits

South Carolina law provides several business income tax credits or employee withholding tax refunds for qualifying businesses creating new jobs in the State. Although some of these credits can be claimed as a matter of right by the business in its annual income tax return filed with the South Carolina Department of Revenue, other credits are only available as the result of entering into a revitalization agreement with the Coordinating Council for Economic Development at the South Carolina Department of Commerce prior to making the capital investment in the State. Even those tax credits that are available as matter of right can be significantly increased by designating the project site as a multi-county business or industrial park.

These State jobs and other tax credits include the Job Tax Credit, the Job Development Credit, the Job Retraining Credit, Research and Development Credit, Economic Impact Zone Credit, Corporate Headquarters Credit, Infrastructure Construction Credit, and various industry-specific credits, such as for energy conservation, water impoundments, rehabilitation of historic structures, recycling facilities, and motion picture project and production credits.

The lawyers at Howell Linkous & Nettles are very experienced in advising businesses and negotiating the terms of revitalization agreements and related incentives on behalf of taxpayers. As with other economic development incentives, State jobs and other tax credits and refunds are often combined with FILOTs, industrial revenue bonds, special source revenue bonds, multi-county business and industrial parks, and infrastructure credits. Our attorneys can assist you with combining the appropriate incentives for your project.