The business licensing staff of cities and towns need to be well-trained and knowledgeable to keep the licensing process easy for businesses and in compliance with state law. The passage of Act 176, the SC Business License Tax Standardization Act, which set many new requirements for business licensing in South Carolina, further highlighted this need.
For this reason, the Municipal Association’s Local Revenue Services began hosting “Business Licensing Essentials,” a monthly virtual session covering any of many aspects of the process.
The hour-and-a-half virtual meetings occur on the third Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. Participants do not need to sign up, and can simply follow the virtual meeting links to join.
Videos of the past sessions are available in the archives. The sessions address many technical needs of the licensing process, including the Local Business License Renewal Center, which cities and towns must use under Act 176; or the regular updates in North American Industry Classification System Codes mandated by state law.
Because Act 176 standardized the license year, the statewide due date of April 30 recently passed. For those business license taxes that are now delinquent, cities and towns have a process required by state law for issuing the business a notice of assessment and handling any appeals that the business makes, as explained in this Uptown article. The session happening next Tuesday, May 16, will also address this topic.
Later sessions planned this year will develop into issues like the correct licensing of everything from coin and amusement devices to peddlers, farmers markets, chefs and food trucks.
Business licensing officials have several other resources available to them through the Municipal Association:
- The SC Business License Handbook, updated in 2022 to reflect changes from Act 176, serves as a working tool for interpreting and administering business licenses in the state.
- The SC Business Licensing Officials Association, offers two training academies each year, as well as a listserv where licensing officials can ask questions and share knowledge.