SC Governor announces 2024 tax rate cuts for SC businesses

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) Executive Director William Floyd have announced tax rate cuts for businesses.

Officials say South Carolina’s unemployment insurance (UI) tax rates will decrease or remain the same for all employers in 2024.

Although tax rates for most tax classes are lower than their 2023 levels, individual businesses may still move between classes based on their unemployment claim activity, say officials.

All businesses with charges against their accounts are provided a “charge statement” quarterly to review and have 30 days to protest any charges that they do not believe should be on their account. 

“With a growing economy, a stable trust fund balance, and lower business tax, South Carolina proves once again that it is the ideal destination for business development and success,” said Governor Henry McMaster.

A press release stated that this is the third year in a row that the agency, the General Assembly, and the Governor have been able to lower UI business taxes.

The press release also stated that due to a UI Trust Fund balance of nearly $1.6 a list of things were able to be accomplished:

• Set the 2024 tax rates to raise approximately the same level of revenue as 2023 and 2022.
• Lowered rates for rate classes 2-19 by an average of 6% compared to 2023 levels; rates for classes 1 and 20 are set by statute and do not change from year to year.
• Will not require any solvency surcharge due to the sufficiently high trust fund balance.

“Strong economic and wage growth have played a crucial role in maintaining our trust fund balance above the required threshold. Our unemployment rate has steadily declined and now matches the low 2.9% rate of February 2020,” said DEW Director William Floyd.

Click here to view the 2024 tax rate chart.

Visit https://dew.sc.gov/employers/SOC to learn more about SOC codes.