Payroll in South Carolina: prices, state taxes and deadlines, town by town
What businesses in South Carolina pay for payroll, what the state's unemployment tax and minimum wage add, when a final paycheck is legally due, and what the IRS charges for a late deposit - verified sources, per-town guides.
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account.
Payroll services quoted across South Carolina in 2026 run $20-$150 a month in base fees plus $4-$15 per employee per month, putting a ten-person payroll at roughly $70-$250 a month all in.
South Carolina assigns new employers a state unemployment tax rate of 1.00% on wages up to $14,000 per employee per year - the state-set portion of every payroll run in the state, before a single provider fee is counted.
South Carolina requires a terminated employee's final paycheck Within 48 hours of the time of separation, or by the next regular payday — which may not be more - a deadline set by state law rather than by your pay cycle, and the most common way a small payroll turns into a wage claim.
Every payroll provider sells the same three promises - run the checks, file the taxes, keep you compliant - and prices them differently enough that identical South Carolina businesses pay double what their neighbors pay. The comparison that matters is not the base fee: it is the all-in monthly total at your headcount, the per-state filing surcharge if anyone works remotely, and what the contract says happens at renewal.
Get competing payroll quotes - one form, several providers
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account. Competing quotes are the only reliable way to see what your headcount actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual payroll provider pays to appear in our research.
What South Carolina adds to every payroll
| Question | South Carolina answer |
|---|---|
| State unemployment tax - new employer rate | 1.00% (range 0.06% - 5.46%) |
| Taxable wage base per employee | $14,000 - STALE-FIGURE WARNING: industry tables widely republish a 1.06% South Carolina new employer rate - the 2026 rate is 1.00% |
| State minimum wage | $7.25 - No state minimum wage law; the federal $7.25 and the federal $2.13 tipped cash wage apply to FLSA-covered employers |
| State income tax withholding | graduated, with a 0% bottom bracket and a top rate around 6% |
| Final paycheck - employee is fired | Within 48 hours of the time of separation, or by the next regular payday — which may not be more than 30 days after separation |
| Final paycheck - employee quits | Same rule as termination: the statute applies when an employer separates an employee from the payroll 'for any reason', so 48 hours or the next regular payday, not to exceed 30 days |
| Penalty for a late final paycheck | No automatic per-day penalty, but the employee may recover in a civil action three times (treble) the full amount of the unpaid wages, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees |
| Unused vacation / PTO payout | must_pay |
| New-hire reporting deadline | Within 20 days of start date |
| Penalty for late new-hire reporting | $25 per unreported employee |
South Carolina sorts every employer into one of 20 rate classes by rank rather than applying a formula, and an employer with zero benefit charges over the three-year lookback lands in class 1 at just 0.06% - roughly $8 per employee per year.
This page is independent research, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Federal deposit rules and state wage, unemployment and final-paycheck laws change - verify current requirements with the IRS and your state labor and revenue agencies, or with a licensed CPA or attorney, before acting.
What payroll services cost in 2026
| What you are buying | 2026 published range | The number that actually matters |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly base fee | $20-$150/month | Meaningless alone - always price it with your headcount attached |
| Per employee, per month | $4-$15/employee/month | At 10 employees this is most of the bill: $70-$250/month all in |
| Fully outsourced processing | $30-$100/person/month | Quoted per person rather than base plus fee - bundles compliance work |
| Year-end W-2 and 1099 filing | $4-$8/form | Included at some tiers, billed at others - ask before January |
| Additional state filings (remote staff) | $6-$20/state/month | One remote hire in a new state can change the plan you need |
| Off-cycle or bonus runs | $5-$50 each | Bonus season is when this line shows up on the invoice |
| Setup / implementation | $0-$200 | Commonly waived at small-business tiers - ask, it is negotiable |
| A late federal deposit | 2%-15% of the deposit | The reason the monthly fee is the second-most important number (IRS IRC 6656) |
The penalty schedule, in the IRS's own numbers
| What happened | Federal penalty | Applied to |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit up to 5 days late | 2% | The deposit amount |
| Deposit 5-15 days late | 5% | The deposit amount |
| Deposit more than 15 days late | 10% | The deposit amount |
| Still unpaid 10 days after an IRS notice | 15% | The deposit amount |
| Form 941 filed late | about 5% per month, capped near 25% | The unpaid tax |
| Withheld trust-fund taxes never paid over | Trust Fund Recovery Penalty - 100% of the trust-fund amount | A responsible person, personally |
Read that last row twice. Income tax and the employee share of FICA are withheld in trust, which is why the penalty for never paying them over can be assessed personally against an owner or officer of a South Carolina business under IRC 6672 - the corporation does not stand in the way. It is the strongest argument for hiring a provider, and the strongest argument for verifying that the provider actually files.
One detail in the IRS's favour: the percentages do not stack. A deposit more than 15 calendar days late is charged at 10%, not at 10% plus the earlier 2% and 5% tiers. That is the only piece of good news on this page.
The sentence that decides the whole question
The IRS puts it in two sentences on its outsourcing page: "The employer is ultimately responsible for the deposit and payment of federal tax liabilities," and if the third party fails to make those payments, "the employer is liable for all taxes, penalties and interest due." In other words, an employer who outsources payroll duties remains responsible for depositing and reporting employment taxes. Every payroll provider is selling reliability against that fact, and none of them can sell an exemption from it. The practical consequences for a South Carolina employer are concrete: keep the IRS address of record as your own so notices reach you, ask for filing confirmations rather than assuming, and treat a provider's penalty guarantee as a contract term to read - not as a transfer of the legal duty.
Why only these two paths
Withheld income tax and the employee share of FICA are trust funds - money that was never the company's. That is why the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty can reach an owner or officer personally, and why 'the company can't pay' is not an exit from this particular bill.
Hard bar, verifiable by anyone: free to the buyer, and structurally multi-vendor - one request produces several competing quotes, which is the check against over-quoting that no single sales relationship provides. Marketplaces that charge buyers or route to a single seller are not listed, and any listed path that drops below the bar gets removed. We list no individual payroll brand as a recommendation: this site does not rank providers it cannot audit filings for.
| Path | What it is | Why it made the bar |
|---|---|---|
| BuyerZone | B2B quote marketplace covering payroll services and other business categories | One form, multiple vetted providers respond with competing quotes - free to buyers |
| 360Connect | B2B quote marketplace with local service-area matching for payroll solutions | Matches up to five suppliers per request, 100% free to buyers |
Get competing payroll quotes - one form, several providers
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account. Competing quotes are the only reliable way to see what your headcount actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual payroll provider pays to appear in our research.
Common questions
How fast do I have to report a new hire?
The federal baseline is 20 days from the date of hire, reported to your state's new-hire directory, and a number of states set shorter deadlines. Rehires generally count, and some states also require reporting independent contractors. Confirm which filing your payroll provider makes for you - new-hire reporting is commonly included, but not universally.
Do I have to file W-2s and 1099s electronically?
Almost certainly yes. The threshold dropped to 10 returns: if you file 10 or more information returns of all types combined in a calendar year, they must be filed electronically. Articles still citing the old 250-return threshold are out of date. Any full-service payroll provider files electronically as standard - confirm it is included rather than billed per form.
What do I need to give a payroll company to get a quote?
Employee count split into salaried, hourly and contractors; every state where someone physically works; pay frequency; expected off-cycle runs; and whether you need benefits, time tracking, garnishments or workers' comp integration. Providing all of it up front is what makes competing quotes genuinely comparable - and it is exactly what a marketplace form collects once and sends to several providers.
What is the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty?
Withheld income tax and the employee share of Social Security and Medicare are held in trust for the government. When those amounts are not paid over, the IRS can assess a penalty equal to the full unpaid trust-fund amount personally against any responsible person who willfully failed to pay - an owner, officer or bookkeeper. It is one of the few business tax liabilities that reaches through a corporation or LLC to an individual.
Is payroll priced per employee or per payroll run?
Both models exist. The common structure is a monthly base fee plus a per-employee fee, which is predictable regardless of how often you run payroll. A per-run model charges each time you process, which favors businesses paying monthly and penalizes weekly payrolls. Ask for the all-in annual total under your actual pay frequency - that single number makes the two models comparable.
What is the penalty for depositing payroll taxes late?
The federal failure-to-deposit penalty runs 2% for deposits up to 5 days late, 5% for 5-15 days, 10% beyond 15 days, and 15% if the tax remains unpaid more than ten days after the IRS issues a notice. Filing Form 941 late adds a separate penalty of about 5% of the unpaid tax per month, capped near 25%.
Get competing payroll quotes - one form, several providers
Two free marketplace paths: one form brings back multiple vetted payroll providers who know they are competing for the account. Competing quotes are the only reliable way to see what your headcount actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual payroll provider pays to appear in our research.
Prices by city
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