(A) For purposes of determining when a parcel of real property must be appraised, an assessable transfer of interest in real property includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(1) a conveyance by deed;

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 12-37-3150

  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • appraised: means the process provided by law for the property tax assessor to determine the fair market value of real property and additions and improvements to real property. See South Carolina Code 12-37-3130
  • Assessable transfer of interest: means a transfer of an existing interest in real property that subjects the real property to appraisal. See South Carolina Code 12-37-3130
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Commonly controlled: means persons having relationships as described in Section 267(b) of the Internal Revenue Code as defined in § 12-6-40(A). See South Carolina Code 12-37-3130
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conveyance: means the date of the transfer of an assessable transfer of interest in real property. See South Carolina Code 12-37-3130
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
  • partnership: includes a limited liability company taxed for South Carolina income tax purposes as a partnership;

    (2) "partner" includes a member of a limited liability company taxed for South Carolina income tax purposes as a partnership;

    (3) "corporation" includes a limited liability company or professional or other association taxed for South Carolina income tax purposes as a corporation; and

    (4) "shareholder" includes a member of a limited liability company taxed for South Carolina income tax purposes as a corporation. See South Carolina Code 12-2-25
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • person: includes any individual, trust, estate, partnership, receiver, association, company, limited liability company, corporation, or other entity or group; and

    (2) "individual" means a human being. See South Carolina Code 12-2-20
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Property tax assessor: means the county assessor, an assessor appointed to handle multiple county assessments pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement, or the Department of Revenue, as applicable. See South Carolina Code 12-37-3130
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Real property: shall mean not only land, city, town and village lots but also all structures and other things therein contained or annexed or attached thereto which pass to the vendee by the conveyance of the land or lot;

    (2) "Personal property" shall mean all things, other than real estate, which have any pecuniary value, and moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint-stock companies or otherwise;

    (3) "Moneys" or "money" shall mean gold, silver and other coin, bank bills and other bills or notes authorized to be circulated as money, whether in possession or on deposit subject to the draft of the depositor or person having the beneficial interest therein on demand;

    (4) "Credits" shall mean the remainder due, or to become due, to a person, after deducting from the amount of all legal debts, claims and demands in his favor the amount of all legal debts and demands against him, whether such demands be payable in money, labor or other valuable things, but, in ascertaining such remainder, no deduction shall be made for any (a) obligation to any mutual insurance company given for insurance, (b) subscription to the capital stock of any joint-stock company, (c) taxes assessed against the person, (d) subscription to any religious, scientific, literary or charitable purpose, (e) acknowledgment of a liability not founded on a legal and valuable consideration, (f) more of any joint liability with others than the person honestly believes he will be compelled to pay, (g) contingent liability or (h) acknowledgment of a debt or liability made for the purpose of diminishing the amount of credit to be returned for taxation. See South Carolina Code 12-37-10

(2) a conveyance by land contract;

(3) a conveyance to a trust, except if:

(a) the settlor or the settlor’s spouse, or both, conveys the property to the trust and the sole present beneficiary or beneficiaries are the settlor or the settlor’s spouse, or both; or

(b) the settlor or the settlor’s spouse, or both, conveys property subject to the special four percent assessment ratio pursuant to § 12-43-220(c) and the sole present beneficiary or beneficiaries is the child or children of the settlor or the settlor’s spouse, but a subsequent conveyance of this real property by the beneficiary child or children is not exempt from the provisions of this section;

(4) a conveyance by distribution from a trust, except if the distributee is the sole present beneficiary or the spouse of the sole present beneficiary, or both;

(5) a change in the sole present beneficiary or beneficiaries of a trust, except a change that adds or substitutes the spouse of the sole present beneficiary;

(6) a conveyance by distribution under a will or by intestate succession, except if:

(a) the distributee is the decedent‘s spouse; or

(b) the distributee is the child or children of the decedent, the decedent did not have a spouse at the time of the decedent’s death, and the property is subject to the special four percent assessment ratio pursuant to § 12-43-220(c), but a subsequent conveyance of this real property by the distributee child or children is not exempt from the provisions of this section;

(7) a conveyance by lease if the total duration of the lease, including the initial term and all options for renewal, is more than twenty years or the lease grants the lessee a bargain purchase option. As used in this item, "bargain purchase option" means the right to purchase the property at the termination of the lease for not more than eighty percent of the property’s true cash value at the termination of the lease. This item does not apply to personal property or that portion of the property not subject to the leasehold interest conveyed;

(8) a transfer of an ownership interest in a single transaction or as a part of a series of related transactions within a twenty-five year period in a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity if the ownership interest conveyed is more than fifty percent of the corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity. This provision does not apply to transfers that are not subject to federal income tax, as provided in subsection (B)(1), including, but not limited to, transfers of interests to spouses. The corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity shall notify the applicable property tax assessor on a form provided by the Department of Revenue not more than forty-five days after a conveyance of an ownership interest that constitutes an assessable transfer of interest or transfer of ownership under this item. Failure to provide this notice or failure to provide accurate information of a transaction required to be reported by this subitem subjects the property to a civil penalty of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars as determined by the assessor. This penalty is enforceable and collectible as property tax and is in addition to any other penalties that may apply. Failure to provide this notice is a separate offense for each year after the notice was required;

(9) a change of use of agricultural real property which subjects it to the rollback tax;

(10) a change of use of real property when classification of property changes as a result of a local zoning ordinance change; or

(11) the passage of twenty years since the later of the base year or the last assessable transfer of interest for real property owned by a publicly-held entity whose stock, shares, or other ownership interests are traded on a regulated exchange, a pension fund, or other similar entity.

An assessable transfer of interest resulting in the appraisal required pursuant to this article occurs at the time of execution of the instruments directly resulting in the transfer of interest and without regard as to whether or not the applicable instruments are recorded. Failure to record instruments resulting in a transfer of interest gives rise to no inference as to whether or not an assessable transfer of interest has occurred.

(B) An assessable transfer of interest does not include:

(1) transfers not subject to federal income tax in the following circumstances:

(a) 1033 (Conversions-Fire and Insurance Proceeds to Rebuild);

(b) 1041 (Transfers of Property Between Spouses or Incident to Divorce);

(c) 351 (Transfer to a Corporation Controlled by Transferor);

(d) 355 (Distribution by a Controlled Corporation);

(e) 368 (Corporate Reorganizations); or

(f) 721 (Nonrecognition of Gain or Loss on a Contribution to a Partnership).

Number references in the above subitems are to sections of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as defined in § 12-6-40;

(2) a transfer of that portion of property subject to a life estate or life lease retained by the transferor, until expiration or termination of the life estate or life lease;

(3) a transfer through foreclosure or forfeiture of a recorded instrument or through deed or conveyance in lieu of a foreclosure or forfeiture, until the redemption period has expired;

(4) a transfer by redemption by the person to whom taxes are assessed of property previously sold for delinquent taxes;

(5) a conveyance to a trust if the settlor or the settlor’s spouse, or both, convey the property to the trust and the sole present beneficiary of the trust is the settlor or the settlor’s spouse, or both;

(6) a transfer for security or an assignment or discharge of a security interest;

(7) a transfer of real property or other ownership interests among members of an affiliated group. As used in this item, "affiliated group" is as defined in Section 1504 of the Internal Revenue Code as defined in § 12-6-40. Upon request of the applicable property tax assessor, a corporation shall furnish proof within forty-five days that a transfer meets the requirements of this item. A corporation that fails to comply with this request is subject to a civil penalty as provided in § 12-37-3160(B);

(8) a transfer of real property or other ownership interests among corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, or other legal entities if the entities involved are commonly controlled. Upon request by the applicable property tax assessor, a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity shall furnish proof within forty-five days that a transfer meets the requirements of this item. A corporation, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity that fails to comply with this request is subject to a civil penalty as provided in § 12-37-3160(B);

(9) a transfer of an interest in a timeshare unit by deed or lease;

(10) a transfer of an undivided, fractional ownership interest in real estate in a single transaction or as a part of a series of related transactions, if the ownership interest or interests conveyed, or otherwise transferred, in the single transaction or series of related transactions within a twenty-five year period, is not more than fifty percent of the entire fee simple title to the real estate;

(11) a transfer to a single member limited liability company, not taxed separately as a corporation, by its single member or a transfer from a single member limited liability company, not taxed separately as a corporation, to its single member, as provided in § 12-2-25(B)(1);

(12) a conveyance, assignment, release, or modification of an easement, including, but not limited to:

(a) a conservation easement, as defined in Chapter 8 of Title 27;

(b) a utility easement; or

(c) an easement for ingress, egress, or regress;

(13) a transfer or renunciation by deed, release, or agreement of a claim of interest in real property for the purpose of quieting and confirming title to real property in the name of one or more of the existing owners of the real property or for the purpose of confirming or establishing the location of an uncertain or disputed boundary line;

(14) the execution or recording of a deed to real property for the purpose of creating or terminating a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, provided the grantors and grantees are the same; or

(15) a transfer of a fractional interest between family members for zero monetary consideration, or a de minimis monetary consideration, whereby both the grantor and the grantee owned an interest in the property prior to the transfer. For purposes of this item, a family member includes a spouse, parent, brother, sister, child, grandparent, or grandchild.

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