South Carolina Code 12-6-1620. “Catastrophe Savings Account” defined; exemptions allowed; contributable amount; attachment and garnishment
(2) all interest income earned by the Catastrophe Savings Account is exempt from the tax imposed pursuant to § 12-6-510 as provided in this article.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 12-6-1620
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Catastrophe Savings Account: means a regular savings account or money market account established by an insurance policyholder for residential property in this State to cover an insurance deductible under an insurance policy for the taxpayer's legal residence property that covers hurricane, rising floodwaters, or other catastrophic windstorm event damage or by an individual to cover self-insured losses for the taxpayer's legal residence from a hurricane, rising floodwaters, or other catastrophic windstorm event. See South Carolina Code 12-6-1620
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- individual: means a human being. See South Carolina Code 12-2-20
- Legal residence: means the taxpayer's legal residence pursuant to § 12-43-220(c). See South Carolina Code 12-6-1610
- Qualified deductible: means the deductible for the individual's homeowner's policy for a taxpayer's legal residence. See South Carolina Code 12-6-1610
- Taxpayer: includes an individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, company, corporation, or any other entity subject to the tax imposed by this chapter or required to file a return. See South Carolina Code 12-6-30
(B)(1) As used in this article, "Catastrophe Savings Account" means a regular savings account or money market account established by an insurance policyholder for residential property in this State to cover an insurance deductible under an insurance policy for the taxpayer’s legal residence property that covers hurricane, rising floodwaters, or other catastrophic windstorm event damage or by an individual to cover self-insured losses for the taxpayer’s legal residence from a hurricane, rising floodwaters, or other catastrophic windstorm event. The account must be labeled as a Catastrophe Savings Account in order to qualify as a Catastrophe Savings Account as defined in this article. A taxpayer shall establish only one Catastrophe Savings Account and shall specify that the purpose of the account is to cover the amount of insurance deductibles and other uninsured portions of risks of loss from hurricane, rising floodwater, or other catastrophic windstorm event.
(2) A Catastrophe Savings Account is not subject to attachment, levy, garnishment, or legal process in this State.
(3) The total amount that may be contributed to a Catastrophe Savings Account must not exceed:
(a) in the case of an individual whose qualified deductible is less than or equal to one thousand dollars, two thousand dollars;
(b) in the case of an individual whose qualified deductible is greater than one thousand dollars, the amount equal to the lesser of fifteen thousand dollars or twice the amount of the taxpayer’s qualified deductible; or
(c) in the case of a self-insured individual who chooses not to obtain insurance on his legal residence, two hundred fifty thousand dollars, but shall not exceed the value of the individual taxpayer’s legal residence.
(4) If a taxpayer contributes in excess of the limits provided in item (3), the taxpayer shall withdraw the amount of the excess contributions and include that amount in South Carolina income for purposes of § 12-6-510 in the year of withdrawal.