SC registered agent
South Carolina registered agent service, $5 a year
South Carolina requires every corporation and LLC on its books to keep a registered agent at a real address in the state. Here is what South Carolina law says about who that agent has to be and where it has to be.
What South Carolina requires of a registered agent
The requirement
In the words of the South Carolina code:
Each corporation must continuously maintain in this State: (1) a registered office that may be the same as any of its places of business; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-5-101
How we comply
We don't.
What South Carolina does to your company when we don't
Here is what the state does to an entity that has no agent, or whose agent is us.
Administrative dissolution
The Secretary of State shall commence a proceeding under Section 33-14-210(a) to dissolve a corporation administratively if: ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-14-200(a)(3)-(4)
And also
A corporation dissolved administratively continues its corporate ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-14-210(b), (d)
Revocation (foreign entities)
The Secretary of State shall commence a proceeding under Section 33-15-310 to revoke the certificate of authority of a foreign corporation authorized to transact business in this State if: ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-15-300(a)(3)-(4)
No access to the courts
A foreign corporation transacting business in this State without ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-15-102(a)
Civil penalty
A foreign corporation is liable for a civil penalty of ten dollars ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-15-102(d)
The bill to come back
Reinstatement fee
Application for reinstatement following administrative dissolution $25.00. ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-1-220(a)(16); § 33-14-220(a)(4)
What happens to the lawsuit you never saw
Substituted service
If a limited liability company or foreign limited liability company ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-44-111(b)
One more thing to skip: the South Carolina annual report
Annual report fee, LLC
South Carolina charges no annual report fee, per the state's own guidance quoted below. There is nothing here to skip, which we found disappointing.
The following organizations, companies, and associations are ...
Source: official state fee schedule, via incFACTS: SCDOR Corporate FAQs (annual report / License Fee exemptions)
Annual report fee, corporation
South Carolina charges no annual report fee, per the state's own guidance quoted below. There is nothing here to skip, which we found disappointing.
Business corporations must submit the names of directors on Annual ...
Source: official state fee schedule, via incFACTS: SC SOS FAQs About Business Entities #14
Statutory text as captured by incFACTS (retrieved 2026-08-01, verified word-for-word against the state code 2026-08-10). Laws change. The statute governs; this page does not.