Why South Carolina paperwork starts at city hall
Because the state stays out of it. South Carolina has no statewide business license and doesn’t register trade names, so your main license comes from each city or county where you work, priced on your gross income. The state shows up later: E-Verify and new-hire reporting from your first employee, and workers’ comp once you reach four.
Before your first clean
- Decide between a sole proprietorship and an LLC. Only the LLC files with the state.
- Apply for a business license in the city or county where you are based, and in each city where you will clean.
- Get an EIN from the IRS, listing your trade name if you use one.
- Buy general liability insurance and tell your auto insurer you drive to jobs.
- Set prices with no sales tax line, unless you add laundry services.
Before your first employee
- Enroll in E-Verify.
- Register with the Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) for unemployment tax.
- Plan to report each hire within 20 days, and line up workers’ comp before you reach four employees.
For the parts that don’t change by state, such as services, supplies and pricing, read our general guide on how to start a cleaning business. If your area reaches into Charlotte’s suburbs or across the Savannah River, our North Carolina and Georgia guides cover the other side.
No state DBA, and a $110 LLC with no annual report
Sole proprietors file nothing with the state, even under a trade name. LLCs pay $110 once, and an LLC taxed the normal way has no annual report or yearly state fee.
Trade names
South Carolina’s business one-stop site, SCBOS, says on its DBA page that the state does not register DBAs and that your local government might. Instead, you put the trade name on your local business license, your Department of Revenue account and your IRS EIN application. The Secretary of State’s business entity FAQ confirms it doesn’t register DBAs or trade names, and that sole proprietorships don’t file with the office at all.
Without a state registry, nobody checks your name for you. Search the Secretary of State’s business records, the web and social media before you print anything. The cleaning business name generator gives you a list to work from.
The LLC
The Secretary of State’s starting a business forms list Articles of Organization for an LLC at $110. A corporation pays $110 plus a $25 initial license fee on form CL-1, so the LLC is the cheaper entity.
The ongoing cost is the best part. The Department of Revenue’s corporate FAQ lists an LLC not taxed as a corporation among the businesses not subject to the annual report or license fee. If you later elect S corporation status to save on self-employment tax, that changes: the LLC then files the CL-1 within 60 days and pays at least $25 a year with an annual report.
An LLC protects your personal assets from business debts, but it won’t pay for a broken heirloom; liability insurance does that. Our guide to LLCs for cleaning businesses helps you decide.
South Carolina city and county licenses: one calendar, many offices
Each city and county sets its own business license, but a 2020 state law standardized how they work: the same April 30 due date, the same rate classes, and a tax based on last year’s gross income. Cleaning is in class 3 for the license year that began May 1, 2026.
How the system works
SCBOS’s business license page says South Carolina doesn’t have a statewide business license and that counties and cities may each require one. The Municipal Association of South Carolina’s summary of Act 176 explains the shared rules: the license year runs May 1 to April 30, renewals are due April 30, penalties start May 1, and the tax is based on gross income from the previous calendar or fiscal year. Cities must adopt an updated class schedule every odd year. MASC’s ordinance updates page links the current model, which places administrative and support services, the NAICS sector that includes janitorial and house cleaning, in rate class 3 from May 1, 2026.
What cleaners pay in two Lowcountry cities
| City | First $2,000 of gross income | Each $1,000 after that |
|---|---|---|
| Charleston | $43.00 | $2.35 |
| Mount Pleasant | $50.00 | $2.04 |
Rates come from Charleston’s 2026-2027 ordinance and Mount Pleasant’s ordinance 25052, class 3.
The out-of-town double rate
Here is the detail that matters most for cleaners, who work in clients’ homes rather than a shop. Charleston doubles its rates for nonresidents and itinerant businesses with no fixed place of business in the city, and Mount Pleasant doubles them for nonresidents too. So a cleaner based in Summerville who earns $60,000 cleaning homes in Charleston pays:
- Standard rate: $43 + (58 × $2.35) = $179.30
- Doubled for a nonresident: $358.60
Each city taxes only the income earned inside it, but the doubling adds up if you work across several towns. Greenville’s business license code also doubles rates for nonresidents. Charleston’s new business license page explains how to apply; ask each city how it calculates a brand-new business’s first license.
Columbia, and unincorporated areas
Columbia’s business license FAQ says home-based businesses need a license, all licenses expire April 30, and late renewals pay a 5% penalty for each month from May 1. Outside city limits, counties take over: Charleston County licenses businesses in its unincorporated areas, requires zoning approval first, and also charges 5% a month after April 30. Renewals across participating cities can be handled together through the state’s Local Business License Renewal Center, but first licenses are issued by each city.
South Carolina taxes laundry, not house cleaning
Standard cleaning isn’t subject to South Carolina sales tax, for homes or offices. Laundering is. If you add wash-and-fold to your menu, that part of the bill may need tax and a retail license.
The rule
The Department of Revenue’s sales tax page says the 6% tax applies to retail sales of tangible personal property and certain services, and the services it describes are communications services. Cleaning isn’t among them. Section 12-36-910 of the Code does tax the proceeds of providing any laundering, dry cleaning, dyeing or pressing service, with an exception for coin-operated machines.
What that means for your menu
- Weekly, deep, move-out and office cleaning: no sales tax.
- Folding a load that is already clean, as part of a house clean: treat it as cleaning, but keep it incidental.
- Washing, drying and folding clothes as a priced add-on or a separate service: likely taxable laundering. Ask the Department of Revenue before you advertise it.
Taxable sales need a retail license. The department’s retail license page lists a $50 nonrefundable fee and says the license is needed before making any taxable retail sales. A cleaner who only cleans doesn’t need one.
You still pay sales tax on your supplies, at 6% plus any local sales taxes in your county. Build that into your startup budget, and set your cleaning prices with the house cleaning pricing guide.
Income tax just got lighter
A 2026 law, H.4216, changed the brackets from tax year 2026. The Department of Revenue’s H.4216 notice sets 1.99% on taxable income up to $29,999, and from $30,000 up, 5.21% of taxable income minus $966. Profit from a sole proprietorship or single-member LLC is taxed here and federally, so set aside part of each payment for quarterly estimates.
When South Carolina requires workers’ comp
At four employees. South Carolina exempts employers who regularly have fewer than four, or whose payroll last year was under $3,000. Part-timers and family members count toward the four.
Section 42-1-360 of the workers’ comp law exempts anyone who has regularly employed fewer than four employees in the same business in the state, or who had a total annual payroll of less than $3,000 in the previous calendar year. The Workers’ Compensation Commission’s employer FAQ adds that part-time workers and family members are counted as employees.
For a cleaning company, four part-time cleaners on the schedule at once is enough. Cleaning means ladders, wet floors, bending and chemicals, and an uninsured injury can cost more than years of premiums, so many owners buy coverage from the first hire anyway. Ask for a workers’ comp quote alongside your liability policy, and see our insurance guide for the rest.
Hiring in South Carolina: E-Verify, wages and DEW
Every private employer must verify new hires through E-Verify within three business days. Beyond that, the floor is $7.25 an hour, there is no sick leave mandate and cities can’t add one, new employers pay 1.06% unemployment tax on the first $14,000, and new hires are reported within 20 days.
E-Verify from your first hire
Section 41-8-20 requires private employers to verify the work authorization of every new employee within three business days. The same chapter treats every private employer as holding a South Carolina employment license, which can be put on probation or suspended for violations, and that can affect your business licenses. Enroll before you hire your first cleaner. It is free and takes minutes per hire.
Wages and benefits
South Carolina has no state minimum wage law, so the federal $7.25 applies, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s state minimum wage table. The state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s labor laws brochure says no law requires vacation, sick leave or holiday pay. It also says employers with five or more employees must give written notice of wages, hours and deductions at hiring, and that final pay is due within 48 hours or by the next regular payday, no more than 30 days later. Section 41-1-25 bars cities and counties from requiring employee benefits, paid sick leave included.
Unemployment tax
DEW’s tax rate information puts new employers at 1.06% for 2026 (a 1% rate plus a 0.06% contingency assessment) on the first $14,000 of each employee’s wages. That caps the cost at $148.40 per employee for the year.
New-hire reporting
Section 43-5-598 requires employers to report each new employee within 20 calendar days of hiring.
One clean, costed
Pay $15 an hour for a 3-hour clean plus 30 minutes of driving: $52.50 in wages, plus $0.56 in state unemployment tax and $4.02 for Social Security and Medicare. On a $150 clean, that is over a third of the price before supplies, insurance and your own pay. Check your margins with the profit calculator.
What does it cost to open a cleaning company in South Carolina?
State fees are close to nothing for a sole proprietor and $110 for an LLC. Local business licenses, insurance and equipment are the real costs, and the license grows with your income.
Fees were checked on official South Carolina pages on October 10, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our ranges, not quotes.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| State trade name | None | South Carolina doesn’t register DBAs. |
| LLC Articles of Organization | $110 | No annual report unless taxed as a corporation. |
| City business license | $43 base in Charleston, $50 in Mount Pleasant | Plus a per-$1,000 rate above $2,000. Doubled for nonresidents. Due April 30. |
| Retail license | $50, only if needed | Only for taxable sales, such as laundering or products. |
| Unemployment tax | Up to $148.40 per employee | 1.06% of the first $14,000, new employers, 2026. |
| Workers’ comp | Get quotes | Required at 4 or more employees. |
| General liability insurance | $400 to $1,000 a year (estimate) | Compare at least two insurers. |
| Supplies and equipment | $250 to $600 (estimate) | See the supplies list. |
| Booking and scheduling software | Optional | BroomBook starts at $29 a month. |
A solo cleaner working in one city can be licensed, insured and equipped for well under $1,500. Keep a list of every city you clean in and roughly what you earn in each; you will need it for April 30.
Winning South Carolina clients, and where BroomBook helps
South Carolina has two strong niches beyond weekly home cleaning: vacation rental turnovers along the coast, from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head, and move-in cleans for the steady stream of people relocating to Greenville, Fort Mill and the Charleston suburbs. Both reward fast online booking. For homes, referrals and a Google Business Profile still do most of the work; our guide on how to get clients for a cleaning business has scripts, and the vacation rental cleaning guide covers turnovers.
We make BroomBook, booking and scheduling software for residential cleaning businesses. Clients book online and see an exact price, recurring visits land on one calendar, cleaners get a private link with their jobs, checklists and clock-in, and cards are charged after the clean. Job notes can be translated into Spanish or Portuguese for each cleaner. Each home keeps its address, access notes and pets on file, so a cleaner covering a route in a new town has what they need.
Plans are $29 a month on Solo (up to 2 cleaners) or $59 a month on Team (unlimited cleaners), with a 14-day free trial. See the cleaning booking software page for how it works.