IIBUSINESSII
STANDARDIZED PROCESS
CHANGES COMING TO BUSINESS LICENSING BY MARK E. LETT
Lowcountry business owners — large and small — are confronting an inescapable fact of life: simplification is complicated. A wholesale change to how South Carolina manages business licensing and taxation is creating confusion, conversation and a stepped-up need for communication. The so-called “Act 176” — approved by the state Legislature in September 2020 — will take effect Jan. 1, 2022. The measure is designed to standardize business licensing by putting all taxing jurisdictions on the same footing to classify and oversee business licensing. All property owners — including those who rent
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condos and vacation homes — will be required to obtain a business license. Through standardization, Act 176 is expected, ultimately, to make life easier for business operators and government agencies by removing differences among the state’s more than 250 municipal taxing authorities. But getting there is proving a challenge. Municipal workers are scrambling to update software, reclassify businesses into state-mandated categories and spread the word about the ins and outs of the changes. Among the tactics for information sharing: social media, television interviews, mailings and direct contact with rental
