Lancaster County, SC Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

C. Code § 12-36-920(A), on any person operating within the unincorporated portion of Lancaster County. 5 percent where it has not, so a short-term rental host in Indian Land or Sun City Carolina Lakes (both unincorporated) owes the flat 3 percent unincorporated-area rate rather than either municipal figure. "Vendor" covers any person, including a homeowner renting a house, cabin, room or campsite to transient guests, since the tax attaches to the underlying state sales-tax category rather than to a business license. Section 28-51 requires the vendor to remit the tax to the county monthly, on whatever return or form the county sets, no later than the 20th day of the month following the month the tax was collected.

A vendor who misses that deadline owes a penalty of 5 percent of the amount owed for each month or partial month the tax stays unpaid, on top of the underlying tax. Section 28-53 directs that every dollar collected goes into a dedicated local accommodations tax special account, used solely for the purposes the law allows rather than the county's general fund. The article traces to Ordinance No. 874, adopted January 7, 2008, and sits in Chapter 28, Article IV of the county code alongside the county's other tax provisions.