York County, SC Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)
Key Facts
- State accommodations tax rate
- 7% of gross room charges
- Additional guest-charge tax
- 5% on room service, laundry, movies, phone
- Owner-occupied exemption
- Fewer than 6 rooms, owner's abode
- Long-stay exemption
- 90+ continuous days to same guest
- Multi-location reporting
- Must report each county/municipality separately
- Enforcing agency
- S.C. Department of Revenue
Summary
South Carolina imposes a 7% accommodations tax on every short-term rental night in unincorporated York County under S.C. Code § 12-36-920: a 5% general sales tax component plus a 2% local accommodations tax, both collected through the same state sales tax return filed with the Department of Revenue.
(A) A sales tax equal to seven percent is imposed on the gross proceeds derived from the rental or charges for any rooms, campground spaces, lodgings, or sleeping accommodations furnished to transients by any hotel, inn, tourist court, tourist camp, motel, campground, residence, or any place in which rooms, lodgings, or sleeping accommodations are furnished to transients for a consideration. This tax does not apply: (1) where the facilities consist of less than six sleeping rooms, contained on the same premises, which is used as the individual's place of abode; or (2) to gross proceeds from rental income wholly excluded from the gross income of the taxpayer pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 280A(g) as that code is defined in Section 12-6-40(A). The gross proceeds derived from the lease or rental of sleeping accommodations supplied to the same person for a period of ninety continuous days are not considered proceeds from transients. ... (E) The taxes imposed by this section are imposed on every person engaged or continuing within this State in the business of furnishing accommodations to transients for consideration.
Full Breakdown
C. Code § 12-36-920(A). Two exemptions matter for hosts: a unit is untaxed if it has fewer than six sleeping rooms on the same premises and is used as the individual owner's place of abode, and rental income wholly excluded from federal gross income under Internal Revenue Code Section 280A(g) is also exempt. A stay of ninety continuous days or more to the same guest is not a transient rental and falls outside the tax entirely. Section 12-36-920(B) layers a separate 5% tax on add-on guest charges such as room service, laundering and dry cleaning, in-room movies, telephone service, and meeting room rentals billed on top of the room rate.
Under subsection (C), real estate agents, brokers, corporations, or listing services that stop managing a rental property must notify the Department of Revenue that the unit has been dropped from their listings. Subsection (D) requires any host or manager who owns or operates rental units in more than one county or municipality, common for hosts running several York County listings alongside properties in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, or across the state line, to report the gross proceeds from each county or municipality separately on the sales tax return rather than lumping them into one figure.
Violations & Fines
The accommodations tax rides on the state sales tax return, so a host who fails to collect or remit it is delinquent on a state tax obligation enforced by the South Carolina Department of Revenue, not a local citation. Section 12-36-920(D) makes combined rather than per-county reporting a separate compliance failure for multi-listing hosts. Subsection (E) attaches liability to every person furnishing transient accommodations, so a single-property host owes exactly what a commercial operator owes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 7% accommodations tax apply to a house I rent out on Airbnb in unincorporated York County?
Is a cleaning fee I charge guests taxed the same way as the nightly rate?
I run rentals in York County and in another South Carolina county. Do I file one combined return?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in York County
How York County compares: Cities with the Highest Short-Term Rental Taxes·Compare York County to another location·View the South Carolina short-term rentals overview
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