Lancaster County, SC Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Sec. 28-50 of the taxation chapter imposes Lancaster County's local accommodations tax directly on short-term rental hosts. Subsection (a) sets the rate at three percent of the gross proceeds from rental or charges for accommodations furnished to transients for consideration, as described in Section 12-36-920(A) of the 1976 Code, for any vendor operating within the unincorporated portion of Lancaster County, which covers the Indian Land panhandle, Sun City Carolina Lakes and the rest of the county outside the City of Lancaster, Heath Springs, Kershaw and Van Wyck.

The same section separately sets a three percent rate for rentals inside a county municipality whose council has consented to that rate, and a one and one-half percent rate for rentals inside a municipality that has not consented, so the applicable rate depends on where the property sits and whether that town's council opted in. Sec. 28-51 sets the mechanics: a vendor must remit the tax to the county monthly, using whatever return or form the county has established, no later than the twentieth day of the month, covering the tax due for the prior month.

Any tax not remitted on time draws a penalty of five percent of the sum owed for each month, or part of a month, that it remains unpaid. Sec. 28-52 makes a vendor's failure to remit the tax a misdemeanor, punishable under Sec. 1-10, with each day the failure continues charged as a separate offense. Sec. 28-53 directs the county to deposit collected proceeds into a dedicated local accommodations tax account, to be used only for purposes state law allows.