Act 176, the SC Business License Tax Standardization Act, requires jurisdictions that levy a business license tax to accept license renewal payments from businesses through the Local Business License Renewal Center.
Business owners can use the Renewal Center to renew their business licenses in every municipality and county where they operate, all using a single payment, which simplifies and streamlines their business license experience.
For cities and towns, using the Renewal Center to renew licenses requires they upload well-vetted and correct business license data into the system. Here are several tips for keeping business license data as “clean” as possible:
NAICS codes
To comply with Act 176, all businesses must be assigned a North American Industry Classification System code, or NAICS code, to produce an account number that all taxing jurisdictions can use consistently across multiple jurisdictions and for multiple years. The codes must be six digits long.
Business licensing officials need to use the most current version of NAICS codes, which for the 2023 – 2024 licensing year, will be from the 2022 NAICS update. NAICS releases updates every five years, so these codes will remain the same through 2027.
Tax ID numbers
Businesses need a nine-digit tax identification number to use the Renewal Center. The number can be either the Social Security number of the business operator, or the federal tax identification number, which is also known as FEIN.
Business addresses
The address to be used for each business depends on whether it has a physical location inside the city or not. For those located inside the municipality, the business account should use a full and accurate physical address. For those located outside the municipality, the account should use a full and accurate mailing address.
For all addresses, make sure the state and ZIP code listed match the city or town given.
Access the Local Business License Renewal Center.