South Carolina IMF calculator

What is South Carolina's infrastructure maintenance fee on a car?

It is what South Carolina charges in place of sales tax on a car. The infrastructure maintenance fee, or IMF, is paid once, when the car is first titled or registered. It equals 5% of the gross proceeds of the sale, not to exceed $500. So on a taxable amount of $10,000 or more the fee is $500, and there is no minimum. The gross proceeds include the destination charge and dealer charges that are part of the sale, less the trade-in. A car subject to the fee is exempt from state and local sales and use taxes, so Charleston County’s local sales taxes do not apply to it. The fee replaced the 5% sales tax on cars, which had a $300 maximum, in 2017. A South Carolina dealer collects it and sends it to SCDMV. If the dealer does not title or register the car, you pay SCDMV when you do.

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

dor.sc.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

Is there a limit on the South Carolina dealer closing fee?

South Carolina calls the doc fee a closing fee: a fee for recovery of a dealer’s actual costs for the administrative and financial work needed to transfer and deliver the car. The law sets no single figure for every dealer. Each dealer files the most it intends to charge with the Department of Consumer Affairs. If that maximum is not more than $225 per vehicle, “the closing fee is considered to be approved by the department”. Above $225, the department may review the amount for reasonableness against the dealer’s actual costs. If it does not act within 30 days, the dealer may charge it. A dealer may charge any amount up to the maximum on its certificate, and the department’s Licensee Lookup lists the amounts dealers have filed. The fee must be shown on the contract, displayed in the dealership and disclosed in any ad for a specific car. The law does not say whether a buyer may decline it. Our examples use $225.

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

consumer.sc.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

Does a trade-in lower the South Carolina infrastructure maintenance fee?

The trade-in allowance comes off the gross proceeds in full, with no limit. But the fee is $500 on any taxable amount of $10,000 or more, so a trade-in saves money only when it brings the amount below $10,000. Owing more than the trade-in is worth does not raise the fee: the full allowance comes off and the payoff is a loan item. No state agency has said so in words, so that point is not confirmed, and it matters only below $10,000. When you turn in the old car’s plate, the county gives a credit or refund of its property tax for the complete months left in that tax year.

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

What property tax will I pay after buying a car in South Carolina?

A yearly county, school and city property tax: the car’s value times a 6% assessment ratio times your tax district’s millage. The value comes from a national guide through SCDOR, and may not exceed 95% of the prior year’s value. After a dealer sale it is due 120 days from the date of purchase, and it is billed for each 12-month tax year of the registration. It is not part of the out-the-door price. Each of the 46 counties publishes its own millage by tax district, and we found no statewide file, so we estimate the tax only for Charleston County. That estimate uses the City of Charleston’s 298.1 mills for the 2025 tax year, rounds the assessed value to the nearest $10 and takes off the county’s and the city’s local option sales tax credits of 0.082% of the value each, as the County Auditor’s estimator does. Whether real bills apply the credits that way is not confirmed. In any other county the bill is not estimated here.

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

dor.sc.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

charlestoncounty.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

charlestoncounty.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

Is a private car sale taxed in South Carolina?

Yes. The buyer pays the infrastructure maintenance fee to SCDMV: 5% of the fair market value, not to exceed $500. Fair market value is the total purchase price less any trade-in, or the value in a national used-value guide less any trade-in. The statute does not say which SCDMV uses when they differ; its pages say 5% of the purchase price. The buyer signs the bill of sale under penalty of perjury. A transfer to immediate family or heirs is excluded. You must pay the county property tax before SCDMV will register the car. A temporary plate from SCDMV or the county costs $10.

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

dmv.sc.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

I bought a car out of state or moved to South Carolina. What do I pay?

A resident who buys from an out-of-state dealer that does not title the car here pays the fee to SCDMV when titling it: 5%, not to exceed $500. How SCDMV treats tax already paid to another state on that purchase is not confirmed. If you first titled or registered the car in another state and register it here later, the fee is $250. SCDMV says most new residents pay $305 per car: the $250 fee, $15 for the title and $40 for registration. The county property tax must be paid first. Active-duty military, their spouses and dependents do not pay the $250.

dmv.sc.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026

scstatehouse.gov · checked Oct 3, 2026