Each seller making retail sales of tangible personal property for storage, use, or other consumption in this State shall collect and remit the tax in accordance with this chapter and shall obtain from the department a retail license as provided in this chapter, if the retail seller:

(1) maintains a place of business;

(2) qualifies to do business;

(3) solicits and receives purchases or orders by an agent, an independent contractor, a representative, an Internet website, or any other means;

(4) distributes catalogs, or other advertising matter, and by reason of that distribution receives and accepts orders from residents within the State;

(5) operates as a marketplace facilitator; or

(6) meets constitutional standards for economic nexus with South Carolina for purposes of the sales and use tax.

HISTORY: 1990 Act No. 612, Part II, Section 74A; 1998 Act No. 432, Section 11; 2019 Act No. 21 (S.214), Section 6, eff April 26, 2019.

Editor's Note

2019 Act No. 21, Section 1, provides as follows:

"SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds:

"(1) the South Carolina Sales and Use Tax Act requires any person engaged in business as a retailer to remit the sales and use tax on all retail sales of tangible personal property not otherwise excluded or exempted from the tax. This requirement applies to all retail sales of tangible personal property by the retailer, whether the tangible personal property is owned by the retailer or another person. Retailers selling tangible personal property at retail on consignment, by auction, or in any other manner must remit the sales and use tax on such retail sales;

"(2) the Internet marketplaces where a person sells tangible personal property at retail by listing or advertising, or allowing the listing or advertising of, another person's products on an online marketplace and collects or processes the payment from the customer are retailers required to remit the sales and use tax on such retail sales under the provisions of South Carolina sales and use tax law;

"(3) with the changing economy and ever expanding role of the Internet in the retail market, the longstanding requirement in the sales and use tax law that a retailer remit the tax on retail sales of tangible personal property owned by another person must apply to all retailers, including both Internet retailers and brick and mortar retailers;

"(4) retailers selling another person's tangible personal property on the Internet must clearly understand and be informed of their requirements to remit the sales and use tax in the same manner as retailers selling another person's tangible personal property in a brick and mortar store; and

"(5) this act shall not be construed as a statement concerning the applicability of the South Carolina Sales and Use Tax Act to any sales and use tax liability in matters currently in litigation or being audited."

Effect of Amendment

2019 Act No. 21, Section 6, in (3), substituted ", an independent contractor, a representative, an Internet website, or any other means" for "or salesman"; added (5) and (6), relating to the collection of sales tax by marketplace facilitators; and made a nonsubstantive change.