How much are the real estate taxes?
Short answer:
Because we have a point of sale tax adjustment and homesteading type laws, you can roughly estimate your property taxes.
In Beaufort County:
- Primary residences are taxed around ½% to ¾% (0.5% to 0.75%) of purchase price.
- Non-primary residences are taxed around 1¼% to 2% (1.25% to 2.0%) of purchase price.
In Jasper County, the rough estimate numbers are closer to 1% of purchase price for primary and 2-3% of purchase price for non-primary.
Long answer:
All real estate tax value rates reset upon sale. and the previous assessment becomes virtually irrelevant. Currently, when you purchase your home, the county assessor can adjust the assessed value of your home to the current sales price (point of sale assessment).
For primary residences in Beaufort County who apply for and are granted the reduced primary home rate, 0.5% to 0.75% of the home sales value is a very rough estimate of your real property taxes in the year following purchase, depending upon the millage rate in your specific locality.
For most other real estate in Beaufort County, 1.25% to 2.0% of the home sales value is a very rough estimate of your real property taxes in the year following purchase, again depending upon the millage rate in your specific locality. Additionally, if you rent out the property, you will pay personal property tax based on the value of the contents & furnishings, and depreciation is allowed.
If commercial or second homes were sold for substantially more than the tax value, the buyer needs to file the ATI exemption paperwork; even a buyer from previous year or two may be able to file so long as there was no reassessment year in that county since the purchase. Depending on how much the property increased in value at the sale, the buyer could reduce their property taxes by up to 25%. It's definitely worth the effort.
South Carolina law provides a partial exemption from taxation of up to 25% of an "ATI fair market value" resulting from Assessable Transfer of Interest transactions. The exemption is based on the ATI fair market value of the property. The exemption is reported to local county officials.
In Jasper County, the rough estimate numbers are closer to 1% of purchase price for primary and 2-3% of purchase price for non-primary.
If you have been a legal resident of South Carolina for at least one year and are over 65 years of age, or have been certified totally and permanently disabled by a State or Federal Agency, or legally blind, or hold fee simple title or partial title to your property, you may be eligible for the Homestead Exemption. To apply you may contact the county auditor’s office, not the assessor's office.
Find additional information, the following links open in new tabs:
- Beaufort County Assessor and/or Beaufort County Auditor
- How to apply for the Beaufort County Legal Residence Exemption
- How to apply for the Beaufort County Assessable Transfer of Interest
- Explanation of the point of sale reassessment
- Jasper County Taxes
(Please let us know if any of these links go bad so we can update them for you. Beaufort & Jasper Counties randomly change their website links and these are often made invalid. Thanks!)