TAXES DUE
SECTION 12-45-70 of the SC Code of Laws. Time for paying taxes; manner of collection; receipts for payment; delegation of collection of taxes.

All taxes are due and payable between the thirtieth day of September and the fifteenth day of January (January 15th) after their assessment in each year. The several county treasurers under the direction and supervision of the Comptroller General shall collect the taxes in the manner prescribed by law and give receipts therefore to the persons paying them. In the receipts and tax notices the real estate paid on must be briefly described including tax map number and an identifiable description and the value and a description of the personal property paid on must be stated, together with the time the taxes are paid, the amount paid, and the township where the property is located.

The treasurer, tax collector, or other official charged with the collection of ad valorem property taxes in each county may delegate the collection of the property taxes to banks or banking institutions, if each institution assigns, hypothecates, or pledges to the county, as security for the collection, federal funds or federal, state, or municipal securities in an amount adequate to prevent any loss to the county from any cause. Each institution shall remit the taxes collected daily to the county official charged with the collections. The receipt given to the taxpayer, in addition to the information required in this section and by Section 12-37-2650, shall contain the name and office of the treasurer or tax collector of the county and shall also show the name of the banking institution to which payment was made.

The county official charged with the collection of taxes shall send a list of the institutions collecting the taxes to the Department of Public Safety. Each institution shall certify to the Department of Public Safety that the taxes have been paid, and the Department of Public Safety may accept certification in lieu of the tax receipt given to the taxpayer if that certification contains the information required in Section 12-37-2650.

SECTION 12-45-40. Publication of notice of certain tax rates.

Immediately upon the receipt of the tax duplicate for the year from the county auditor, the county treasurer shall cause a notice to be inserted in one newspaper in his county stating the rate per cent of the levy for State purposes and the rate per cent for all other purposes on the duplicates for the current fiscal year and, if any special levies have been made on the property of the school or other district not affecting an entire county, the total rate of levies shall also be stated in such notice.

SECTION 12-45-50. Only taxes on duplicates or ordered by auditor shall be collected.

County treasurers are prohibited from collecting any tax except such as has been first entered upon the tax duplicates of their respective counties or upon the order of the auditors of such counties.

 
PAYMENT METHODS
Dorchester County taxpayers have several options to pay taxes:

1. In person, at one of our two offices in St. George or Summerville. For more information about office locations, click HERE.
2. By mail; mail payments to: Dorchester County Treasurer, P.O. Box 338, St. George, SC  29477.
3. By dropbox, located at the Summerville and St. George offices. All payments made to Drop Box before 8:30 a.m will be credited to the previous day.
4. Online here on this site. For more details about making online payments, click HERE.  To proceed with online tax record search and pay, click HERE.

DELINQUENT PROPERY TAX PAYMENTS
Delinquent PROPERTY Tax payments CANNOT  be paid by credit card. For information on Delinquent Tax Payments, please contact the Delinquent Tax Office at 843-832-0110 or 843-563-0110.

Please keep in mind that, per South Carolina State Law, you cannot pay a current property tax bill if there are outstanding prior year taxes on that same property. Dorchester County will return any tax payment made for current taxes if there are prior years taxes outstanding. Any convenience fee paid will NOT be refunded.

ADVANCED INSTALLMENT PAYMENTS
Click HERE to download and print an Application for Installment Payments.

Please be aware this option is not available if your taxes are being escrowed through a mortgage company or tax service agency and is being paid on your behalf when your tax bill is due. To review the Ordinance governing Advanced Installment Payments, click HERE.

For more information on advanced installment payments, contact our office.

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PENALTIES
January 16th - 3% penalty
February 2nd - additional 7%
March 17th - additional 5%

SECTION 12-45-180 of the SC Code of Laws.
When the taxes and assessments or any portion of the taxes and assessments charged against any property or person on the duplicate for the current fiscal year are not paid before the sixteenth day of January or thirty days after the mailing of tax notices, whichever occurs later, the county auditor shall add a penalty of three percent on the county duplicate and the county treasurer shall collect the penalty. If the taxes, assessments, and penalty are not paid before the second day of the next February, an additional penalty of seven percent must be added by the county auditor on the county duplicate and collected by the county treasurer. If the taxes, assessments, and penalties are not paid before the seventeenth day of the next March, an additional penalty of five percent must be added by the county auditor on the county duplicate and collected by the county treasurer. If the taxes, assessments, and penalties are not paid before the seventeenth day of March, the county treasurer shall issue his tax execution to the officer authorized and directed to collect delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties, and costs for their collection as provided in Chapter 51 of this title and they must be collected as required by that chapter. The United States postmark is the determining date for mailed payments. If the county treasurer determines by proper evidence that the mailing of a tax payment was improperly postmarked, and this error results in the imposition of a penalty provided in this subsection, then the penalty imposed may be waived by the county treasurer.

If title to real property is transferred during a tax year and the records of the county indicate that the tax notice was mailed or otherwise forwarded to the prior owner and the current owner received no timely notice of the tax due on the property, the treasurer shall waive any penalties imposed.