Personal property tax returns; exception for certain manufacturers

(A) Every person required by law to list property shall, annually, between the first day of January and the first day of March, make out and deliver to the assessor of the county in which the property is by law to be returned for taxation a statement, verified by his oath, of all the real estate which has been sold or transferred since the last listing of property for which he was responsible and to whom, and of all real property possessed by him, or under his control, on the thirty-first day of December next preceding, either as owner, agent, parent, spouse, guardian, executor, administrator, trustee, receiver, officer, partner, factor, or holder with the value thereof, on such thirty-first day of December, at the place of return, estimating according to the rules prescribed by law. (B) A manufacturer not under a fee agreement is not required to return personal property for ad valorem tax purposes if the property remains in this State at a manufacturing facility that has not been operational for one fiscal year and the personal property has not been used in operations for one fiscal year. The personal property is not required to be returned until the personal property becomes operational in a manufacturing process or until the property has not been returned for ad valorem tax purposes for four years, whichever is earlier. A manufacturer must continue to list the personal property annually and designate on the listing that the personal property is not subject to tax pursuant to this section. (C)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a taxpayer that meets the application requirements of item (2) is not required to pay business personal property taxes if the taxpayer has less than ten thousand dollars of net depreciated value of business personal property. (2) To claim the exemption allowed by item (1), a taxpayer must annually certify, under penalty of perjury, to the department in a manner prescribed by the department that the taxpayer has less than ten thousand dollars of net depreciated value of business personal property. The form prescribed by the department must contain a conspicuous notation citing the State of South Carolina Small Business Tax Cut of 2026 as the source of the exemption.