South Carolina § 38-7-20 - Insurance premium taxes; allocation.

§ 38-7-20. Insurance premium taxes; allocation.

(A)(1) In addition to all license fees and taxes otherwise provided by law, there is levied upon each insurance company licensed by the director or his designee an insurance premium tax based upon total premiums, other than workers' compensation insurance premiums, and annuity considerations, written by the company in the State during each calendar year ending on the thirty-first day of December. For life insurance, the insurance premium tax levied herein is equal to three-fourths of one percent of the total premiums written. For all other types of insurance, the insurance premium tax levied in this section is equal to one and one-fourth percent of the total premiums written.

(2) For purposes of this section, in computing total premiums, the following are excluded:

(a) return premiums on risks and dividends paid or credited to policyholders; and

(b) for premiums on bail bonds, any amounts retained by a licensed bail bondsman as defined in Chapter 53 for authorized commissions, fees, and expenses.

(B) Effective July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2030, of the revenue of the premium taxes collected pursuant to this section:

(1) one percent must be transferred to the South Carolina Forestry Commission and used by that agency for firefighting and firefighting equipment replacement;

(2) one percent must be transferred to the V-SAFE program pursuant to Section 23-9-25;

(3) one quarter of one percent must be transferred to the aid to emergency medical services regional councils within the Department of Health and Environmental Control and used for grants to fund emergency medical technician and paramedic training; and

(4) the remaining insurance premium taxes collected pursuant to this section must be deposited to the credit of the general fund of the State.

(C) The department or the director, as appropriate, may, upon notice and opportunity for all interested persons to be heard, promulgate regulations and orders necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code SECTION 38-7-20 [1960 (51) 1554; 1962 Code SECTION 37-172; 1964 (53) 2139; 1982 Act No. 403, SECTION 2] recodified as SECTION 38-63-520 by 1987 Act No. 155, SECTION 1; Former 1976 Code SECTION 38-5-520 [1986 Act No. 540, Part II, SECTION 31 B] recodified as SECTION 38-7-20 by 1987 Act No. 155, SECTION 1; 1987 Act No. 170, Part II, SECTION 40 B (amendment to former 1976 Code SECTION 38-5-520 transferred to SECTION 38-7-20 by 1987 Act No. 155, SECTION 24]; 1993 Act No. 181, SECTION 534; 2003 Act No. 73, SECTION 2, eff June 25, 2003; 2012 Act No. 271, SECTION 1, eff July 1, 2013; 2016 Act No. 273 (S.973), SECTION 1, eff July 1, 2017; 2019 Act No. 6 (S.360), SECTION 4.A, eff July 1, 2019; 2020 Act No. 149 (S.753), SECTION 1, eff September 28, 2020.

Editor's Note

2016 Act No. 273, SECTION 2, provides as follows:

"SECTION 2. This act takes effect on July 1, 2017, and first applies to Fiscal Year 2017-2018."

2020 Act No. 149, SECTION 2, provides as follows:

"SECTION 2. Upon the effective date of this act, the State Treasurer shall transfer to the V-SAFE Program any funds in the aid to fire districts account that are attributable to insurance premium taxes credited to the account pursuant to Section 38-7-20."

Effect of Amendment

2016 Act No. 273, SECTION 1, rewrote (B), adding (1) through (4).

2019 Act No. 6, SECTION 4.A, in (A), inserted the (1) identifier, deleted the fourth sentence, which related to computing total premiums, and inserted (2), relating to the exclusion of certain factors from the computation of total premiums; and added (C), relating to the promulgation of regulations.

2020 Act No. 149, SECTION 1, in (B), rewrote (2).