The Treasurer does not determine property tax amounts. The amount of tax money needed is decided by each of the area's taxing authorities. The Assessor's Office determines appraisal values for real property while the Auditor calculates the tax.

The Treasurer does not maintain property or owner records. The Assessor and Auditor maintain these records and are dependent on taxpayers to notify their offices of changes in address.

Sections 12-45-220 and 6-5-10 of the S.C. Code of Laws limit the Treasurer as to where public funds may be invested. These code sections allow investment: a) in obligations of the United States and its agencies within the United States that are fully guaranteed by the federal government; b) in bonds or certificates of indebtedness of the State of South Carolina and its agencies; c) in shares of any building and loan association insured by an agency of the United States; and d) with banking institutions of South Carolina.

Checks or money orders made payable to Charleston County Treasurer can be mailed to:

Charleston County Treasurer, P.O. Box 878, Charleston, SC 29402-0878

The Treasurer's Office does accept cash, checks and money orders and credit card payments at all Treasurer's office locations. You can also pay online with your Visa, MasterCard, AMEX or Discover by clicking here. There is a surcharge involved with paying by credit card online.

After your payment is processed, we will mail your receipt to the mailing address listed on the tax bill. If you filled out the change of address information attached to the remittance, we will send the receipt to the new address indicated on the form.

No. South Carolina state law does not allow the Treasurer to accept partial payments for individual tax bills.

Taxes on motor vehicles and recreational vehicles must be paid before your license plate tags can be renewed. These taxes are due by the last day of the month in which your tag expires.

If you pay your vehicle taxes on time, you will receive your registration renewal sticker in the mail (usually within 10 days of payment). Please make sure that your address is correct and that your insurance certification is provided when required. The registration renewal fee charged by the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) appears on your tax bill every other year. If you pay your vehicle taxes after the expiration of your license tag, you will need to go to a local DMV office to show your paid tax receipt. Then, a new sticker will be issued to you in person. If this occurs in a year when you were charged a renewal fee on your tax bill, the DMV will charge you a late renewal fee at that time.

When you purchase a vehicle from a dealership, their personnel are allowed to pick up your registration and license tags without paying the local property taxes. The tax you paid to the dealership at the time of purchase was the South Carolina state sales tax.

The state of South Carolina has a stalking law which prohibits a search by tag or VIN number. Therefore, no one can find out your name or address simply by recording your vehicle information and accessing this site.

Taxes on real and other personal property (not motor vehicles) are due by January 15 of the following year without penalty. For example, a real estate property tax bill dated October 2000 is payable by January 15, 2001, without penalty. The penalty structure on real estate and other personal property (not motor vehicles for 2007 tax bills) is as follows:

- 3 percent penalty due if paid after January 15

- additional 7 percent due, or 10 percent total, if paid after February 1

- additional 5 percent due, or 15 percent total, if paid after March 17, and the bill is sent to the Delinquent Tax Department.

We receive mortgage information from several different companies prior to the mailing of real estate property tax bills. Therefore, the code listed on the tax bill is the latest information provided to us. Please forward a copy of the tax bill to your current mortgage holder so that your taxes can be paid from your current escrow account.

At this time, you can pay with a valid VISA or MasterCard credit or debit card. Pursuant to Visa guidelines, if you choose to pay with your Visa debit card you will be assessed a flat fee which can vary based upon the tax amount due. Contact your credit card provider for further details .

Real Estate, Mobile Homes, Personal Property and Motor Vehicle accounts can be paid online. However, if there is a delinquent tax amount due on the property, the account cannot be paid online.

Payments may be entered up until 10:00 p.m. The system is shut down overnight for batch processing and is available the following morning at 8:00 a.m. Refer to the main Tax Web Site page for scheduled system availability.

The payment will be dated on the day of your transaction. Payment transactions entered Monday - Thursday will be reflected on tax bill information the next day; payment transactions entered Friday - Sunday will be reflected on tax bill information on Monday.

The funds will be drafted from your account on the day of your transaction.

Currently, only one tax bill at a time. When the confirmation screen appears for your completed transaction, you can choose to return to the main payment screen to select and pay another tax bill.

After your payment is posted, you will get a confirmation page for your records. Print the confirmation page as instructed. You also will receive a confirmation by e-mail. This is one reason your e-mail address is required for the online payment. A regular tax payment receipt will be mailed to you within three business days of the transaction.

Yes, the notification of your payment will be sent to the DMV just as if you paid by mail or in the office.

No. Part of the online payment process requires you to specify your insurance carrier name for registration renewal.

At this time the answer is no. However that may change in the future.

There is a charge to the taxpayer for this service. The surcharge will be displayed before the transaction is completed so that you may opt out if you so choose.

It will be noted on your confirmation page that a problem occurred. Additionally, the Treasurer's Office and the Webmaster will receive an e-mail describing the nature of the problem. The Treasurer's Office will see that your payment processing is completed and notify you.

Yes. Charleston County's secure payment server was certified as using the strongest available 128-bit encryption through a national service called VeriSign. Each payment transaction is authenticated and verified by this national service through a security check.