South Carolina H 4695: House Rules, amendment limits

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4695 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 17, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4695

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS SO AS TO ENACT 
THE "SAVE OUR PROPERTY ACT"; AND BY ADDING SECTION 12-45-440 SO AS TO AUTHORIZE 
AN ASSESSOR TO DEFER PROPERTY TAXES UNTIL THE NEXT YEAR ON CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL 
OR AGRICULTURAL PROPERTY IF AN APPLICANT'S INCOME IS LESS THAN A CERTAIN 
PERCENTAGE OF THE COUNTY MEDIAN INCOME.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Save Our Property Act".

SECTION 2. Chapter 45, Title 12 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

 Section 
12-45-440. (A) An individual who 
owns residential or agricultural real property that is subject to property tax 
may file an application for relief with the assessor, pursuant to subsection 
(B), if the individual has owned the property for at least twenty years or inherited 
the property from an immediate family member. If the real property was 
inherited, the deceased family member and the owner's time of ownership 
combined must equal at least twenty years to be eligible. The application must 
be filed every year the individual seeks relief.

 (B) 
The assessor shall provide a form by which an application for relief may be 
filed. The assessor may require the submission of reasonable documentation of 
need, such as income tax returns, bank statements, and bills due in the tax 
year. The documentation must be accepted as true and the burden of proof is on 
the assessor to prove otherwise. The documentation provided is subject to 
public review through a Freedom of Information Act request. Personal 
identifying information may be redacted from the documentation except the name 
of the person filing the application for relief must not be redacted.

 (C)(1) Upon review of the application 
for relief and supporting documentation, the assessor shall defer all of the 
property tax due if the assessor determines that the individual's income is 
less than or equal to sixty percent of the county median income. If the 
individual's income is greater than sixty percent of the county median income 
but less than one hundred percent of the county median income, then the 
assessor may defer parts of property tax due until the next tax year. If the 
individual's income is greater than one hundred percent of the county median 
income, then the assessor may not defer any property tax due on the property 
unless the individual received a deferment pursuant to this section for the 
same property in the previous tax year. The assessor has the burden of proof to 
deny a deferment or any larger deferment. Any amount deferred is not subject to 
interest or penalties and is due the next tax year following the next year's 
property tax penalty schedule.

 (2) An 
individual may file the application for relief in consecutive tax years, and 
the assessor may defer all or parts of any previously deferred property tax 
until the next tax year in accordance with the provisions of item (1).

 (3) If 
the owner of a property that is receiving a deferment or for which an 
application has been made dies, then the deferment or application must be 
continued as though the owner was not deceased using the most recently 
available documentation. The continuation only may cease upon the transfer of 
the property to someone other than an immediate family member.

 (4) The 
assessor shall notify the treasurer of any deferment.

 (D) Any 
decision of the assessor made pursuant to this section may be appealed to the 
county board of assessment appeals in the manner set forth in Subarticle 9, 
Article 9, Chapter 60, Title 12.

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval 
by the Governor and applies to tax years beginning after 2025.

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This web page was last updated on December 17, 2025 at 01:53 PM