Tax credits available to agribusinesses for purchasing SC-grown products

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State agribusinesses have until Sept. 30 to apply for tax credits intended to reward companies for buying S.C.-grown products.

Income tax credits or withholding tax credits are available to qualified agribusinesses or agricultural packaging operations which purchase more than $100,000 of products certified by the S.C. Department of Agriculture as grown in the state in a base year. Companies must then increase the amount of S.C.-grown products purchased the following year by at least 15%, according to a news release from the agricultural department.

Eligible companies may claim an income tax credit or a credit against employee withholding as decided by the S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development. An individual taxpayer may not be awarded a credit in excess of $100,000 during any calendar year, and the maximum amount of tax credits allowed to all qualifying taxpayers may not exceed $2 million.

The deadline to apply for credits is September 30.

More information is available online or by contacting Alden Dalton, General Counsel at the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, at 803-734-2225 or [email protected].

South Carolina’s agribusiness industry has an annual economic impact of more than $46 billion and employs more than 240,000 workers, according to the state agricultural department. Those businesses include at least 25,000 farms as well as food producers and timber-related operations.

Other tax credits, including milk and water resources credits, are available to qualified businesses. More information is available online at the S.C. Department of Revenue website.