Work in South Carolina, Live in Georgia: Who Taxes Your Pay

The short answer

Does South Carolina tax a Georgia resident's paycheck?

Yes. South Carolina has no wage exemption for Georgia residents, so pay for work done in South Carolina is South Carolina income no matter where you sleep. SCDOR answers the commuter case directly in its general FAQ: a nonresident who works in South Carolina files the SC1040 with the Schedule NR, is taxed only on income earned in South Carolina, and prorates deductions. All personal service income earned in the state has to be reported.

A nonresident must file when South Carolina tax was withheld from wages or when there was South Carolina gross income, which covers nearly every Georgia commuter. The SCDOR online FAQ says the same thing in plainer words: a nonresident is generally required to file if they work in South Carolina.

Georgia, meanwhile, taxes full-year residents on all income, except tax-exempt income, regardless of the source. Your South Carolina wages therefore land on the Georgia return too. The overlap is settled by a Georgia credit for tax paid to another state, not by an exemption, which is why the order in which you prepare the two returns matters.

Paperwork

Which returns does a Georgia resident with a South Carolina job file?

Finish South Carolina first, since the Georgia credit depends on the tax it shows. On Schedule NR, Column A holds the total income from your federal return and Column B holds the part South Carolina taxes. For wages, Column B takes the pay reported to you as South Carolina income on your W-2 forms. Check the Schedule NR box on the front of the SC1040, attach the schedule and a copy of your federal return, and never mail the Schedule NR on its own: SCDOR says it cannot process a return submitted that way.

Georgia is strict about proof. The IT-511 booklet says no credit for taxes paid to another state will be allowed unless the other state's return is enclosed with the Georgia return.

Georgia credit

How does Georgia's credit for South Carolina tax work?

Georgia allows a credit for tax paid to another state on income taxable to Georgia and the other state. You figure it on the Worksheet for Other State(s) Tax Credit on page 34 of the IT-511 booklet and carry the total to Form 500, Line 18. Only state and U.S. local income tax imposed on net income counts, and South Carolina's individual income tax fits that description.

The worksheet ends with a lesser-of test: the credit is the lesser of Line 9 or Line 10. The part-year version of the same worksheet spells out the two amounts being compared, tax at the Georgia rate on the shared income and the tax shown on the other state's return for income taxed by Georgia. In practice:

• If South Carolina's tax on the wages is the smaller figure, the credit removes only that much Georgia tax, and you pay Georgia the rest.
• If South Carolina's tax is the larger figure, the credit stops at the Georgia tax on that income, and the extra South Carolina tax is not recovered.

Either way, you end up paying roughly the higher of the two state bills on the shared wages, not the sum. One more rule: the other-state tax you enter must be reduced by credits the other state allowed.

South Carolina math

How does South Carolina figure tax on a nonresident's wages?

Schedule NR does the proration. Line 45 divides South Carolina adjusted gross income in Column B by federal adjusted gross income in Column A. Line 47 multiplies your deduction by that percentage, and Line 48 subtracts it to reach South Carolina taxable income, which goes on SC1040, Line 5. If a South Carolina job is your only income, the proration is 100 percent.

For tax year 2025, a Line 5 amount under $100,000 is looked up in the SC1040TT tax tables. At $100,000 or more, the 2025 rate schedule is 6% of the Line 5 amount minus $642.

Tax year 2026 works differently. H. 4216, signed March 30, 2026, taxes income under $30,000 at 1.99% and income from $30,000 up at 5.21%, minus $966. It makes federal AGI the starting point and replaces the federal standard deduction with the South Carolina Income Adjusted Deduction (SCIAD): $15,000 for single filers, $22,500 for heads of household and $30,000 for joint filers. For a single filer, the SCIAD is cut by a fraction equal to federal AGI above $40,000 divided by $55,000, with the reduction rounded down to the next lowest ten dollars. For a nonresident, the SCIAD is then scaled to the same proportion that South Carolina AGI bears to federal AGI.

More cuts may follow. From tax year 2027, the law requires the top rate to be reduced further in years when the Board of Economic Advisors projects individual income tax revenue growth of 5% or more, so check the rate each year.

Withholding

What gets withheld, and does it cover both states?

South Carolina requires withholding from wages, so a South Carolina employer takes South Carolina tax from your first paycheck, based on the SC W-4 you complete. One 2026 wrinkle: the 2026 withholding formula posted by SCDOR, WH-1603F (Rev. 11/4/25), predates H. 4216 and still applies 6%, then subtracts $656.10, on annualized taxable income of $18,230 and above. H. 4216 tells SCDOR to adjust the withholding tables to reflect the new law, so a Georgia commuter may see South Carolina refunds at filing time until the tables change. Watch the SCDOR withholding page for a revised formula.

Georgia withholding is usually zero in this setup. Georgia's Employer's Tax Guide says withholding is not required for residents if the services are performed outside Georgia and the other state requires withholding. Any Georgia tax left after the Line 18 credit is therefore unpaid until you file. Georgia requires estimated tax when your expected gross income exceeds your dependent exemptions plus estimated deductions plus $1,000 of income not subject to withholding, so a Georgia balance can mean quarterly payments.

For 2026, the Georgia Department of Revenue lists a flat 4.99% rate and a $15,000 standard deduction for single filers.

Example: Georgia resident, all workdays in South Carolina, $60,000 salary (2026)

Approximate. Single filer, wages only, no dependents, using the 2026 rates and deductions announced by SCDOR and the Georgia DOR and the H. 4216 SCIAD phase-out. 2026 forms are not yet published, and the Georgia credit follows the 2025 worksheet logic with all income from South Carolina.

Home-office days

What changes if you work some days from home in Georgia?

SCDOR's rule for a nonresident is that you are taxed only on income earned in South Carolina, while Georgia taxes a resident on everything. Days spent working at a desk in Georgia are not days worked in South Carolina, so that pay drops out of South Carolina's column and stays only on the Georgia return, with no credit because no other state taxed it.

The catch is your W-2. Schedule NR, Line 1, Column B starts from wages reported to you as South Carolina income on your W-2 forms. If payroll codes every dollar to South Carolina even though you worked from home two days a week, your forms will not match your days. Keep a dated log of where you worked, ask payroll to split state wages by workdays, and raise any mismatch with SCDOR before you file.

For the Georgia days, withholding is not optional: Georgia's Employer's Tax Guide says employers are required to withhold Georgia income tax from the taxable wages of residents for services performed inside or outside Georgia. Employers could move to the new 4.99% rate from May 11, 2026. If your South Carolina employer is not set up for Georgia, raise it with payroll, and cover any gap with estimated payments.

Moving

What if you moved between Georgia and South Carolina this year?

A move makes you a part-year resident of both states. South Carolina lets a part-year resident pick either method for that year:

• Full-year resident: file the SC1040, report all income as though you lived in South Carolina all year, and claim the SC1040TC credit for tax paid to another state, attaching that state's return.
• Nonresident: file the SC1040 with Schedule NR, which taxes income earned while a South Carolina resident plus South Carolina-source income.

SCDOR says you may choose the method that is most beneficial, and the option exists only for the year you are a part-year resident. Run both before choosing.

On the Georgia side, a part-year resident enters residency status 2 on Form 500, lists the dates lived in Georgia and completes Schedule 3. The part-year credit worksheet starts from income earned in other state(s) while a Georgia resident, so South Carolina pay from the months before you became a Georgia resident does not count toward the Georgia credit. A copy of the South Carolina return must still be included, or the credit will not be allowed.

Dates

When are the South Carolina and Georgia returns due?

The calendar moved this year. Georgia's deadline for 2025 individual returns without an extension was April 15, 2026. SCDOR automatically extended the filing deadline for all 2025 South Carolina returns to October 15, 2026, but only for filing: you owe penalties if you did not pay at least 90% of your 2025 tax by April 15, 2026. The first returns under H. 4216 cover tax year 2026 and are due April 15, 2027.

Plan the cash too. South Carolina requires a Declaration of Estimated Tax, SC1040ES, if you expect to owe $100 or more when you file, and a nonresident uses the prior SC1040 and Schedule NR as the basis for the estimate. SCDOR's general guidance says an extension request made by paying on MyDORWAY is submitted automatically, with at least 90% of the tax due paid by the original deadline.

The figures on this page cover state income tax only. This is general information, not tax advice.