CharlestonBenefitfocus sold for $570 million
Charleston-based Benefitfocus agreed in November 2022 to be acquired by Voya Financial for about 570 million dollars in cash.
SCBiz, 2022
Sell a business in South Carolina
The road from today to the years after a sale runs through South Carolina's rules. Here it is in the order you will meet them: where you stand, what the state takes, the rules of the sale, who buys, and what the money can do after.
ComplexityLowTax on the gain6% 2025Deal volumeMedium
South Carolina is a mid-sized market, where the right buyers usually have to be found rather than met. The state takes a meaningful share of the gain, 6% at the top, with part of a long-term gain excluded. Little else gets in the way of the sale.
Tax on the gain: 44% of a long-term gain is excluded.
Today
Where you stand
South Carolina excludes 44 percent of a long-term gain and cut its top rate to 6 percent for 2025.
More than 530,000 small businesses employ 863,000 South Carolinians, and small firms created most of the state net new jobs in the latest count.
Small business base
0
small businesses
0
employees
0.0%
of workforce
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025
South Carolina had 530,402 small businesses, 99.4 percent of firms, employing 863,326 people, or 42.9 percent of the workforce.
One year of growth
0
net establishments
0
net jobs
0.0%
from small firms
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2024
Between March 2023 and March 2024 the state netted 3,114 establishments and 35,780 jobs, 70.9 percent of them from small firms.
New small-business lending
$0.0B
in reported new business lending in loans of 1 million dollars or less.
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025
The elements this touches
- TmTime The years before you want out. It feeds the exit-readiness score and never moves the price; every other decision is planned against it.
ListenThe South Carolina briefing, read aloud
The deal team on what changes when you sell a business in South Carolina.
Before the letter of intent
What South Carolina takes
The tax on the gain, and what to settle before a buyer names a price
The top rate fell to 6 percent for 2025, only 56 percent of a long-term gain is taxed, and a further cut is reported for 2026.
State tax on the gain
0%
44% of a long-term gain is excluded.
South Carolina Department of Revenue, 2025
A founder on film
On what he learned about tax on the way to the sale.
Lewis Titus Wastewater purification and manufacturing · Wyoming
Top rate now 6 percent
The top marginal individual income tax rate is 6 percent for tax year 2025, down from 6.2 percent in 2024.
44 percent of gains deducted
Individuals, estates and trusts deduct 44 percent of net capital gain recognised in South Carolina from taxable income.
Two brackets from 2026
H.4216 (Act 110, signed March 30, 2026) replaces the brackets for tax years after 2025 with 1.99 percent under 30,000 dollars and 5.21 percent above.
The rate is the state's top rate on the gain for the year shown, the same figure as the indicator in the hero, so the two can never disagree.
The elements this touches
- TxTax Strategy The deal and entity structure, set before the letter of intent. FNDRS tracks whether it is in place. It never moves the price; it changes what you keep.
- ApAfter-Tax Proceeds What you keep at close. FNDRS records the pre-tax walk-away and the gap to your number. It never moves the price, and the tax on it is a question for your CPA.
Under contract and at closing
The rules of the sale
The rules a sale in South Carolina runs under
No mandatory bulk-sale filing, but unpaid taxes ride with the assets, so buyers ask for a tax compliance certificate; non-competes are enforced when reasonable.
01Form C-268, valid 30 days
A Certificate of Tax Compliance (Form C-268, 60 dollar fee) is optional but standard at closing; it is valid 30 days and usually issues within 7 to 10 days.
Gem McDowell Law Group, 2024
02Old tax is a lien
Any tax the business owed on or before the transfer date is a lien on the assets in the buyer's hands.
Gem McDowell Law Group, 2022
03Sale covenants judged more leniently
Non-competes are enforced with consideration, a legitimate interest and reasonable time and territory; sale-of-business covenants are judged by different, more lenient rules.
Charleston Law
The elements this touches
- LcLegal & Compliance Contracts, licences, and filings in order and enforceable. The FNDRS valuation reads it, and the score moves the multiple.
- DrData Room The documents a buyer will ask for, ready before they ask. FNDRS tracks it in the deal-readiness report card; it decides how fast and how cleanly a deal closes.
One thing you would not guess
Only 56 percent of a long-term gain is taxed, so the effective top state rate on a 2025 exit is about 3.4 percent.
With 44 percent excluded and a 6 percent top rate, a 100,000 dollar gain is taxed as 56,000 dollars, an effective rate near 3.36 percent.
When the process opens
Who buys
Who shows up for a business in South Carolina
Charleston software and Greenville banking produced the best-known South Carolina founder exits, sold to national buyers.
StatewideBlackbaud, the largest software listing
Blackbaud, founded in 1981 and moved to Mount Pleasant in 1989, is the largest publicly traded software company headquartered in the state.
South Carolina Department of Commerce, 1989
GreenvilleSouth Financial went to TD
Greenville-based South Financial Group, founded in 1986 as Carolina First, was acquired by Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Wikipedia
The elements this touches
- SyStrategic Synergy What one buyer gains that another cannot. The buyer at the table prices it, which is why the sell-side process goes looking for them.
Day 0, and the years after
After the close
What South Carolina lets the proceeds do
Since May 2025 a South Carolina trust can run 360 years, putting the state alongside the established dynasty trust jurisdictions.
CloseDay 0
Proceeds land. What the state keeps of them is settled above; what it lets them do from here is below.
H.3432, from 2025360 yrs
H.3432, signed in May 2025, stretched the wait-and-see perpetuities period from 90 to 360 years.
Where FNDRS comes in
The post-exit wealth plan is the third act of the same engagement, and it starts in diligence, before the letter of intent, when a move or a trust can still change the answer.
FNDRSThe elements this touches
- EsEstate Architecture Trusts and ownership set up before the letter of intent. It changes what the family keeps, not what a buyer pays.
- ApAfter-Tax Proceeds What you keep at close. FNDRS records the pre-tax walk-away and the gap to your number. It never moves the price, and the tax on it is a question for your CPA.
People who walked it
Founders
Founders who worked with FNDRS, in their own words
From founders elsewhere
What founders say about working with FNDRS
No founder in South Carolina is quoted yet. These are founders in other states, quoted word for word, each described by role and state.
1 of 3
“I definitely don't think we'd be in the same spot without you guys.”
Founders in South Carolina
South Carolina owners on working with FNDRS
Short testimonials from owners who went through the FNDRS process. Most are under two minutes.
Nearby
Other states in the South
| South | Tax on the gain | Complexity | Deal volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 5% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Arkansas | 3.9% 2025 | Low | Low |
| Delaware | 6.6% 2025 | Medium | Very low |
| Florida | None 2025 | Medium | Very high |
| Georgia | 5.19% 2025 | Medium | High |
| Kentucky | 4% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Louisiana | 3% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Maryland | 8.5% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Mississippi | 4.4% 2025 | Low | Low |
| North Carolina | 4.25% 2025 | Medium | High |
| Oklahoma | 4.75% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Tennessee | None 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Texas | None 2025 | Medium | Very high |
| Virginia | 5.75% 2025 | Medium | High |
| West Virginia | 4.82% 2025 | Medium | Low |
Your next step
The road starts with one step
Know where you stand in fifteen minutes, or talk the South Carolina sale through with a dealmaker. Either way, no pitch and no obligation.
Selling in South Carolina? Start with a conversation
No pitch and no obligation. If the honest answer is not yet, we will say so, and say what to work on.