Taxes in Beaufort
South Carolina's real, two-bracket Act 110 income tax (1.99%/5.21%) applies to Beaufort residents the same as statewide, layered with a real, disclosed 6.0%-7.0% combined sales tax range and a property tax picture that carries a genuine, unresolved internal inconsistency across sources.
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Learn moreSouth Carolina's Act 110 income tax -- restated as place-level context
Act 110 (H.4216), signed March 30, 2026, restructured South Carolina's income tax from three graduated brackets into two, effective for tax year 2026: 1.99% on the first $30,000 of SC taxable income, 5.21% above that. Forbes's own retirement-destination coverage of Beaufort separately cites no state estate tax and no state tax on Social Security or the first $15,000 of other retirement income -- consistent with, not contradicting, this fuller mechanic.
Beaufort's combined sales tax: a real, disclosed range
Beaufort's combined sales tax rate carries a real, disclosed disagreement: some sources cite 6.0% (no local add-on, consistent with Bluffton's own rate elsewhere in this dataset), while others cite 7.0% (a 1.0% local component). Confirm the specific current rate for an exact address.
Property tax: a real, genuinely unresolved internal inconsistency
Beaufort's median effective property tax rate is cited at 0.69% (with real ZIP-level variance: 0.95% in 29906 versus 0.50% in 29907), yet Beaufort County's own median property tax bill of $1,319 on a $290,900 median-value home implies a meaningfully lower effective rate (roughly 0.45%) -- a real, disclosed inconsistency across sources, not reconciled here. Either way, Beaufort's property tax burden reads as a genuine relative bright spot.
Social Security exempt; retiree deductions are coordinated, not additive
South Carolina does not tax Social Security income at all. Residents 65+ get real, coordinated deductions capped at $15,000 combined for a single filer -- explicitly restated in Forbes's own Beaufort retirement-destination coverage. See retiring for the fuller mechanics.
Key takeaways
- South Carolina's Act 110 two-bracket income tax (1.99% under $30,000 SC taxable income, 5.21% above) applies to Beaufort residents same as statewide.
- Beaufort's combined sales tax carries a real, disclosed 6.0%-7.0% range depending on source.
- Property tax figures show a real, unresolved internal inconsistency across sources (0.69% cited effective rate vs. a ~0.45% rate implied by the median tax bill) -- either way, a genuine relative bright spot.
- Social Security is fully exempt; Forbes explicitly cites no state estate tax and no tax on the first $15,000 of other retirement income.
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