South Carolina · Manufacturing / Equipment · SC-CAP-001
Capital Investment Credit
Publication revised September 24, 2026. Sourcebook page 240.
Credit amount / calculation
0.5% to 2.5% of aggregate basis depending on recovery period; 10-year carryforward.
Business fit and eligible activity
Directly relevant to mills placing qualified manufacturing and productive equipment in service. Qualified investment or approved project activity; confirm eligible property, location and taxpayer type.
Eligibility and practical use
This is the kind of credit that can matter to a capital-intensive mill even when the project adds only a handful of jobs. Logging equipment deserves a separate eligibility check because mobile harvesting property may be treated differently from machinery used at a manufacturing site.
Illustrative business benefit
A sawmill places $2.40 million of qualifying production equipment in service: a scanner, edger, conveyors, controls, and related machinery. At the program's 0.5%- 2.5% range, the nominal credit would fall between $12,000 and $60,000, depending on the property class and other rules. Building work, mobile equipment, or nonqualifying software should be separated before the calculation.
Timing / first action
Tax-year claim: document the eligible expense, hire or placed-in-service date and meet any separate certification deadline. Get a written answer on which property is qualified - especially buildings, installation, software, used equipment, vehicles, and mobile machinery.
Official sources
Related programs
Abandoned Building Revitalization Credit
Credit based on qualified rehabilitation expenditures
Useful where a mill rehabilitates a qualifying abandoned industrial building; notice must precede expenditures.
Employer Child Care Program Credit
50% of eligible child-care startup costs
Forest-products employers establishing or operating qualified child care programs can claim a state credit.
New Jobs Credit
Per-job amount varies by county
Certain employers creating and maintaining 10+ jobs can receive county-tiered credits.
Clean Electricity Investment Credit (Internal Revenue Code §48E)
Generally
Potentially relevant when a forest-products facility owns qualifying zero-emission generation or energy-storage property.
Clean Electricity Production Credit (Internal Revenue Code §45Y)
Production-based
Alternative to the investment credit for owners/operators of qualifying clean-electricity facilities; potentially relevant to qualifying on-site generation.
Credit for Increasing Research Activities (Internal Revenue Code §41)
Regular research-credit method
A sawmill, secondary manufacturer or biomass business can qualify when it performs genuine technological experimentation to improve a product or process.