South Carolina · Workforce · SC-CHILD-001
Employer Child Care Program Credit
Publication revised September 24, 2026. Sourcebook page 241.
Credit amount / calculation
50% of eligible child-care startup costs, up to $100,000, plus a separate operating-cost component. Annual use limited to 50% of tax liability.
Business fit and eligible activity
Forest-products employers establishing or operating qualified child care programs can claim a state credit. Hiring, wages or qualifying training; where the program also requires investment, satisfy both tests.
Eligibility and practical use
Apply South Carolina's own startup and operating rules. The federal small-business child-care rate does not determine this state credit.
Illustrative business benefit
A mill incurs $80,000 of qualifying child-care startup costs. The startup credit is $40,000. If applicable state tax liability is $60,000, no more than $30,000 is usable that year under the 50% limit, before other restrictions.
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.
Capital Investment Credit
0.5% to 2
Directly relevant to mills placing qualified manufacturing and productive equipment in service.
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.
Employer-Provided Child Care Credit (Internal Revenue Code §45F)
For 2026+
Broad employer credit that can apply to logging companies and mills providing or contracting for qualified employee child care; substantially expanded for 2026.