South Carolina Workers' Comp Rate Calculator

Workers' comp in South Carolina: what's different

For private businesses, South Carolina is a carrier market. You buy from a licensed insurer, use the NCCI-administered assigned risk plan, or qualify to self-insure. The State Accident Fund is a state agency covering the State and any county or municipality that opts in; its statute does not extend it to private employers. The Workers' Compensation Commission (WCC) enforces the coverage rule and handles claims. The Department of Insurance (SCDOI) reviews loss costs filed by NCCI, the state's licensed rating organization.

Who must carry coverage

The trigger is four. Under Section 42-1-150, private employment is covered when four or more employees are regularly employed in the same business, and the WCC counts part-time workers and family members. Section 42-1-360 also exempts an employer whose payroll for the previous calendar year was under $3,000. Nonprofits get no special treatment.

The Act also does not reach:

• Casual workers, meaning work that is both casual and outside your trade or business.
• Agricultural employees and state and county fair associations, unless the employer elects coverage.
• Railroads, railway express companies, and federal employees.
• Commission real estate salespeople on straight commission under a signed independent contractor agreement with a broker.
• Owner-operator truck drivers supplying their own vehicle under a valid independent contractor contract.

A 1099 does not settle the question. The WCC looks at control, who furnishes equipment, how the worker is paid, and the right to fire. It does not issue exemption certificates.

Owners. A sole proprietor or partner actively working in the business may elect to be covered by notifying the insurer. A corporate officer can reject the Act by filing Form 5, Corporate Officer Notice to Reject, with the insurer and giving the employer a copy.

Opting in and out. An exempt employer comes under the Act by filing written notice with the Commission (effective 30 days later) or by buying a policy, and stays under it until filing Form 38, Notice of Withdrawal from the Act.

Construction. Section 42-1-400 makes an owner liable to injured workers of a subcontractor doing part of the owner's trade, and the WCC says a general contractor answers for those statutory employees when a sub is uninsured. That is why a GC may demand a policy from a sub with fewer than four employees. Under Section 42-1-415, if you collected proof of the sub's insurance on a standard form acceptable to the Commission at hiring, you or your carrier pay first and can then petition to move the claim to the Uninsured Employers' Fund and be reimbursed.

Where coverage comes from

Section 42-5-20 requires an authorized insurer or proof to the Commission that you can pay claims directly. Self-insurers file three years of audited GAAP statements with the WCC's Self-Insurance Division, buy excess insurance, post a surety bond or letter of credit, and pay a yearly tax of 2.5% of total paid program expenses. Similar businesses may pool as a group self-insurer, regulated by the Commission rather than SCDOI. SCDOI's 2025 market report says insurance companies provide 72% of coverage, with the rest from group self-insured funds (naming the State Accident Fund) and individual self-insurers.

Who sets rates

NCCI has been licensed here since 1947. Its loss costs cover expected claims only; each carrier adds its own loss cost multiplier for expenses and profit. Carriers must file to adopt newly approved loss costs within 60 days of approval, effective within 120 days of NCCI's date. SCDOI caps workers' comp schedule credits and debits at 25%. The state uses 581 class codes; roofing is NCCI code 5551.

Overall loss costs fell every year from 2018 to 2024 and held flat in 2025. On October 15, 2025, NCCI filed a 0.4% overall decrease for April 1, 2026, which SCDOI's December 31, 2025 report listed as under review. A January 22, 2026 SCDOI order then based assigned risk rates on "the April 1, 2026, South Carolina voluntary market loss costs." We did not find a separate approval notice on SCDOI's website.

Experience rating

NCCI develops the experience modification factor, comparing your losses by class code to the average for your class. Manual premium times the mod gives standard premium. We did not find NCCI's South Carolina eligibility threshold on an official public page.

If no insurer will write you

The South Carolina Workers' Compensation Insurance Plan, administered by NCCI, is the fallback. SCDOI says it serves employers whose type of business no insurer writes, who have a poor claims history, or who have few employees. Servicing carriers are picked by competitive bid and must accept every eligible applicant. SCDOI's report, using NCCI data, puts the residual market at 3.3% of the state's 2024 direct written premium.

Plan rates must be self-funding. For industrial class codes, SCDOI Order No. 2026-001 sets them at the April 1, 2026 voluntary loss costs times 3.604, up from 3.308 under Order No. 2025-001.

Penalties for going uninsured

• Daily fine. Section 42-5-40: $1 per employee per day, at least $10 and at most $100 a day.
• Lawsuits. While uninsured, you are liable to an injured worker either for comp or in a suit for damages.
• Crime. Willful refusal to insure is a misdemeanor (Section 42-5-45): $100 to $1,000, 30 days to six months in jail, or both.
• Liens. The Uninsured Employers' Fund, run by the State Accident Fund's director, pays or defends claims against uninsured employers and can lien your assets, collecting much as the Department of Revenue collects taxes.

The WCC's Compliance Division investigates claims with no apparent coverage and prosecutes employers who fail to insure.

Your ongoing obligations

• Post Form 2, the Employer's Notice of Being Subject to the Act (Regulation 67-301), with your carrier's name, address, and phone number filled in.
• Log every injury on Form 12A and keep it two years. If treatment costs under $500, with no more than one lost workday and no permanency, you may pay the bills yourself without a report.
• Report bigger claims. At $500 or more in treatment, more than one missed workday, or likely permanency, send Form 12A to your carrier immediately. The carrier files it with the WCC within ten business days once medical costs reach $2,500 or there is compensable lost time or permanency. The WCC lists a $200 fine for a Form 12A not filed as the Act requires.
• Proof of coverage is filed by your carrier within 30 days of the policy start.

Workers must report an accident within 90 days unless the Commission accepts a reasonable excuse and finds you were not prejudiced.

Worked example: how the calculator estimates premium

Premium = (payroll / 100) x rate per $100 x experience mod

We found no public SCDOI or NCCI page posting the South Carolina code 5551 loss cost, so the $6.00 loss cost below is illustrative only. It is not South Carolina's filed code 5551 loss cost. The voluntary multiplier, payroll, and mod are hypothetical. Only the 3.604 assigned risk multiplier is official (Order No. 2026-001).

• Hypothetical roofing payroll: $200,000
• Illustrative loss cost (not the filed 5551 figure): $6.00
• Illustrative voluntary multiplier: 1.40
• Hypothetical experience mod: 0.95

Step by step

1. Payroll in hundreds: $200,000 / 100 = 2,000
2. Rate per $100: $6.00 x 1.40 = $8.40
3. Premium before the mod: 2,000 x $8.40 = $16,800.00
4. Apply the mod: $16,800.00 x 0.95 = $15,960.00

In the assigned risk plan, the same illustrative $6.00 times 3.604 is $21.624 per $100. On $200,000 of payroll that is $43,248.00, or $41,085.60 after the mod.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• SC Workers' Compensation Commission, Employer FAQs
• SC Workers' Compensation Commission, Coverage and Compliance FAQs
• SC Workers' Compensation Commission, Compliance Division
• SC Workers' Compensation Commission, Compliance Poster
• SC Workers' Compensation Commission, Fines and Penalties
• SC Workers' Compensation Commission, Self-Insurance Division
• SC Code of Regulations, Chapter 67 (WCC copy), Regulations 67-301, 67-402, 67-403, 67-404, 67-411
• S.C. Code Title 42, Chapter 1 (Sections 42-1-130, 42-1-150, 42-1-360, 42-1-380, 42-1-400, 42-1-415)
• S.C. Code Title 42, Chapter 5 (Sections 42-5-20, 42-5-40, 42-5-45)
• S.C. Code Title 42, Chapter 7 (State Accident Fund, Sections 42-7-10, 42-7-40, 42-7-50; Uninsured Employers' Fund, Section 42-7-200)
• S.C. Code Title 42, Chapter 15 (Section 42-15-20)
• S.C. Code Title 42, Chapter 19 (Sections 42-19-10, 42-19-50)
• SC Department of Insurance, 2025 Status Report on the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Insurance Market (December 31, 2025)
• SC Department of Insurance, Order No. 2026-001, Self-Funded Rates for the Workers' Compensation Assigned Risk Plan (January 22, 2026)
• SC Department of Insurance, Order No. 2025-001 (December 23, 2024)
• SC Department of Insurance, Property & Casualty
• NCCI, Summary of the Proposed South Carolina Workers Compensation Loss Cost Filing Effective April 1, 2026
• NCCI, AIS 2026 State of the Line presentation (class 5551, Roofing)

Sources accessed 2026-10-17.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission.

Reviewer: Sam Newland, CFP, Founder of Benefitra. Last updated October 17, 2026. How the calculator works. Editorial policy.