How to Get a South Carolina Liquor License

Last updated: September 11, 2026

In South Carolina the insurance policy costs more thought than the license. Since January 1, 2026, any business licensed for on-premises consumption that stays open after 5 p.m. must carry at least $1 million in liquor liability coverage. The Senate voted to suspend that mandate in April 2026 — and the suspension never became law, so it is in force today. The good news is that the statute tells you exactly how to buy the number down: close by midnight, train your staff, keep alcohol under 40% of sales, scan IDs late at night. The floor is $300,000.

Server Training Here Is an Insurance Lever, Not a Card

South Carolina issues no individual bartender license. Training matters for a different reason — it is one of the statutory factors that reduces the coverage you are required to carry:

• The requirement: all employees who serve alcohol complete a server training course under Title 61, Chapter 3 (an SCDOR-approved program), within sixty days of employment in that capacity.
• The payoff: a $100,000 reduction in your required annual aggregate liquor liability limit.
• Why it is worth doing regardless: the training factor stacks with the others, and the reduction applies every year you hold the license.
• Track it per employee and per hire date — the clock runs from when someone starts serving, not from when you adopt a policy.

The Licenses, the Filing Fees, and the Insurance Rule

South Carolina licenses run on a two-year cycle, and every application carries a separate non-refundable filing fee due up front:

• Business (Restaurant & Hotel) Liquor by the Drink (PLB) — $200 filing fee plus $1,705 due every two years at renewal.
• On-Premises Beer & Wine Permit (PBW) — $300 filing fee plus $600 every two years.
• Liquor liability insurance of at least $1 million for any on-premises licensee open after 5 p.m. — a licensing condition, not an optional protection. Per-occurrence coverage must be at least 50 percent of the aggregate.
• The filing fee is not refundable if the application is denied, so resolve zoning and local objections before you file.

What It Costs

Item	Cost	Notes
Bartender/server card	$0	South Carolina issues none
Server training (per employee)	Provider-priced	Within 60 days of employment; cuts required coverage by $100,000
Liquor by the Drink (PLB) — filing fee	$200	Non-refundable, due at application
Liquor by the Drink (PLB) — license	$1,705	Every two years at renewal
On-Premises Beer & Wine (PBW) — filing fee	$300	Non-refundable
On-Premises Beer & Wine (PBW) — license	$600	Every two years
Liquor liability insurance	$1,000,000 minimum	Open after 5 p.m.; reducible to a $300,000 floor; per occurrence at least 50% of the aggregate
South Carolina LLC	$110	Articles of Organization, S.C. Code 33-44-202 and 33-44-203

The $1 Million Mandate Survived — and the Statute Tells You How to Shrink It

Two things about South Carolina’s liquor liability rule get reported wrong, and both change what an operator should do.

First, it is still law. Act 42 took effect January 1, 2026, requiring on-premises licensees open after 5 p.m. to carry a liquor liability policy, or a general liability policy with a liquor liability endorsement, with an annual aggregate limit of at least one million dollars. In April 2026 the Senate voted to suspend that mandate for a year. It was a budget proviso, and the budget conference committee stripped it after finding it violated House budget rules — so it never became law, and by August 2026 owners had been told the relief was not coming. If you read a headline saying the requirement was suspended, that headline was about a vote, not a statute.

Second, the million is a starting point, not a fixed price. The statute lists mitigation factors that reduce the required annual aggregate:

• Stop serving alcohol by midnight — reduce by $250,000. The biggest single lever.
• Employees complete server training — reduce by $100,000.
• Alcohol is less than 40% of sales — reduce by $100,000.
• Forensic ID verification system used between midnight and 4 a.m. — reduce by $100,000.

The floor is firm: a permanent licensee must at all times maintain an annual aggregate of at least $300,000, no matter how many factors are met. So a food-led restaurant that closes at midnight and trains its staff is operating in a very different insurance market from a late-night bar, and those are business decisions with a directly measurable annual cost attached.

How to Get Licensed, In Order

1. Decide your hours and your alcohol share first — closing by midnight and staying under 40% alcohol are worth $350,000 of required coverage between them.
2. Get quotes early. The policy is a condition of licensing, so it belongs in the budget before the application, not after.
3. Register the entity with the Secretary of State ($110).
4. File with SCDOR for the license type you need, paying the non-refundable filing fee.
5. Train every server within 60 days of hire under Title 61, Chapter 3 — and keep the records, since the reduction depends on them.
6. Diary the two-year renewal along with your policy renewal so coverage never lapses below your required aggregate.

Staying Licensed

Licenses renew every two years — $1,705 for liquor by the drink, $600 for on-premises beer and wine. The insurance requirement is continuous, not a filing: a permanent licensee must at all times maintain the required annual aggregate, with a hard floor of $300,000, and per-occurrence coverage of at least 50 percent of that aggregate. If you change your hours, your alcohol mix, or your training practice, your required limit changes with them, so re-check the arithmetic at each policy renewal rather than rolling last year’s number forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does South Carolina require liquor liability insurance?

Yes, and it is the largest number on this page. A business licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption that stays open after 5 p.m. must carry a liquor liability policy — or a general liability policy with a liquor liability endorsement — with an annual aggregate limit of at least $1 million. The requirement took effect January 1, 2026 under Act 42.

Was the South Carolina $1 million liquor liability requirement suspended?

No. This is widely misunderstood because the Senate did vote in April 2026 to suspend the mandate for a year. That suspension was a budget proviso, and it was stripped in the budget conference committee after being found to violate House budget rules — so it never became law. Reporting in August 2026 confirmed bar owners were denied the temporary relief. Plan on the requirement being in force.

How can I reduce the $1 million liquor liability requirement in South Carolina?

By meeting mitigation factors written into the statute. Stopping alcohol service by midnight cuts $250,000. Having your employees complete an approved server training course cuts $100,000. Keeping alcohol under 40% of sales cuts $100,000. Using a forensic ID verification system between midnight and 4 a.m. cuts another $100,000. No matter how many you stack, a permanent licensee must maintain at least $300,000 in coverage. The policy must also cover at least 50 percent of that aggregate per occurrence.

How much is a liquor license in South Carolina?

Licenses run on a two-year cycle with a separate non-refundable filing fee. A Business (Restaurant and Hotel) Liquor by the Drink license is a $200 filing fee plus $1,705 every two years. An On-Premises Beer and Wine Permit is a $300 filing fee plus $600 every two years. The filing fee is due when you apply and you do not get it back if you are denied. After SCDOR approves the application you pay a prorated amount of the license fee.

Does South Carolina require alcohol server training?

It is tied to the insurance rule rather than being a standalone card. To claim the server training mitigation factor that reduces your required coverage by $100,000, all employees who serve alcohol must complete a server training course under Title 61, Chapter 3 within sixty days of employment in that capacity. South Carolina issues no individual bartender license.

What happens to my required coverage if I stop serving at midnight?

Your required annual aggregate drops by $250,000 — the single largest mitigation factor in the statute. For a bar deciding whether late-night trade pays, that reduction belongs in the math alongside the revenue those hours bring in, because it changes your insurance cost every year you hold the license.

Forming the company, taxes, insurance, and hiring are covered in our full guide to starting a business in South Carolina.

Sources

Source	What It Covers
South Carolina Code § 61-2-145 — Liability insurance coverage required	The $1 million annual aggregate requirement for on-premises licensees open after 5 p.m. effective January 1 2026, per-occurrence coverage of at least 50 percent of the aggregate, the mitigation factors and their reductions, the $300,000 floor, and server training within sixty days of employment
SC Department of Revenue — ABL Updates: How H.3430 Impacts Your Business	SCDOR guidance on the Act 42 insurance requirement and mitigation factors
SC Department of Revenue — Business (Restaurant & Hotel) Liquor by the Drink (PLB)	$200 non-refundable filing fee and $1,705 due every two years; prorated license fee after approval
SC Department of Revenue — On-Premises Beer & Wine Permit (PBW)	$300 non-refundable filing fee and $600 due every two years
SC Legislature — Bill 397, liquor liability insurance	The 2026 legislative activity around the liquor liability requirement
SC Secretary of State — Business Entities filing forms and fees	Limited Liability Company domestic Articles of Organization $110.00, S.C. Code 33-44-202 and 33-44-203