South Carolina does not offer a professional LLC

What South Carolina offers instead

How do you form a professional corporation in South Carolina instead?

1. 1

   Confirm who may hold shares and practise

   A professional corporation may render professional services in South Carolina only through individuals licensed or otherwise authorized here, and it may issue shares only to persons the chapter allows. It is confined to a single profession unless each profession's licensing law authorizes the combination.

   Source: S.C. Code §§ 33-19-110, 33-19-130, 33-19-200

2. 2

   Use a professional corporation designator

   The name must contain "professional corporation", "professional association", "service corporation" or "chartered", or "P.C.", "PC", "P.A." or "PA". It may not imply a purpose beyond the one authorized and must conform with any rule of the licensing authority for the profession.

   Source: S.C. Code § 33-19-150 · SC Secretary of State Form F0023

3. 3

   File F0023 with the initial annual report

   Deliver Articles of Incorporation Professional Corporation (F0023) to the Secretary of State, stating that the corporation is a professional corporation and the professional services it will render, and pay the filing fee set by the state. The form must be accompanied by the first report to corporations (CL-1) and carries an attorney's certificate of compliance with Chapter 2.

   Have LLCity prepare and file it ›

   Source: S.C. Code § 33-19-109 · SC Secretary of State Form F0023

4. 4

   Appoint a registered agent at a registered office

   Each corporation must continuously maintain a registered office and a registered agent in South Carolina, whose business office is identical with the registered office. The agent may be a resident individual or a domestic or authorized foreign corporation, and signs the articles to consent to the appointment.

   What South Carolina requires of your agent, and how we serve as it ›

   Source: S.C. Code § 33-5-101 · SC Secretary of State Form F0023

5. 5

   File the annual report with the Department of Revenue

   Every domestic corporation files an annual report with the South Carolina Department of Revenue, on or before the fifteenth day of the fourth month after the close of its taxable year.

   Source: S.C. Code § 12-20-20

Steps checked against the sources linked under each one on 12 November 2026.

Which occupations does South Carolina treat as professional?

A general licence test. § 33-19-103(7): "professional service" means "a service that may be rendered lawfully only by a person licensed or otherwise authorized by a licensing authority in this State to render the service and that may not be lawfully rendered by a corporation under chapters 1 through 17 of this title"; § 33-19-103(5) defines "licensing authority" as the officer, board, agency, court or other authority empowered to license the service. § 33-19-110 confines a professional corporation to a single profession and ancillary services unless the licensing law of each profession in a combination authorizes it. § 33-19-130 permits the corporation to render professional services only through licensed or authorized individuals.

Does the agent requirement differ from an ordinary South Carolina LLC’s?

No. South Carolina sets no separate agent requirement for a professional entity — it is the same requirement an ordinary South Carolina LLC files under.

Under § 33-19-102(1) the Business Corporation Act's agent rule applies: § 33-5-101 requires each corporation to continuously maintain a registered office and a registered agent, who may be a resident individual or a domestic or authorized foreign corporation whose business office is identical with the registered office. Form F0023 asks for the initial registered office street address and the agent's signed consent. The term is registered agent; the LLC act (§ 33-44-108) instead says agent for service of process.

Why South Carolina answers this way

South Carolina has no PLLC. The Secretary of State's entity table lists Business Corporations, Statutory Close Corporations, Professional Corporations (§ 33-19-101 et seq.), Nonprofit Corporations, Limited Liability Companies (§ 33-44-101 et seq.), Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships, with no professional LLC. The LLC statute, the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act of 1996 (ch. 33-44), contains no professional-entity provisions; § 33-44-101(3) defines "business" to include "every trade, occupation, profession, and other lawful purpose", and § 33-44-105 sets an ordinary LLC name rule. § 33-4-101(f)(4) disapplies the general corporate name requirements to a professional corporation governed by Chapter 19. Form F0023 must be accompanied by the first report to corporations (CL-1) and includes an attorney's certificate of compliance with Chapter 2. Licensing authorities act after formation: § 33-19-610 (rulemaking), § 33-19-620 (jurisdiction over individuals) and § 33-19-420 (dissolution proceedings after written notice of a violation).