Tax debtors owe SC over $100M in 2023. Check out who they are

Tax debtors owe South Carolina $101.9 million, state revenue officials revealed on Tuesday.

The South Carolina Department of Revenue announced a list of debtors on Tuesday as part of its top delinquent taxpayers program, which began three years ago. The list includes individuals and businesses delinquent on their taxes.

Individuals owe $61.7 million, while businesses owe a total of $40.2 million in taxes this year. Each of the current delinquent taxpayers is in tax lien status, which makes their debt public, SCDOR states.

“Tax revenues are vital for the continued good financial health of our state,” SCDOR Director Hartley Powell said in a Tuesday press release. “When noncompliant taxpayers don’t pay what they owe, the tax burden unfairly lands on the shoulders of compliant taxpayers.”

Before names are published, SCDOR says other efforts are made to collect the debts, including sending letters, phone calls and other methods of contact.

To view the full lists of the current individual and business tax debtors, click here.

Top 5 individual SC tax debtors

  1. Clarence J. Michel of Lancaster, KY: Owes $2,840,197

  2. Yurij Debevc of Sanford, FL: Owes $2,763,390

  3. Quintessa Copeland of Spartanburg, SC: Owes $1,852,955

  4. Stephen Looper of Greer, SC: Owes $1,453,943

  5. Michael A. Crews of Hampton, SC: Owes $1,226,549

Top 5 tax delinquent businesses

  1. Gajanan Enterprises Inc of Columbia, SC: Owes $1,699,284

  2. Prestige Marble Inc of Greenville, SC: Owes $1,576,072

  3. Nalco Company LLC of Saint Paul, MN: Owes $1,276,160

  4. Cogeco US, LLC of Aiken, SC: Owes $1,255,250

  5. Trendsettah USA Inc of Doral, FL: Owes $890,308

Most individual SC tax debt by county

The latest list of individual tax debtors represents 31 counties, meaning residents in 15 counties did not have enough tax debt to make the list, SCDOR states. Here are the five counties that topped the list for having individual debtors who owe the most.

  1. Charleston County: $6.9 million

  2. Horry County: $6.87 million

  3. Greenville County: $5 million

  4. Lexington County: $4.2 million

  5. Berkeley County: $3.5 million

Debts excluded from the lists

  • Those who have filed for bankruptcy protection

  • Debtors who have made payment arrangements with the SCDOR.

  • Any debt in the SCDOR’s GEAR or Setoff Debt programs.

Most individual tax debt by SC region

  1. Lowcountry: $14.6 million

  2. Upstate: $10.5 million

  3. Pee Dee: $10.4 million

  4. Midlands: $9.9 million

Delinquent tax payments

Hundreds of the top delinquent taxpayers listed last year eventually paid $8.35 million to the state, including $5.98 million in lien payments and $2.36 million in payment plan payments. Of the total paid in 2022, business debtors paid $4.86 million, while individuals paid $3.48 million.