Reassessment

South Carolina’s Constitution requires that property be taxed fairly and equitably. From the time your property is added to the tax rolls, the tax assessment does not change for a five year cycle unless:

1. physical changes have been made to the property (e.g.: home construction, acreage change, etc.)
2. the occurrence of an Assessable Transfer of Interest (ATI) (e.g.: sale, a change of use of agricultural real property which subjects it to the rollback tax, a conveyance by land contract, etc. )
3. a reassessment program is implemented.

In 1965, Abbeville County instituted its first reassessment and has had periodic reassessments since that time. Reassessment is the process required by state law to determine the change in market value of property over a certain period of time in order to provide equity among taxpayers. This involves the revaluation of all taxable real estate in the county. Current South Carolina statutes provides for reassessment every five years.

The County is currently under a revolving reassessment program in which a new reassessment is based upon market conditions as of the last day of the year of the fifth year in the five year cycle. The next reassessment program effective date is 12/31/2020 and tax bills reflecting those changes were delayed due to Covid-19 and will be mailed (implemented) in 2022.

The Department of Revenue authorizes and certifies the reassessment program which is intended to distribute the tax burden fairly among all property owners.

Only real property values are affected by a reassessment.