South Carolina's SGO application is out: Form LGS-5 is due December 31, costs $250 and asks for your IRS letter

South Carolina now has a form and a deadline. The Department of Revenue (SCDOR) published Form LGS-5, its Application for Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO), on November 2. The form is dated October 29, 2026. “This application must be filed no later than December 31, 2026,” the form says. When Gov. Henry McMaster's Executive Order 2026-23 opened applications on October 13, the only date published was February 1, 2027, when the department gives the governor's office its list of complete applicants. An organization planning around February now has a month less.

What you file. Two things must come with the form: a copy of the organization's favorable IRS determination letter and the $250 filing fee. They travel separately. The completed form goes by email to SGOapplication@dor.sc.gov. The check, payable to SCDOR, goes by mail with a copy of the form's first page to SCDOR, ATTN: SGO Application, 300A Outlet Pointe Blvd, Columbia, SC 29210. An officer or other authorized representative signs under penalty of perjury, and the signature is notarized. The form doesn't say whether the check has to arrive by December 31, so mail it early enough that the question never comes up.

If your Form 1023 is still pending. The form's line on federal tax status has one box: the organization has received a favorable determination letter, and the letter is attached. It has no box for an application the IRS is still reviewing. Treasury's temporary regulations, which take effect without a comment period and apply from September 1, 2026, let a state list pending applicants if it lists every pending applicant that asks and makes the required certifications (§ 1.25F-5T(d)(5)). That's the state's choice, and South Carolina has made it. “We are not accepting pending applicants as a complete application,” the department said by email on November 2, answering an organization that asked. As it stands, an organization needs the letter in hand by December 31.

What you affirm. You state whether the organization is organized in South Carolina or is a foreign entity authorized to transact business there, whether it's registered with the Secretary of State as a charity or is exempt or excluded, and whether it's a single-state or multi-state SGO. You then affirm the §25F(d) rules as the form states them: scholarships to 10 or more students who don't all attend the same school, at least 90% of total annual revenue spent on scholarships for eligible students, qualified expenses only, priority for prior-year recipients and then for siblings of recipients, and no earmarking. Last come the operating commitments: verify household income and family size, stay within the federal income limit, not be a private foundation, keep a segregated §25F account with a complete set of books and records, deposit every qualified contribution into it, and provide annual financial and programmatic audit reports.

What to do first. Two of those statements depend on filings with the South Carolina Secretary of State, so an out-of-state organization should start there. A foreign nonprofit's application for a Certificate of Authority costs $10 and needs a certificate of existence from its home state. The form asks that the certificate be issued within 30 days of the date the Secretary of State receives it; the statute says 60, so aim for 30. Charity registration costs $50, or a free exemption filing each year if gross revenue stays at or under $10,000 a year; go over and you have 30 days to register. Our South Carolina apply page itemizes each step and cost.

The calendar. December 31, 2026 is the filing deadline. February 1, 2027 is when the department's list of complete applicants reaches the governor's office. February 15, 2027 is the federal deadline for 2027 state lists, and after it a state can't add organizations for that year (§ 1.25F-5T(d)(7)(ii)). The budget proviso 1.127 study committee's recommendations are due December 1, 2026, or 60 days after federal guidance is published, whichever is later. That committee only advises, and the form doesn't refer to it.

South Carolina's deadline now sits with the other published dates on our list of every state's application, and the South Carolina page has the rest of the state's process.