CashoutTipped minimum wage / South Carolina
South Carolina tipped minimum wage
What employers must pay
In South Carolina, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. An employer can pay a tipped employee as little as $2.13 an hour in cash, as long as tips bring the total to at least $7.25. The difference, $5.12, is the tip credit.
South Carolina has no state minimum wage law, so the federal $7.25 and $2.13 apply.
Who counts as a tipped employee: more than $30 a month in tips.
If your cash wage plus tips comes up short of $7.25 an hour in a workweek, your employer has to make up the difference.
What changes next
No change to the South Carolina minimum wage is scheduled. The rate changes only if Congress changes the federal minimum.
Tip pooling and service charges
South Carolina has no tip pooling rule of its own, so federal law applies: employers, managers and supervisors may not keep tips, and a mandatory pool that includes tip credit workers may only include staff who customarily and regularly receive tips.
Overtime
South Carolina has no overtime law of its own, so the federal rule applies: time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek. Tipped overtime is figured on the full $7.25 minimum, then the $5.12 tip credit is subtracted.
Taxes on your tips
South Carolina taxes wage income, and tips are wages, so its income tax applies to your tips. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply. The federal tip deduction can cut the income tax part: see how the No Tax on Tips deduction works.
Check a week's pay
Enter one workweek to see whether your cash wage plus tips reached South Carolina's minimum of $7.25 an hour.
You reached the minimum this week.
You came up short. Your employer owes you at least
If you are underpaid
Start by comparing your pay stubs with your own record of hours and tips. South Carolina has no state agency that enforces the minimum wage, so complaints go to the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: how to file, or call 1-866-487-9243. For wages you were promised but not paid, you can also file with the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
