S.C. Code Ann. § 12-60-510 — Exhaustion of prehearing remedy; request for hearing before Administrative Law Court

(A) Before a taxpayer may seek a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court, he shall exhaust the prehearing remedy.
(1) If a taxpayer requests a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court within ninety days of the date of the proposed assessment without exhausting his prehearing remedy because he failed to file a protest with the department, the administrative law judge shall dismiss the action without prejudice. If the taxpayer failed timely to provide the department with the facts, law, and other authority supporting his position, he shall provide them to the department. The administrative law judge shall then remand the case to the department for reconsideration in light of the new facts or issues unless the department elects to forego the remand.
(2) If a taxpayer fails to file a protest with the department within ninety days of the date of the proposed assessment, the taxpayer is in default, and the department must issue an assessment for the taxes. The assessment may be removed by the Administrative Law Court for good cause shown, and the matter may be remanded to the department.
(B) Upon remand the department has thirty days, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, to consider the new facts and issues and amend its department determination. The department shall issue its amended department determination in the same manner as the original. The taxpayer has thirty days after the date the department's amended determination was sent by first class mail or delivered to the taxpayer to again request a contested case hearing. Requests for a hearing before the Administrative Law Court must be made in accordance with its rules. If the department fails to issue its amended department determination within thirty days of the date of the remand, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, the taxpayer may request again a contested case hearing. At the new hearing the facts, law, and other authority presented at the original hearing have been presented in a timely manner for purposes of exhausting the taxpayer's prehearing remedy. The statute of limitations remains suspended by Section 12-54-85(G) during this process.