This weekend is prime sales tax holiday season. Shoppers in 13 states will get a chance to trade beach bags for backpacks as part of the popular back-to-school tax-free events.
Nine 3-day holidays: Starting today, Friday, Aug. 7, through Sunday, Aug. 9, nine states — Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia — are offering their residents three full days to pick up eligible products sans sales tax.
Tax holidays also begin today in Iowa and Louisiana, but they end at midnight Saturday, Aug. 8.
A week or more: Shoppers in Florida and Maryland get lots of time to purchase tax-free clothing and other products.
The Sunshine State's 10-day event starts today and runs through Sunday, Aug. 16.
Shoppers in the Old Line State have to wait until Sunday, Aug. 9, to head to stores for their sales tax savings, but the week-long Maryland event continues through Saturday, Aug. 15.
In addition to holiday dates, the alphabetical listing below provides more details on tax-free products, along with links to the participating state tax departments.
| State sales tax rate shown; Local taxes also may be waived |
Holiday Dates |
Tax-free products (per item price limits); Click links for more details |
| Alabama 4% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing priced at $100 or less. Books priced at $30 or less. School supplies priced at $50 or less. Computers and software priced at $750 or less. |
| Florida 6% | Aug. 7-15 | Clothing, footwear and accessories priced at $100 or less. School supplies costing $15 or less. Personal computers and certain related accessories priced at $750 or less. |
| Iowa 6% | Aug. 7-8 | Clothing and footwear priced at less than $100. |
| Louisiana 4% | Aug. 7-8 | Most personal property sold for $2,500 or less. |
| Maryland 6% | Aug. 9-15 | Clothing and footwear priced at $100 or less. |
| Missouri 4.225% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing priced at $100 or less. School supplies costing $50 or less. Computer software priced at $350 or less. Personal computers and peripheral devices costing $3,500 or less. |
| New Mexico 5.125% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing or shoes priced at less than $100 per unit. Desktop, laptop or notebook computers priced at $1,000 or less; computer hardware priced at $500 or less. School supplies priced at less than $30. |
| Ohio 5.75% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing priced at $75 or less. School supplies and school instructional material priced at $20 or less. |
| Oklahoma 4.5% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing and footwear priced at $100 or less. |
| South Carolina 6% | Aug. 7-9 | No purchase price limit on clothing, accessories and footwear; school supplies; computers, printers and printer supplies, computer software; and bed linens and bath furnishings. |
| Tennessee 7% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing and footwear costing $100 or less. School supplies priced at $100 or less. Computers priced at $1,500 or less. |
| Texas 6.25% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing and footwear at less than $100. Backpacks at less than $100. School supplies at less than $100. |
| Virginia 4.3% | Aug. 7-9 | Clothing and footwear priced at $100 or less. School supplies at $20 or less. Energy Star and WaterSense qualified products priced at $2,500 or less. Hurricane preparedness items, including generators at $1,000 or less, gas-powered chainsaws at $350 or less, chainsaw accessories at $60 or less, and other eligible storm items at $60 or less. |
More next weekend: While this weekend accounts for most of this year's 18 total tax holidays, a couple more will wrap of the 2015 tax-free shopping season next weekend.
Massachusetts shoppers can find tax savings from Saturday, Aug 15, and Sunday, Aug. 16. Most personal property costing $2,500 or less wont be subject to the Bay State's 6.25 percent sales tax.
Connecticut's 6.35 percent sales tax will be waived for a week, from Sunday, Aug. 16, through Saturday, Aug. 22, on clothing and footwear priced at $100 or less.
Jamiesons Accountants
Wow sounds exciting! And the list is so precise! Thanks for sharing this 🙂