Sales tax holidays set in 17 states, with 4 back-to-school events in July

July 10, 2025

Get ready Alabama, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Tennessee shoppers. Your back-to-school tax holidays are this month, with the Magnolia State kicking things off on Friday, July 11. Thirteen more no-tax shopping events are on July’s heels, with many of the August sales set for that month’s first weekend.

HEB back-to-school backpacks display July 2025_Kay Bell photo-1

Backpacks, like these at my local H-E-B grocery (and more) store, are a necessity for today's students. They also are tax-free here in Texas if you buy them during the state's back-to-school tax holiday in August. (Photo by Kay Bell)

Ah, summer. No school. Lots of vacation time. Just kicking back doing what you want, whenever you want.

Enjoy it why you can. The start of annual back-to-school tax holidays this weekend remind us that classes will soon resume.

The no-tax events range from a couple of days to a week or more or, in one case, a month.

Four are in July, with Mississippi leading the tax holiday parade this weekend.

Thirteen other states will have August tax holidays. The 2025 calendar and the legislative language setting the tax-free dates mean that several of those will start on Aug. 1.

Whenever the tax holiday and whatever its duration, the main thing for all states’ events is that certain items are exempt from the states’ and usually local jurisdictions’ sales taxes.

And while retailers, and the state legislators who create the tax-free holidays, typically tie them to the resumption of school in the fall, the eligible purchases generally aren’t limited to student-specific items.

So, get your shopping list ready, and mark your calendars. Here are 2025's July and August tax holidays in separate tables below. Each table alphabetically lists the states, and the links will take you to state tax department websites for more information.

July 2025 State Sales Taxes Holidays
State & Sales Tax Rate Local sales taxes also may be waived	Holiday Days & Dates	Tax-Free Products & Per-Item Price Limits
Alabama 4%	Friday, July 18 through Sunday, July 20	Clothing $100 or less Books $30 or less School supplies $50 or less Computers & software $750 or less A list of all eligible (and ineligible) items can be found in this Fact Sheet. Alabama counties and municipalities can decide whether to participate and exempt their taxes, or continue to add the amounts to sales during the tax holiday period. This list has specifics on where shoppers will get a tax break or continue to pay.
Mississippi 7%	Friday, July 11 through Saturday, July 13	Clothing and footwear $100 or less
New Mexico 4.875%	Friday, July 25 through Sunday, July 27	Clothing or shoes $100 or less Computers $1,000 or less Computer hardware $500 or less There is no price limit on school supplies that "students normally use in a standard classroom for educational purposes." FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday, contains more information on the exempted sales.
Tennessee 7%	Friday, July 25 through Sunday, July 27	Clothing $100 or less School supplies $100 or less Computers $1,500 or less

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As soon as July’s four tax holidays wrap, August’s events start.

Note that some state websites have not yet posted specifics on next month’s tax holidays. When they do, I will add those links or update the existing, last-year's ones.

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August 2025 State Sales Taxes Holidays
State & Sales Tax Rate Local sales taxes also may be waived	Holiday Days & Dates	Tax-Free Products & Per-Item Price Limits
Arkansas 6.5%	Saturday, Aug. 2 through Sunday, Aug. 3	Clothing $100 or less Accessories $50 or less No dollar limit on school art supplies, school instructional materials, school supplies, and school-related products such as electronic devices, which includes computers, commonly used by a student in a course of study.
Connecticut 6.35%	Sunday, Aug. 17 through Saturday, Aug. 23* *no official date announcement yet	Clothing and footwear $100 or less Accessories and protective or athletic clothing is still taxed.
Florida 6%	Friday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 31	Clothing $100 or less School supplies $50 or less Learning aids and jigsaw puzzles selling for $30 or less Computers, certain accessories $1,500 or less More on tax-exempt items during the 2025 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday can be found in the event's frequently asked questions page under the Consumers tab.
Iowa 6%	Friday, Aug. 1 through Saturday, Aug. 2	Clothing and footwear priced at less than $100; list of tax-exempt items is on page 2 of Iowa Sales Tax Holiday Alphabetical List of Representative Items
Maryland 6%	Sunday, Aug. 10 through Saturday, Aug. 16	Clothing and footwear $100 or less First $40 of a backpack or bookbag
Massachusetts 6.25%	Saturday, Aug. 9 through Sunday, Aug. 10	Almost every personal item priced at $2,500 or less
Missouri 4.225%	Friday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 3	Clothing $100 or less School supplies $50 or less Computer software $350 or less Graphing calculators $150 or less Personal computers & peripheral devices $1,500 or less Find more on the tax-exempt items in the state's Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday FAQs.
Ohio 5.75%	Friday, Aug. 1 through Thursday, Aug. 14	Most tangible personal property costing $500 or less. Some examples of tangible personal property include, but are not limited to electronics, clothes, home goods, school and office supplies, sports equipment, luggage, and musical instruments.
Oklahoma 4.5%	Friday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 3	Clothing, footwear $100 or less
South Carolina 6%	Friday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 3	No purchase price limit on a variety of items, including clothing accessories & footwear; school supplies; computers, printers and printer supplies, computer software; and bed linens and bath furnishings
Texas 6.25%	Friday, Aug. 8 through Sunday, Aug. 10	Clothing, footwear, backpacks priced at less than $100. School supplies at less than $100
Virginia 5.3%* *4.3% state + mandatory statewide local add-on for most jurisdictions	Friday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 3	School supplies $20 or less. Clothing/footwear $100 or less. Hurricane/emergency items, including portable generators $1,000 or less; gas-powered chainsaws $350 or less; chainsaw accessories $60 or less; and other specified preparedness items $60 or less. Energy Star™ and WaterSense™ products for home or personal use $2,500 or less per item.
West Virginia 6%	Friday, Aug. 1 through Monday, Aug. 4	Clothing, footwear $125 or less. School supplies $50 or less. School instruction material $20 or less. Sports equipment $150 or less. Laptop and tablet computers $500 or less. More on tax-exempt items can be found on the state's Sales Tax Holiday Questions and Answers page.

No Garden State holiday: Attention, New Jersey shoppers. You can quit searching the above tax holiday tables. Your state’s 2024 tax holiday was its last, at least until lawmakers decide to bring it back.

New Jersey Public Law 2024, chapter 19, repealed the earlier statute that established the annual sales tax holiday for certain retail sales of computers, school supplies, and sport or recreational equipment when sold to an individual for personal, not business use.

“Thus, the annual Sales Tax Holiday will no longer occur and sellers should charge sales tax on all taxable items,” according to the New Jersey Division of Taxation.

The move by Garden State lawmakers is unusual, but it’s happened before. Some states have ended the tax-free periods, usually when they are facing budget constraints. And in some cases, when the state’s financial situation improved, they reinstated them.

Other states take care of the fiscal issue by making the holidays contingent on their treasuries’ balances.

Business problems, too: Retailers also have issues with the tax holidays, too.

A survey of 500 small and midsize U.S. retailers conducted last August by Censuswide for the tax compliance automation software company Avalara found that 60 percent of small and midsize businesses struggle to profit from sales tax holidays.

Small and midsize retailers cited several pain points when navigating sales tax holidays, including —

Staffing constraints: Nearly three in five retailers (57%) need to hire temporary staff to handle the increased demand and compliance rush, while 53% resort to paying overtime to their current employees.
Financial burden: 58% of retailers revealed that their business spends at least $10,000 annually on team, operational, and system processes to prepare for sales tax holidays.
Compliance complexities: 26% of retailers expressed concerns over complying with varying rules and exclusions, and 24% found it difficult to understand the rules and restrictions.
Outdated processes: 26% of retailers say they manually manage sales tax holidays themselves without software.

But businesses, at least smaller ones that face the most hassle with the short-term tax calculations, apparently don’t have as much sway with lawmakers as do the shopping voters, who tend to love the events.

Shop wisely: While shoppers love tax holidays (who doesn’t want to get the best of the tax collector, especially legally?), the word tax is a dead giveaway that the events might not be that simple.

As with tax filing, dates matter. While an event might be advertised as a weekend tax holiday, it could be in effect on just Saturday and Sunday, or Friday could make it a long weekend. Or Friday and Saturday if your state discourages shopping on what is the sabbath for many. Make sure you know when the holiday applies.

Checking the tax holiday calendar is the first of 6 shopping tips to maximize sales tax holiday savings. Give it a look, then make your list. That's also one of the tax holiday shopping suggestions.

Then it’s time to hit the stores!

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