Nine States to Hold Sales Tax Holidays August 2-4, 2019

Tax-free holidays (sometimes referred to as "sales tax holidays") are great opportunities for shoppers to purchase designated items such as clothing, school supplies, energy-efficient products and disaster preparedness necessities free from sales tax. Each state that participates in tax-free holidays has different rules and exclusions. Below are states that have tax-free holidays August 2-4, 2019.

Iowa:

Iowa will hold its annual sales tax holiday on select clothing and footwear on August 2-3, 2019. This allows shoppers to purchase eligible clothing and footwear selling for less than $100 per item tax-free. Businesses that sell eligible items and are open on these dates are required to participate in the sales tax holiday.

For more information about Iowa’s sales tax holiday on clothing and footwear, please refer to the Iowa Department of Revenue website.

Arkansas:

Arkansas will hold its annual sales tax holiday on August 3-4, 2019. This allows shoppers to purchase eligible clothing and school supplies free of state and local sales tax. All retailers are required to participate and may not charge tax on items that are legally tax-exempt during the sales tax holiday.

During the tax-free holiday, the following items are sales tax exempt with a few conditions:

• Clothing with a purchase price of $100 or less per item;
• Clothing accessories or equipment with a purchase price of $50 or less per item;
• School supplies;
• School art supplies; and
• School instructional materials.

A full list of items can be found on the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration’s (DFA) itemized list.

For more information on the sales tax holiday, please refer to the Arkansas DFA website.

Oklahoma:

Oklahoma will hold its annual sales tax holiday on eligible clothing and footwear under $100 per item during August 2-4, 2019. This excludes any accessories, special clothing or footwear primarily designed for athletic activity or protective use, as well as the rental of clothing or footwear.

Retailers that sell eligible items and are open for business on these dates are required to participate in the sales tax holiday.

For more information about Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday, please refer to the Oklahoma Tax Commission website.

Missouri:

Missouri will hold its annual back to school sales tax holiday during August 2-4, 2019. During this time, the following items can be purchased tax-free:

During the tax-free holiday, the following items are sales tax exempt with a few conditions:

• Clothing –$100 or less per item;
• School supplies – $50 or less per item;
• Computer software – $350 or more per item;
• Personal computers – $1,500 or less per item;
• Computer peripheral devices –$1,500 or less per item; and
• Graphing Calculators – $150 or less per item.

It is important to note that cities, counties and districts in Missouri can choose not to participate in this sales tax holiday. If one or all of the local taxing jurisdictions do not participate in the sales tax holiday, the state's portion of the tax rate (4.225%) will remain exempt for the sale of qualifying sales tax holiday items.

For more information, review the Missouri Department of Revenue’s Back to School Sales Tax Holiday FAQs and information page.

New Mexico:

New Mexico will hold a sales tax holiday on select clothing, school and art supplies and computers August 2-4, 2019. New Mexico requires specified retailers to provide a deduction from gross receipts for retail sales of qualifying tangible personal property, selling the items “tax-free.”

The law limits the tax holiday deduction to receipts of retailers from sales of the following types of items:

• Clothing or shoes sold for less than $100; however, accessories and special clothing or footwear primarily designed for athletic activity or protective use and not normally worn beyond the scope of the athletic activity or protective use remain taxable;
• Desktop, laptop, notebook or tablet computers sold for no more than $1,000, and any associated monitor, speaker or set of speakers, printers, keyboards, microphones or computer mice sold for no more than $500; and
• School supplies students normally use in a standard classroom for educational purposes for $30 or less per item. (The law specifically lists notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, handheld calculators, maps and globes as deductible during the tax holiday.)

For a comprehensive list of taxable and nontaxable items, please refer to New Mexico Bulletin B-200.18.

South Carolina:

South Carolina will hold its annual sales tax holiday on August 2-4, 2019. During the sales tax holiday, a variety of back-to-school essentials are exempt from the state's 6% sales tax rate and any additional local taxes. Unlike other sales tax holidays across the country, there are no price restrictions on eligible goods.

Items that are tax-exempt during this sales tax holiday include:

• Clothing and accessories (including but not limited to hats, scarves, hosiery and handbags);
• Footwear;
• School supplies (including, but not limited to pens, pencils, paper, binders and notebooks);
• Computers, printers/printer supplies and software; and
• Select bed and bath items (including, but not limited to blankets, bedspreads and pillows).

Please refer to South Carolina Revenue Ruling 10-7 for the complete list of tax-exempt items or visit the South Carolina Department of Revenue webpage for more information.

Florida:

Florida will hold its annual sales tax holiday August 2-6, 2019. During this period, qualifying items will be exempt from tax including:

Items that are tax-exempt during this sales tax holiday include:

• Certain school supplies selling for $15 or less per item;
• Clothing, footwear and certain accessories selling for $60 or less per item; and
• Computers and certain accessories selling for $1,000 or less per item when purchased for noncommercial or personal use.

For more information and a list of qualifying items, please review the Department of Revenue's Tax Information Publication (TIP) on the 2019 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday, as well as the FAQs document.

Ohio:

Ohio will hold its annual sales tax holiday for clothing and school supplies during August 2-4, 2019.

During the holiday, the following items are exempt from sales and use tax:

• Clothing (including, but not limited to footwear, hats and diapers) priced at $75 per item or less;
• School supplies (including, but not limited to binders, folders, highlighters and writing tablets) priced at $20 per item or less; and
• School instructional materials (including reference books, reference maps and globes, textbooks and workbooks) priced at $20 per item or less.

It is important to note that items used in a trade or business are not exempt under this sales tax holiday. The sales tax holiday is set by law and vendors are required to comply.

For more specific information, please refer to the Ohio Department of Taxation Sales Tax Holiday FAQs.

Virginia:

Virginia will hold a combined sales tax holiday on select clothing, school supplies, footwear, hurricane and emergency preparedness items, and Energy Star and WaterSense products August 2-4, 2019.

During the sales tax holiday, the following types of products can be purchased without paying sales tax:

• Qualified school supplies sold for less than $20;
• Hurricane and emergency preparedness products (such as portable generators with a sales price of $1,000 or less per item, gas-powered chainsaws with a sales price of $350 or less per item, chainsaw accessories with a sales price of $60 or less per item and other specified hurricane preparedness items with a sales price of $60 or less per item); and
• Qualified clothing and footwear sold for less than $100;
• Qualifying Energy Star or WaterSense products purchased for noncommercial home or personal use with a sales price of $2,500 or less per item.

For more information about this sales tax holiday, visit the Virginia Taxation and Revenue Department for 2019 Combined Sales Tax Holiday Guidelines.