Back to School Sales Tax Holiday

Now through Sunday, August 11th, families and consumers will have the opportunity to stock up on various school supplies and items free of tax. During the holiday, shoppers can purchase clothing items, footwear, accessories, certain school supplies, learning aids and jigsaw puzzles in addition to personal computers and related accessories. The tax holiday does not apply to any otherwise eligible items bought within a theme park or entertainment complex, public lodging establishment or airport. 

Items included in the category of personal items are calculators, desktops, electronic book readers, laptops, tablets, and tower computers. Personal-computer related accessories include keyboards, mice, modems, monitors, nonrecreational software, routers, and personal digital assistants. The listed accessories are tax-exempt regardless of whether they are used in association with a personal computer base unit. The tax-exempt items are only deemed for educational use and exclude anything that might be purchased for recreational use outside of the classroom setting.

Clothing items are not limited to but include all footwear, various articles of clothing, and wallets or bags including backpacks, diaper bags, fanny packs, lunchboxes, and handbags. Briefcases, suitcases, and other garment bags are excluded, however. School supplies also included are not limited to binders, cellophane tape, compasses, composition books, computer disks, construction paper, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, pens, pencils, scissors, staplers, rulers or protractors and numerous other writing tools and craft supplies for the classroom.

Learning aids and jigsaw puzzles for educational use are also included in the Back to School Tax Holiday this year. A learning aid is a tool that helps a learner improve their understanding and retention of information. Learning aids can include a variety of materials, such as: written materials, visualizations, charts, diagrams, processes, and strategies. Learning aids free of tax are flashcards or other learning cards, interactive or electronic books and toys intended to teach reading or math skills, matching and other types of memory games, puzzle box or search-and-find books, and a set of stacking or nesting blocks for the classroom.

During the sales tax holiday there is not a limit to the number of tax-free items that you can buy. The exemption is based on the price of each item, not on the number of items purchased. The purchase of a qualifying item must be made during the time of the sales tax holiday in order to be tax-exempt. Teachers, students, and parents can benefit from the 2024 sales tax holiday and acquire varying school supplies free of tax.