Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday next weekend
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By Christa Jennings
Senior Staff Writer
Shoppers will have the opportunity to save on back-to-school items next weekend, including some clothing and computers, as numerous such items will be exempt from state sales taxes.
Alabama’s twentieth annual sales tax holiday for school-related items will begin at 12:01 a.m. next Friday and end at midnight Sunday, July 20. This will give shoppers the opportunity to purchase certain school supplies, computers, books, and clothing without being charged the state’s 4% sales or use tax.
Additionally, many counties and municipalities have also opted to participate in the sales tax holiday, meaning that in those areas shoppers will not have to pay any sales tax on particular items. In Coosa County, both the county and all its municipalities; Goodwater, Kellyton and Rockford; are participating in the sales tax holiday next weekend.
For Alabama, eligible items include articles of clothing less than $100, computers and related items less than $750, school and art supplies less than $50, and books less than $30.
Some of the eligible clothing items include belts, boots, coats, diapers, dresses, jackets, jeans, pajamas, pants, raincoats, school uniforms, shirts, shoes, socks, sneakers, underwear, and more.
For computer-related items, a single purchase of $750 or less will allow computers, computer software, printers, printer supplies, computer storage media, handheld electronic schedulers, and personal digital assistants to be eligible for the sales tax holiday. Mobile phones are not included, and non-eligible items include non-educational video games and any systems or peripherals intended primarily for recreational use.
Books that are less than $30 per book are also exempt from sales taxes, as are textbooks that are $50 or less.
Numerous school supplies, school art supplies and school instruction material are also eligible for the sales tax holiday. Some such items include binders, book bags, calculators, composition books, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, highlighters, index cards, legal pads, markers, notebooks, assorted paper, pencil sharpeners, pencils, pens, scissors, sketch and drawing pads, paints, paintbrushes, clay and glazes, reference maps and globes, and more, all with a sales price of $50 or less per item.
For the all-inclusive list of eligible items and examples of non-eligible items, visit alabamaretail.org/alabamasalestaxholidays.
Alabama’s two statewide sales tax holidays are the Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday in February and the Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday in July.
For more information on the sales tax holidays, visit www.revenue.alabama.gov/sales-use/sales-tax-holidays.
