Sales tax holiday this weekend

The annual state Sales Tax Holiday will be held this week to help shoppers save money on clothes and school supplies. The holiday, held since 1999, will run Friday, Aug. 5, Saturday, Aug. 6, and Sunday, Aug. 7 across the state.

The holiday will be for qualifying items such as clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks priced below $100 that will be exempt from sales tax. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar stated in a release Monday, July 25 that the holiday will save shoppers an estimated $8 for every $100 they spend.

“Most Texans won’t hear the back-to-school bell for another month, but it’s never too early to take advantage of the opportunity to save money on everything from book bags to ballpoint pens,” Hegar wrote in the release. “With inflation driving prices higher on just about everything, this sales tax holiday provides Texas families some small relief managing the costs associated with kids heading back to the classroom. As the father of three school-aged children myself, I know how these expenses can add up.”

The comptroller’s office estimates shoppers will save $112 million in state and local sales tax during the upcoming sales tax holiday.

Apparel and school supplies that may be purchased tax-free are listed on the comptroller’s website at texastaxholiday.org. There are specifics for the exemptions, according to the comptroller’s office.

“The item is both delivered to, and paid for by, the customer during the exemption period; or, the customer orders and pays for the item, and the seller accepts the order during the exemption period for immediate shipment, even if delivery is made after the exemption period ends,” the comptroller’s office wrote in the release.

School supplies eligible for the exemption include binders, blackboard chalk, book bags, calculators, cellophane tape, compasses, composition books, crayons, erasers, folders (expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila), glue, paste and paste sticks, highlighters, index cards, index card boxes, school supply kits, legal pads, lunch boxes, markers (including dry erase markers), notebooks, paper (loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board, and construction paper), pencil boxes and other school supply boxes, pencil sharpeners, pencils, pens, protractors, rulers, scissors, and writing tablets.

“For kits of school supplies that contain exempt items, as well as taxable ones, the taxability depends on the value of exempt or taxable items in it. There is no limit on the quantity of school supplies in a kit, but if the value of the exempt items is more than the taxable ones, the kit is exempt. If the value of the taxable items is more than the exempt ones, then the kit is taxable,” the comptroller’s website states.