Back-to-school shop tax-free this weekend

Attention, parents! No sales tax on school supplies, clothing, and footwear August 7th through 9th!

August 3, 2015; 11:48 AM • by Valerie Catrow

Welcome to August! Summer is on the way out, and another academic year is upon us–or at least quickly approaching. Some local students head back to school today, others go back in a couple weeks, and the public school kids have just a little over a month of freedom before it’s time to load up those backpacks.

Thanks to the General Assembly, this weekend, August 7th through August 9th, parents can buy all the odds and ends needed to load up those backpacks (and fill up their kids’ closets) without paying sales tax!¹ Even on items bought online!

A full list of qualifying items is available on the Department of Taxation website–but it pretty much includes every possible thing your child would need to use or wear during a typical school year,² save big ticket technology items. Qualifying school supplies are $20 or less per item while qualifying clothing and footwear are $100 or less per item.

Bonus: these items do not need to be intended for use in school or school-related activities to get you the sales tax exemption. So have at it, office supply lovers!

If you’ve never seen a school supply list, you might not think this a big deal. Trust me: those glue sticks add up. ↩
Even tissues! Kids go through so many tissues! I’m going to KonMari the sh*t out of a closet and just fill it with Kleenex so we’re ready for cold and flu season. ↩