Get ready for back-to-school now with sales tax holiday

Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, July 9, 2025

This coming weekend is the 2025 Sales Tax Holiday on clothing, footwear, and school supplies.

From Friday to Sunday, July 11-13, sales tax will not be due on certain products if they price of a single item is less than $100.

“Clothing” is any article of apparel designed to be worn on the human body — including pants, shirts, blouses, dresses, coats, jackets, belts, hats, undergarments, and multiple-piece garments sold as sets.

“Footwear” is any article designed for human feet — not including skis, swim fins, roller blades, skates, and similar items.

“School supplies” refers to items commonly used by a student in a course of study.

Items priced individually at $100 or more are subject to a 7-percent tax. Multiple items can be bought without sales tax where the total purchase is $100 or more, however, as long as each individual item costs less than $100.

If eligible items are normally sold together with non-eligible items as a set or single unit, the full price is subject to sales tax. “Buy one, get one” or “reduced price” items may qualify for no sales tax, but the actual price for each item is used to determine if it exceeds the $100 threshold. For example, if $100 pants are advertised as “buy one, get one half-off” and someone buys two pairs, the first pair — priced at $100 — has sales tax due, even though the second — at $50 — will not have sales tax due. However, if each pair was sold at a reduced price — such as $75 each — prices below $100 would not require sales tax to be collected.

Store discounts and store coupons can be used to lower a price below the cut-off. Manufacturer’s coupons and rebates cannot be used for this purpose. Layaway sales also do not qualify.

Items can be purchased in-person, by mail, phone or via internet and still qualify for the Sales Tax Holiday. Shipping and handling charges are not to be included in the overall “price” of an item. Rain checks can only be issued for an eligible item if the rain check is redeemed during the holiday, July 11-13.

Click here for a complete list of eligible and non-eligible items.