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STAFF REPORTS
Two upcoming different sales tax holidays will help give Tennesseans a break in their wallets in the coming days and weeks.
The first is the annual back-to-school sales tax holiday held on the last weekend of July. This sales tax holiday sees clothing and school supplies, including some electronics like personal computers, have no sales tax added to the total at the register, saving Tennesseans upwards of 10 percent of their total costs for these necessary items.
The holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 28, and ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, August 3.
Items that will be tax-free during the weekend include:
– General apparel that costs $100 or less per item, such as shirts, pants, socks, shoes, dresses, etc.
– School and art supplies with a purchase price of $100 or less per item, such as binders, backpacks, crayons, paper, pens, pencils, and rulers; and art supplies such as glazes, clay, paints, drawing pads, and artist paintbrushes.
– Computers for personal use with a purchase price of $1,500 or less
– Laptop computers, as well as tablet computers priced at $1,500 or less
Items that will not be included in the tax-free weekend include apparel items priced at more than $100, jewelry, handbags, or sports and recreational equipment. Items that are sold together cannot be split up to stay beneath the $100 maximum. Storage media like flash drives are also not included in the tax-free sale, as are printer supplies, individually purchased software and household appliances.
Items sold online also qualify for the sales tax holiday, according to the state.
After that sales tax holiday, Tennesseans will then be able to save money on food items when a three-month-long sales tax holiday kicks in.
The new sales tax holiday was passed as part of the Tennessee Works Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee earlier this year. The bill funded $273 million for the one-time, three-month suspension of the sales tax on food and food ingredients.
According to the Tennessee Department of Revenue, food and food ingredients are defined as “liquid, concentrated, solid, frozen, dried, or dehydrated substances that are sold to be ingested or chewed by humans and are consumed for their taste or nutritional value.” Those items will have their sales tax waived from 12:01 a.m. Aug. 1 through 11:59 p.m. Oct. 31.
Food and food ingredients do not include alcoholic beverages, tobacco, candy, or dietary supplements, according to the state.
Additionally, the sales tax holiday does not apply to food and food ingredients sold from a “micro market or vending machine,” and they will remain subject to sales tax, per the state.
If not for the sales tax holiday, all qualifying items would be subject to a four percent state sales tax as well as local sales tax amounts.