Is Your State Offering a Tax Holiday?

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When you’re doing your back to school shopping, every little bit helps. Looking for coupons and deals is obviously one way to save. That’s why we have an entire section of our site devoted to deals – deals of the day, links to dozens of websites that specialize in daily bargains; even a coupon/deal search engine.

Another way to find simple savings is to avoid paying sales taxes. You can obviously do that on any number of websites that don’t have a physical presence in your state, but you can also take advantage of state “tax holidays” – a time when many states allow you to buy certain things in limited quantities without paying sales tax.

We got the table below from this page of the Federation of Tax Administrator’s Website. It’s also a good place to compare things like state sales taxes and income tax rates from state to state.

2010 Tax Holidays

State Days Items Included Maximum Cost 1st Year 2010*
Dates
Information Links *
Alabama 3 clothing – $100
computers – $750
school supplies – $50
books – $30
2006 August 6-8 http://www.revenue.alabama.gov/
Connecticut 7 clothing and footwear – $300 2001 August 15-21 http://www.ct.gov/
Florida 3 clothing & Books- $50
school supplies – $10
2010+ August 13-15 http://dor.myflorida.com/
Illinois 10 clothing, footwear & school supplies – $100 2010 August 6-15 http://www.revenue.state.il.us
Iowa 2 clothing – $100 2000 August 6-7 http://www.iowaccess.org/tax/
Louisiana 2 all TPP – $2,500 2007 August 6-7 http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/
Louisiana 2 hurricane preparedness items – $1,500 2008 May 29-30 http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/
Louisiana 3 firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies 2009 September 3-5 http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/
Maryland 7 clothing & footwear – $100 2010 August 8-14 http://www.comp.state.md.us/
Maryland 3 energy star products 2011 Feb. 19-21, 2011 http://www.comp.state.md.us/
Massachussets 2 TPP – $2,500 2008 August 14-15 -has not been signed by governor.
Mississippi 2 clothing & footwear – $100 2009 July 30-31 http://www.dor.ms.gov/
Missouri 7 energy star products – $1,500 2009 April 19-25 http://www.dor.mo.gov/tax/
Missouri 3 clothing – $100
computers – $3,500
school supplies – $50
2004 August 6-8 http://www.dor.mo.gov/tax/
New Mexico 3 clothing – $100
computers – $1,000
school supplies – $15
2005 August 6-8 http://www.tax.newmexico.gov/
North Carolina 3 clothing – $100
school supplies – $100
instructional material – $300
computers – $3,500
other comp. – $250
sports equip – $50
2001 August 6-8 http://www.dornc.com/
North Carolina 3 energy star products 2009 November 5-7 http://www.dornc.com/
Oklahoma 3 clothing – $100 2007 August 6-8 http://www.tax.ok.gov/
South Carolina 3 clothing
school supplies
computers
other
2000 August 6-8 http://www.sctax.org/
list of qualifying products
FAQ
South Carolina 2 guns, rifles & handguns 2008 November 26-27 http://www.sctax.org/
Tennessee 3 clothing – $100
school supplies – $100
computers – $1,500
2006 August 6-8 http://tn.gov/revenue/
Texas 3 clothing, backpacks and school supplies- $100 1999 August 20-22 http://www.window.state.tx.us/
Texas 3 energy star products
air conditioners – $6,000; other – $2,000
2008 May 29-31 http://www.window.state.tx.us/
Vermont 1 Personal Purchase – $2,000 2008 March 6 http://www.state.vt.us/tax/
Virginia 7 hurricane preparedness items – $60
generators – $1,000
2008 May 25-31 http://www.tax.virginia.gov/
Virginia 3 clothing – $100
school supplies – $20
2006 August 6-8 http://www.tax.virginia.gov/
Virginia 4 energy star products – $2,500 2006 October 8-11 http://www.tax.virginia.gov/
West Virginia 7 energy star products – $5,000 2008 September 1 – November 30 http://www.wvtax.gov/

* dates are for calendar year 2010, as of August 3, 2010. Some state have not published 2010 information on their website; old information may be provided in the links for these states.
** Holiday will only be allowed in years where the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors certifies sufficient revenue growth.
+ Florida first held a sales tax holiday for school supplies in 2007. This was not re-enacted in 2008-09.

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