Since 1999, Texas shoppers have saved money during the annual sales tax holiday, which is currently scheduled for Aug. 7 through Aug. 9.
The sales tax exemption applies only to qualifying items you buy during the sales tax holiday. Items bought before or after the sales tax holiday do not qualify for exemption, and there is no tax refund available.
The Comptroller’s office is encouraging Texas residents to support local businesses while saving money on tax-free purchases of most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks (sold for less than $100) during the annual taxfree weekend. Qualifying items that are tax free may be purchased from a Texas store or from an online or catalog seller doing business in Texas. In most cases, there is no need to give the seller an exemption certificate to buy qualifying items tax free.
During the holiday people can buy qualifying items instore, online, by telephone, mail, custom order, or any other means. The sale of the item must take place during the specific period. The purchase date is easy to determine when the purchase is made in-store but becomes more complicated with remote purchases. The purchaser must have given the consideration for the item during the period even if the item may not be delivered until after the period is over.
Delivery, shipping, handling and transportation charges by the seller are part of the item’s sales price. Since clothing, backpacks and school supplies must be less than $100 to qualify, it is necessary to look at the item’s total sales price to determine if it is tax free.
If a delivery charge is billed per item, and an invoice has both exempt and taxable items, only the qualifying exempt item’s delivery charge is exempt. If the delivery charge is a flat rate per package, and the amount charged is the same regardless of how many items are included in the package, the total charge can be attributed to any one of the items in the package.
For a complete list of qualifying items, visit Texas Comptroller website.