Florida’s back-to-school sales tax holiday kicks off this weekend, August 5-7. It’s the one time a year shoppers won’t pay sales tax, up to a certain amount, on clothes or school supplies.
This year’s sales tax holiday will be different from years past. If parents aren’t paying attention, many will be caught off guard at the register.
The three big changes for the 2016 sales tax holiday:
- The holiday is 3-days, versus 10-days in 2015
- Legislators eliminated computers from the tax break
- The value of clothes purchased has been reduced from $100 to $60
The sales tax holiday begins at 12:01am Friday, August 5 and runs until 11:59pm Sunday, August 7. During that period, Florida law directs that no sales tax or local option tax will be collected on the purchase of clothing, footwear, and certain accessories selling for $60 or less per item. It also gives sales tax breaks on certain school supplies selling for $15 or less per item.
Examples of exempt school supply items:
Binders
Calculators
Colored pencils
Compasses
Composition books
Computer disks
Construction paper
Crayons
Erasers
Folders
Glue
Highlighters
Legal pads
Lunch boxes
Markers
Notebook filler paper
Notebooks
Paste
Pencils
Pens
Poster board
Protractors
Rulers
Scissors
Tape
Examples of exempt clothing items:
Accessories (barrettes, bobby pins, hair bows and clips, neckwear, ponytail holders, scarves)
Aprons
Athletic supporters
Baby clothes
Backpacks
Baseball cleats
Bathing suits
Belts
Blouses
Book bags
Bras
Coats
Costumes
Diaper bags
Dresses
Employee uniforms
Fitness clothing
Hats
Hosiery
Jackets
Jeans
Leotards
Lingerie
Pants
Purses
Raincoats
Robes
Shirts
Shoes
Sleepwear
Socks
Suits
Ties
Tuxedos
Underclothes
