Since 2007, Missouri shoppers have been able to purchase Back-to-School items without paying sales tax during the first weekend in August.
This year, the sales tax-free holiday is this weekend, Friday August 7 – Sunday August 9.
What Can you Purchase Tax-Free?
The sales tax exemption is limited to:
- Clothing – any article having a taxable value of $100 or less
- School supplies – not to exceed $50 per purchase
- Computer software – taxable value of $350 or less
- Personal computers – not to exceed $3,500
- Computer peripheral devices – not to exceed $3,500
Qualifying Items:
“Clothing” – any article of wearing apparel, including footwear, intended to be worn on or about the human body. The term shall include but not be limited to cloth and other material used to make school uniforms or other school clothing. Items normally sold in pairs shall not be separated to qualify for the exemption. The term shall not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands, or belt buckles.
“School supplies” – any item normally used by students in a standard classroom for educational purposes, including but not limited to, textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, hand held calculators, chalk, maps, and globes. The term shall not include watches, radios, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable or desktop telephones, copiers or other office equipment, furniture, or fixtures. School supplies shall also include computer software having a taxable value of three hundred fifty dollars or less.
“Personal computers” – a laptop, desktop, or tower computer system which consists of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor, and a keyboard and devices designed for use in conjunction with a personal computer, such as a disk drive, memory module, compact disk drive, daughterboard, digitalizer, microphone, modem, motherboard, mouse, multimedia speaker, printer, scanner, single-user hardware, single-user operating system, soundcard, or video card.
Some Municipalities Have Opted Out of the Sales Tax Holiday:
Before you head out to the mall, you may want to check to make sure that your favorite store isn’t located in a city, town or district that decided not to participate in the tax-free weekend.
Shoppers in these areas that have opted out won’t have to pay Missouri state sales tax on qualifying items, but will still be charged city sales tax:
If you will be shopping in an area that has opted out of the tax-free weekend, be sure to check to see how much sales tax you will pay on qualifying purchases.
For more information, check the MO Dept. of Revenue’s FAQ page.
Source: Missouri Deptarment of Revenue website
