Tax free weekend set for July 28-30

JACKSON, Tenn. — Summer is almost over and parents are preparing for back-to-school shopping.

The traditional tax free holiday is only a few days away and parents can take advantage of three days of savings before school is back in session.

This year, the traditional sales tax holiday will suspend local and state tax from Friday, July 28 through Sunday, July 30.

This will give Tennesseans the opportunity to save up to 9.75 percent on back-to-school items. This includes school supplies, clothing, and computers.

“The sales tax holiday is a great time for parents to stock up. Any items that are $100 or less for school supplies — clothes — those are going to be sales tax free. And that’s not just the state sales tax, but that’s also the local sales tax as well,” said Kathleen Hilt, the Public Information Officer for the Tennessee Department of Revenue.

If you are in the market for a computer, sales tax is free for those devices under $1,500.

However, there are a few electronic items that do not qualify for tax savings.

“It does not include printers or printer supplies, or hard drives, that kind of thing. So a lot of people always kind of group those things together, but unfortunately, it is just the laptop or the computer or the tablet,” Hilt said.

Aside from clothing, parents can also save money on items for their babies.

“The clothing section also includes diapers and pull ups. So this is the time that you need to get as many boxes as you can because you don’t have to pay the tax on it,” Hilt said.

In addition to tax free weekend, Tennesseans can now look forward to a three-month-long grocery tax suspension this year.

“We’re really excited to be able to offer people food and food ingredients tax free August 1 through October 31, and that includes food and food ingredients, baby food, formula,” Hilt said.

For a list of items that qualify and do not qualify for tax savings, click here.

You can find more news from across the state here.