August 2011 Sales Tax Holiday: School Supplies and Clothing

Dear Friends:

Students will soon be heading back to school and I want to make sure you know the 6th Annual School Supplies and Clothing Tax Holiday begins tomorrow, Friday, August 5th and runs through Sunday, August 7th.

During these three days, you can buy certain school supplies, clothing and footwear without paying local and state sales tax. Eligible school supplies must be priced at $20 or less and each eligible article of clothing and footwear must be priced at $100 or less. There is no limit on the number of items you can buy, as long as they qualify.

You can view the complete list of eligible products, see answers to frequently asked questions and review the guidelines for consumers at www.tax.virginia.gov and click on the Sales Tax Holiday logo under Announcements.

Everyone can take advantage of the sale tax holiday not just students preparing to go back to school. This is a great opportunity to purchase back to school items and save money at the same time.

Best wishes for a great school year to all of my 7th District students!

When: First full weekend of August (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) each year. The 2011 holiday will take place on August 5-7, 2011.

What's Exempt: During this three-day period, purchases of qualifying school supplies selling for $20 or less per item, and purchases of qualifying clothing and footwear selling for $100 or less per item will be exempt from sales tax. Retailers may also choose to absorb the tax on other items during the holiday period, but they are responsible for paying the tax on those items to the Department of Taxation.

Below is a partial list of the supplies that qualify.  I hope this information will prove useful to you.

 School Supplies

Items on the School Supplies list must cost $20 or less per item, and must be intended for use in school or in connection with a school activity.

• Binder Pockets
• Binders
• Blackboard chalk
• Book bags
• Calculators
• Cellophane tape
• Clay and glazes
• Compasses
• Composition books
• Crayons
• Dictionaries and thesauruses
• Dividers
• Erasers (including dry erase marker erasers and dry erase marker cleaning solution)
• Folders: expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila
• Glue, paste, and paste sticks
• Highlighters
• Index card boxes
• Index cards
• Legal pads
• Lunch boxes
• Markers (including dry erase markers and dry erase marker kits)

• Musical instruments, musical instrument accessories, and replacement items for musical instruments
• Notebooks
• Paintbrushes for artwork
• Paints (acrylic, tempera, and oil)
• Paper: loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board and construction paper
• Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes
• Pencil sharpeners
• Pencils
• Pens
• Protractors
• Reference books
• Reference maps and globes
• Rulers
• Scissors
• Sheet music
• Sketch and drawing pads
• Textbooks
• Watercolors
• Workbooks
• Writing tablets

 Clothing

Items on the Clothing list must cost $100 or less per item, and meet the government approved definition of clothing.