Tax Holiday for school supplies!

::Thanks to Macaroni Kids::
It's that time of year again.  School supplies lists are out and the stores are having their annual stock up sales. Families around the United States are preparing to shop for back-to-school supplies and clothing.  Each year the Virginia Department of Taxation allows the first full weekend of August to be tax free weekend.  School supplies under $20 and clothing and footwear under $100 may qualify for the benefit.  Retailers may offer additional tax free items, but it is their responsibility to absorb the taxes required for those items.

Items that qualify are:

• 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; and 

• Writing tablets 

“School computer supply” is an item commonly used by a student in a course of 

study in which a computer is used. For purposes of the sales tax holiday, the 

term “school computer supply” is not included under the term, “school supply.” 

Any school computer supply is ineligible for exemption during the sales tax 

holiday. The following is a list of examples that constitute school computer 

supplies: 

• Computer storage media; diskettes; compact disks 

• Handheld electronic schedulers 

• Personal digital assistants 

• Printers for computers; and 

• Printer supplies for computers; printer paper, printer ink

For other items that may not qualify for this exemption refer to Tax Holiday.

To find out more about this Tax Free Holiday go to Virginia Department of Taxation.