Summer is (finally) ending with the St. Johns County district wide orientation rolling up on Aug. 9 and students reporting to class on Aug. 12. This year, don’t let the laundry list of back-to-school items send you to the cleaners. Thanks to the 2019 Sales Tax Holiday, parents can buy clothing, footwear, accessories, school supplies and even computers – all sales tax free. The holiday period begins at midnight Friday, Aug. 2 and continues through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6. Smart shoppers know their way around this Florida law when buying on a budget.
During this period no sales tax or local option tax (also known as discretionary sales surtax) will be collected on purchases of items on the list published by the Florida Department of Revenue.
The exempt list includes clothing, footwear and certain accessories selling for $60 or less per item. No tax is due on the sale or purchase of clothing, wallets or bags. This includes handbags, backpacks, fanny packs or diaper bags but excludes briefcases, suitcases and garment bags. Watches, jewelry, umbrellas or handkerchiefs are not exempt from taxation.
School supply items must have a price of $15 or lower to be considered tax exempt. Items such as theme park, entertainment complex, public lodging establishment or airport tickets are not tax exempt. The state defines “school supplies” as pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, paper, legal pads, binders, lunch boxes, markers, folders, poster board, scissors, cellophane tape, glue, rulers, computer disks, staplers, compasses and calculators.
Examples of what the state defines as taxable supplies are; computer paper, books not otherwise exempt, masking tape or correction tape/fluid/pens.
Computers and certain computer-related accessories may also qualify for the tax-free holiday if they are $1,000 or less. Any computers or accessories intended for business use or personal use will not be considered qualifying. Personal computers include cellular telephones, video game consoles, digital media receivers or “any devices not primarily designed to process data.” Computers and accessories considered exempt are desktops, laptops, tablets, memory drives, headphones, cables, modems printers, scanners and software.
In addition, the St. Johns Town Center will be open extended hours during the holiday. For more information regarding specific items included with the 2019 Florida Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday, visit floridarevenue.com/backtoschool.
