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The Comptroller encourages all taxpayers to continue practicing social distancing and support Texas businesses while saving money on tax-free purchases of most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks (sold for less than $100) during the annual Tax Free weekend. Qualifying items can be purchased tax free from a Texas store or from an online or catalog seller doing business in Texas. In most cases, you do not need to give the seller an exemption certificate to buy qualifying items tax free.

This year’s sales tax holiday begins Friday, Aug. 5, and goes through midnight Sunday, Aug. 7.

The sales tax exemption applies only to qualifying items you buy during the sales tax holiday. Items you buy before or after the sales tax holiday do not qualify for exemption, and there is no tax refund available.

Online Purchases and Telephone Orders

During the holiday you can buy qualifying items in-store, online, by telephone, mail, custom order, or any other means. The sale of the item must take place during the specific period. The purchase date is easy to determine when the purchase is made in-store but becomes more complicated with remote purchases. The purchaser must have given the consideration for the item during the period even if the item may not be delivered until after the period is over.

For example, if a purchaser enters their credit card information in an online shopping website on Sunday Aug. 7, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.to purchase qualifying school supplies, but the school supplies will not be shipped until Friday Aug. 12, 2022 and will not arrive until Tuesday Aug. 16, the purchase will still qualify for the exemption. However, if the charge to your credit card is declined by the payment processor at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday Aug. 7, 2022 and the purchaser does not resubmit payment until Monday Aug. 8, the purchase is taxable.

In-Store Purchases

The Comptroller’s office urges all taxpayers buying certain qualifying items at their local retailers to practice appropriate social distancing as described in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines during the sales tax holiday.

Qualifying Items

• List of Clothing, Footwear and Other Items
• List of School Supplies
  • Clothing and Footwear
  • Face Masks
  • Backpacks
  • School Supplies

Special Purchases

• School Supplies Purchased Using a Business Account – Exemption Certificate Required
• Layaways
• Special Orders and Rain Checks

Additional Charges Affect the Sales Price

• Delivery, Shipping, Handling and Transportation Charges
• Delivery, shipping, handling and transportation charges by the seller are part of the item’s sales price.
• Since clothing, backpacks and school supplies have to be less than $100 to qualify, you have to look at the item’s total sales price to determine if you can buy it tax free.
  • For example, you buy a pair of jeans for $95 with a $10 delivery charge for a total price of $105. Because the jeans’ total price is more than $100, tax is due on the entire $105 price.
• If a delivery charge is billed per item, and an invoice has both exempt and taxable items, only the qualifying exempt item’s delivery charge is exempt.
• If the delivery charge is a flat rate per package, and the amount charged is the same regardless of how many items are included in the package, the total charge can be attributed to any one of the items in the package.

Sales Tax Holiday Refund Requests

If you pay sales tax on qualifying items during the sales tax holiday, you can ask the seller for a refund of the tax paid. The seller can either grant the refund or provide their customer with Form 00-985, Assignment to Right to Refund (PDF), which allows the purchaser to file the refund claim directly with the Comptroller’s office.