Mississippi’s annual two-day sales tax holiday is scheduled to be celebrated by consumers late next week.
The 2023 sales tax holiday period, when state sales tax will not be collected or paid on purchases of specific products and/or services, will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 28, and end at midnight Saturday, July 29.
During the event, started by the Legislature in 2009 and amended in 2019, sales tax is not charged on most articles of clothing, footwear or school supplies if the sales price of any single item is less than $100.
The holiday is not just for in-store sales. For anyone who still wants to maintain their social distance and purchase by mail, telephone or the internet, those items are not subject to sales tax if the buyer orders and pays for them during the sales tax holiday and items are less than the $100 threshold.
Electronic items such as laptops and tablets are excluded.
The list of eligible tax-free school supplies, according to the Mississippi Department of Revenue website, consists of:
• Backpacks
• Binder pockets
• Binders
• Blackboard chalk
• Book bags
• Calculators
• Cellophane tape
• Clays and glazes
• Compasses
• Composition books
• Crayons
• Dictionaries and thesauruses
• Dividers
• Erasers
• Folders: expandable, pocket, plastic and manila
• Glue, paste and paste sticks
• Highlighters
• Index card boxes
• Index cards
• Legal pads
• Lunch boxes
• Markers
• 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
Layaway items are not eligible for the tax break.
A more exhaustive list of items included with, and excluded from, the holiday may be found on the MDR website.
For more information about Mississippi’s upcoming sales tax holiday, contact MDR at 601-923-7015.
