Tennessee's Sales Tax Holiday continues until late Sunday night

photo Shoppers take advantage of a sales tax holiday in this file photo.

This will be the weekend to stock up on school supplies as Tax Free Weekend began today at 12:01 a.m.

Tennessee's Sales Tax Holiday runs through 11:59 p.m. Sunday and residents can save money on tax-free purchases that include certain clothing, school and art supplies and computers.

Items include clothing and school and art supplies with a price of $100 or less per item and computers with a price of $1,500 or less. Those items are exempt from local and state sales tax.

Local governments are reimbursed lost sales tax by the state. Anyone can participate but items purchased by a trade or business are not included.

Internet, phone, mail and e-mail purchases are also included, as long as the customer orders and pays for the item and the retailer accepts the order during the tax-free weekend -- even if delivery is made after the weekend ends.

If the item purchased is on backorder it is still considered tax-free. The tax-free weekend began in August 2006 and Tennesseans average between $8 million and $10 million in tax savings each year.

"We hope Tennessee shoppers will take advantage of the tax relief offered by this year's sales tax holiday," Revenue Commissioner Richard Roberts said.

Examples of items that can be bought tax-free during the holiday include:

• Clothing: Shirts, dresses, pants, coats, gloves and mittens, hats and caps, hosiery, neckties, belts, sneakers, shoes, uniforms and scarves.

• School supplies: Binders, book bags, calculators, tape, chalk, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, pens, pencils, lunch boxes, notebooks, paper, rulers and scissors.

• Art supplies: Clay and glazes; acrylic, tempera and oil paints; paintbrushes for artwork; sketch and drawing pads; and watercolors.

• Computers: Central processing unit (CPU), along with various other components including monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables to connect components and preloaded software. (Note: While the CPU may be purchased separately, other items must be part of a bundled computer package in order to be eligible.) iPads and other tablet computers are eligible for tax exemption, but smart phones and video game consoles are not.

Upcoming Events