Mississippi Sales Tax Holiday returns
State sales tax not charged on eligible items during two-day weekend
Just in time for back to school is the annual Mississippi Sales Tax Holiday, which this year will start at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 29 and continue through 12 midnight on Saturday, July 30.
The Sales Tax Holiday was initiated by the state Legislature in 2009 and was amended in 2019. During this particular weekend, Mississippi state sales taxes will not be charged on the sale of articles of clothing, footwear, or school supplies if the sales price of a single item is less than $100. Items priced at $100 or more are not eligible and the seven percent state sales tax will still apply.
Clothing and footwear rentals are not eligible for the state sales tax holiday. Accessories, such as belts, jewelry, handkerchiefs, and such are not eligible, as are sports clothing, such as football pads, baseball helmets, cleats, and such. Layaway items won’t qualify.
At the same time, items that fall into the eligible category and are purchased through mail, internet or telephone sales are eligible if bought during the holiday and a single item is not over $100.
School supplies were added to the sales tax holiday three years ago, so the following items are eligible:
- 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
A detailed guide to the Sales Tax Holiday is available on the Mississippi Department of Revenue website.