The Comptroller encourages all taxpayers to 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 today Friday, Aug. 11, and goes through midnight Sunday, Aug. 13.
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
Below is a link to all qualifying and non-qualifying items
Clothing, Footwear and Other Items – Qualifying and Nonqualifying Items
School Supplies
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 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. 13, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. purchase qualifying school supplies, but the school supplies will not be shipped until Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, and will not arrive until Tuesday, Aug. 22, 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. 13, 2023, and the purchaser does not resubmit payment until Monday, Aug. 14, the purchase is taxable.
Additional Charges Affect the Sales Price: 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.
