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Tax holiday encourages back-to-school shopping
Posted: 07.18.2011 at 5:27 PM
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The Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday is coming back to Missouri.

This year, the money-saving holiday goes from August 5-7. During that weekend, shoppers will not have to pay the state’s 4.225% sales tax.

In select cities and counties, shoppers can save even more by not paying local sales taxes.

"When local governments participate in the holiday, the savings can add up to as much as 8 or 9 percent," said Alana M. Barragán-Scott, director of the Missouri Department of Revenue.

However, many counties or cities opt out and still collect local taxes. You can see a full list of which local governments are not participating by clicking here. It is important to note even though some local governments aren’t participating, everyone will save by not paying the state sales tax during the holiday weekend.

By timing your purchase for that weekend, state officials say families can save big.

"Especially with larger purchases such as computers, families and students can begin to plan what they need to buy now and save when they make qualified purchases during the holiday in August," said Barragán-Scott. "The Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday benefits families because it gives them the opportunity to save more than 4 percent on purchases of clothes, school supplies and computer items."

What’s Included in the Sales Tax Holiday

The Sales Tax Holiday isn’t a free for all. There are restrictions on what is included and how much those items can cost.

Clothing: Items cannot cost more than $100 each. The state’s definition of clothing includes traditional apparel, including shoes, worn on or about the body. It also includes material to make school uniforms or other school clothing. The sales tax holiday does not include accessories like watches, jewelry, handbags or belts.

School supplies: Items can not exceed $50 per purchase. Supplies include, but aren’t limited to, textbooks, notebooks, paper, pens, pencils, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, calculators, chalk, maps, and globes. School supplies do not include watches, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable phones, copiers, or other office equipment.

Electronics: Personal computers are included, but can’t cost more than $3,500. Other electronics included in the sales tax holiday are computer display monitors, keyboards, disk drives, memory modules, CD drives, microphones, modems, motherboards, a mouse, speakers, printers, scanners, sound cards or video cards. Also, computer software is considered a school supply and is free from state sales tax if it costs less than $350.

You do not need to be a student to benefit from the holiday.

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