West Plains, MO. – The upcoming Back-to-School Tax-Free Weekend is coming this weekend for both Missouri and Arkansas and a big change has occurred for Missouri shoppers. With the passage of Senate Bill 153, businesses with qualifying items will be exempt from both state and local sales taxes for the three-day tax holiday.
The Missouri Tax Holiday will begin on Friday, August 4th at 12:01 a.m. and will run through Sunday, August 6th. The Arkansas Tax Holiday will begin on Saturday, August 5th and run through Sunday, August 6th.
This is a big shift from previous years, where counties and communities in Missouri would often opt out of the tax holiday, thereby encouraging shoppers to go to states like Arkansas to do their back-to-school shopping. Arkansas has exempted all state and local sales tax from their tax holiday for many years.
According to the Missouri Department of Revenue, the sales tax exemption is limited to:
- Clothing – any article having a taxable value of $100 or less
- School supplies – not to exceed $50 per purchase
- Computer software – taxable value of $350 or less
- Personal computers – not to exceed $1,500
- Computer peripheral devices – not to exceed $1,500
- Graphing calculators – not to exceed $150
The list of items exempted from the Arkansas Sales Tax Holiday is similar:
- Clothing and footwear if the sales price is less than one hundred dollars ($100) per item
- Clothing accessories and equipment if the sales price is less than fifty dollars ($50) per item
- School supplies; School art supplies; and School instructional
- Electronic devices commonly used by a student in the course of study.
- Follow this link for a detailed list.
