Tax-free weekend starts this Friday

Alabama’s Back-to-School tax-free weekend will be held at retail stores throughout the state on Aug. 1-3. It will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 1 and end on Aug. 3 at midnight. Shelby County and surrounding cities such as Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Homewood and Mountain Brook will participate in the exemption.

The weekend gives back-to-school shoppers the opportunity to buy supplies and equipment without sales tax added. 

Items that will be tax-free include but are not limited to clothing items under $100, school supplies under $50, computers and other electronics under $750, educational books under $30, and required textbooks more than $30 and less than $50. 

Several retailers will feature additional sales on top of the tax exclusion. For these businesses, the weekend represents an opportunity for significant sales.

“It’s our biggest weekend of the year. It’s bigger than Black Friday, bigger than Christmas, bigger than Easter,” GiGi’s owner Katherine McRee said.

Only items with an educational value are part of the exclusion. Therefore, video games or electronics sold for recreational purposes will not be included. Some other items that are not tax-free include some clothing items such as belt-buckles sold separately, costume masks, patches/emblems and more.

For more information and detailed lists of included items, visit revenue.alabama.gov/salestax/SalesTaxHol.cfm.