Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday set for next weekend, July 17-19

MARION COUNTY — Parents and guardians may want to take note of next weekend’s 2026 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday and plan their shopping trip for school supplies to help save money.
Held annually on the third weekend in July, the State of Alabama’s 21st Annual Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday will begin on Friday, July 17, at one minute past midnight and continue the entire weekend until Sunday, July 19, at midnight.
The sales tax holiday weekend provides shoppers with an opportunity to purchase certain school supplies, computers and clothing free of state sales tax.
Besides the state tax discount, Marion County and all its municipalities also participate, agreeing to waive their sales taxes, as well, on specific school-related items.

Clothing
Eligible items include some clothing, with a set amount of $100 or less per article of clothing. Tax exempt clothing includes belts, boots, caps, coats, diapers, dresses, gloves, gym suits, hats, hosiery, jackets, jeans, neckties, pajamas, pants, raincoats, robes, sandals, scarves, school uniforms, shirts, shoes, socks, sneakers and underwear.
Noneligible items include clothing accessories, protective equipment and sports or recreational equipment.

Computer-related
Tax discount eligible computer items include single purchases of $750 or less, including laptop, desktop or tower computer systems sold as part of a central processing unit. Also eligible are display monitors, keyboards, mouse devices and speakers sold as part of a computer package.
Noneligible items include computer parts and devices not sold as part of a package with the CPU, devices intended for recreational use or non-educational video games.

School supplies
Eligible school supplies, school art supplies and school instructional materials include noncommercial purchases of $50 or less.
Some of the eligible items include binders, blackboard chalk, book bags, calculators, cellophane tape, compasses, composition books, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, highlighters, index cards and boxes, legal pads, lunch boxes, markers, notebooks, protractors, paper, pencil boxes, pencils and pencil sharpeners, pens, rulers, scissors and writing tablets.
Art supplies include clay and glazes, paints (acrylic, tempora, oil and watercolors), paintbrushes and sketch or drawing pads.
School instructional materials include reference maps, globes and required textbooks costing $30-$50.
Noneligible items include magazines, newspapers and periodicals  and printed documents in non-bound forms.

More information
These lists are included as a courtesy, but more information, including a complete list of eligible and noneligible items, can be found at the Alabama Department of Revenue’s website. Search “Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday” at revenue.alabama.gov. You can also call 334-242-1490 or 866-576-6531 during regular business hours.