Starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday and running through Sunday, school supplies can be purchased without the application of state sales tax, due to the Missouri Sales Tax Holiday. New this year, local sales taxes will also be waived in all cities, counties and special tax districts, announces the Missouri Department of Revenue.
During the three-day weekend, certain back-to-school purchases will be exempt from all state and local sales taxes.
Items approved for sales tax exemption, with some limitations, are clothing, school supplies, computer software, personal computers, computer peripheral devices and graphing calculators.
Applicable clothing includes any article of wearable apparel with a taxable value of no more than $100 including footwear, disposable diapers and fabric used to make school clothing.
Belts with and without buckles, coats, dresses, gloves, hats or caps, house coats, house slippers, jackets, leggings, pants, shirts, shorts, shoelaces, shoes or boots, socks, tights and undergarments are considered acceptable for the exemption.Watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands and belt buckles are not included.
Eligible school supplies, up to $50 per purchase, include any item normally used by students in a standard classroom for educational purposes such as textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, handheld calculators, chalk, maps and globes. Also included are graphing calculators up to $150 and computer software having a taxable value of $350 or less. Radios, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable or desktop telephones, copiers or other office equipment, furniture and fixtures are not included.
Other acceptable items are binder clips, blank computer disks, card stock, dry erase markers, file folders, glue, handheld calculators, index divider tabs, index dividers, inkjet refills, journals, lunch boxes, magnetic note pads, maps, mini pocket packs with paper, musical instruments, note cards, padlocks, poster mounting putty, punches and stencils, push pins, rubber bands, scissors, staplers, staples, tape, thumbtacks and USB flash drives.
Personal computers eligible, up to $1,500, include laptops, desktops or tower computer systems consisting of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor and a keyboard. The category also includes devices designed for use in conjunction with a personal computer, such as a disk drive, memory module, compact disk drive, daughterboard, digitizer, microphone, modem, motherboard, mouse, multimedia speaker, printer, scanner, single-user hardware, single-user operating system, soundcard or video card, likewise up to $1,500. Computer equipment also includes tablets and iPads.
Items which do not qualify for the exemptions include batteries, blackboards, briefcases, bulletin boards, copiers, all kinds of cameras, envelopes, facial tissues, handheld media devices or iPods, locker mirrors, paper trimmer and blade refills, power strips, sporting equipment and standalone printers.
Businesses with qualifying retail sales for the sales tax holiday may use the normal filing method for their August 2023 returns, said DOR officials. Enter total gross receipts for all sales made, indicating holiday sales as a negative adjustment on the return. These sales are no long required to be filed using a separate item code. For more information, including a full list of exempt and nonexempt items, visit dor.mo.gov/taxation/business/tax-types/sales-use/holidays/back-to-school.
For more back-to-school information from area school districts, watch for the Aug. 9 printed and digital editions of the Quill.
