Tax-free weekend dates by state cluster in late July and early August 2026, when about 20 states suspend sales tax on back-to-school items like clothing, school supplies, and computers. A handful of states run separate holidays earlier in the year for disaster supplies, energy-efficient appliances, firearms, or general retail. Each state sets its own dates, eligible items, and price caps, and some legislatures have to reauthorize the holiday every year.
2026 Tax-Free Weekend Dates by State
The dates below reflect confirmed or expected 2026 schedules for back-to-school holidays. Several states had not finalized their weekends at the time of publication; check your state Department of Revenue site before you shop.
- Alabama: July 17–19, 2026
- Arkansas: August 1–2, 2026
- Connecticut: to be announced
- Florida: August 1–31, 2026 (full month)
- Iowa: August 7–8, 2026
- Maryland: to be announced
- Massachusetts: to be announced
- Mississippi: to be announced
- Missouri: August 7–9, 2026
- New Mexico: to be announced
- Ohio: expected first weekend of August 2026
- Oklahoma: August 7–9, 2026
- South Carolina: to be announced
- Tennessee: July 24–26, 2026
- Texas: August 7–9, 2026
- Virginia: August 7–9, 2026
- West Virginia: August 7–9, 2026
Length varies. Most states run a three-day weekend, Iowa runs two days, and Florida stretches the whole month. Because each state authorizes its holiday through legislation, dates can shift year to year.
Other Tax-Free Holidays in 2026
Several states schedule additional tax-free windows outside the back-to-school season, each covering a specific category of goods.
- Severe weather and disaster preparedness: Alabama, February 20–22, 2026, and Texas, April 25–27, 2026, on items like generators, batteries, weather radios, and emergency supplies.
- Energy-efficient products: Maryland, February 14–16, 2026, and Texas, May 23–25, 2026, on qualifying Energy Star appliances and water-efficient products.
- Missouri’s Show Me Green holiday: April 19–25, 2026, covering energy-efficient products. Florida now treats disaster-preparedness items as year-round exempt.
- Second Amendment: Louisiana, tentatively September 4–6, 2026, and Mississippi, dates to be announced, on firearms and hunting supplies.
- General retail: Nevada, October 30–November 1, 2026, tied to Nevada Day.
Virginia rolls back-to-school, hurricane preparedness, and Energy Star products into its single August weekend rather than running separate events.
What You Can Buy Tax-Free
Most back-to-school holidays cover three broad categories: clothing, school supplies, and computers or tablets. The definitions are stricter than they first appear.
Clothing and Footwear
Everyday shirts, pants, dresses, socks, underwear, and sneakers qualify in states that include a clothing category. Most states separate “clothing” from “clothing accessories,” and jewelry, watches, handbags, cuff links, and wallets stay taxable as accessories. Protective or athletic gear like football pads, bicycle helmets, and cleats designed for sports also falls outside the definition. If you wear it as part of daily life, it likely qualifies; if it serves a specialized protective or decorative purpose, it probably does not.
School Supplies
Notebooks, binders, pens, pencils, crayons, rulers, and similar classroom items qualify in nearly every participating state. Backpacks are usually included. Some states extend the list to calculators, reference maps, globes, and educational learning aids. A few states draw a separate line between “school supplies” and “school instructional materials,” and each category can carry its own price cap.
Computers and Tablets
A growing number of states now exempt personal computers, laptops, and tablets. Related accessories such as keyboards, mice, monitors, printers, and educational software may also qualify, depending on the state. Price caps for computers run considerably higher than caps for clothing or supplies.
Price Caps to Watch
Nearly every holiday sets a per-item price limit. Only items priced at or below the cap qualify. Common 2026 ranges:
- Clothing and footwear: typically $100 per item, with Alabama allowing up to $156.
- School supplies: usually $30 to $100 per item, depending on the state and the type of supply.
- Computers and tablets: generally $1,500 per item, with at least one state imposing no cap.
- General tangible property: Massachusetts uses a single $2,500 threshold covering all retail purchases by individuals during its holiday.
The cap is all-or-nothing. If a single item costs even a dollar more than the limit, the full price is taxed, not just the excess. Caps apply per item, though, not per transaction. Ten qualifying items can add up to well over the threshold and each one stays tax-free as long as it individually falls under the limit.
Bundled items are measured together. If a computer is sold as a package with a monitor, keyboard, and printer at one price, that total price is compared to the cap. If the bundle exceeds the threshold, nothing in it qualifies. Retailers generally cannot split a normally bundled item into separate line prices to squeeze under the cap.
Online Orders
Online purchases qualify under the same rules as in-store purchases, as long as the sale itself happens during the holiday. You generally need to both place the order and complete payment inside the window. The seller’s time zone controls the cutoff, so if you and the retailer are in different zones, watch when the holiday ends for them. An order placed and paid for at 11:30 p.m. on the last night of the holiday, before midnight in the seller’s time zone, still qualifies even if it ships the following week.
Shipping and handling are treated differently across states. Some states exclude separately stated shipping from the price-cap calculation; others include combined shipping and handling in the item’s total price. If an item sits just under a threshold, handling charges could push it over and disqualify it.
Layaway, Returns, and Rain Checks
Timing of the actual purchase determines tax-free status, not the timing of related events before or after. That principle drives the specific rules:
- Same-item exchange after the holiday: no tax on the exchange if you’re swapping for the same item in a different size or color.
- Different-item exchange after the holiday: the replacement item is fully taxable, even if it would have qualified during the holiday.
- Rain checks: a purchase made with a rain check during the holiday qualifies regardless of when the rain check was issued.
- Layaway: in most states, the purchase qualifies if you select the item and the retailer accepts the order during the holiday, even if you finish paying weeks later. Some states instead grant the exemption when the final payment and delivery happen inside the holiday window.
If you plan to use layaway, start the plan during the holiday rather than before it.
Where the Holiday May Not Apply
Some states exclude purchases made inside theme parks, entertainment complexes, airports, and hotels or other lodging establishments. Retailers in those venues still collect sales tax on otherwise qualifying items. Most states require retailers to participate and do not let dealers opt out, but a small number of local jurisdictions impose separate local taxes or fees that a state holiday does not waive. The state portion comes off; a local merchant fee could still appear at checkout.
States Without a Tax-Free Weekend
Five states impose no state sales tax at all: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. They have no need for a holiday because purchases are untaxed year-round. Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont permanently exempt most clothing from sales tax regardless of the season, which removes the main reason to schedule a back-to-school clothing weekend.