Looking for the best deals
on tax-free back-to-school shopping weekend? Here are six things to know.
The annual tax-free, back-toschool shopping weekend is upon us, as parents, students and anyone else looking for a deal can skip paying sales tax on many items starting Friday.
With Central Florida schools starting as early as Aug. 10, shoppers will get a chance to load up on clothes, school supplies and dozens of other non-school related items such as diapers, bicycle helmets, leotards and lingerie — all without paying sales tax, which ranges by county from 6 to 8 percent.
This year is different from some past tax-free holidays, including how long it is and what’s eligible. Q: How long is the tax-free offering?
Tax free-weekend starts at 12:01 a.m. Friday and ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, giving shoppers three full days to spend on eligible items, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
In the past, the holiday has been as long as 10 days with two full weekends of shopping. During 2008 and 2009, it was dropped entirely as lawmakers faced budget cuts.
“When we started the Legislative session, we thought it might be as long as 10 days,” said James Miller, a spokesman for the Florida Retail Federation. “But at the end, lawmakers needed the money elsewhere.”
The last time shoppers got a full 10 days to shop tax-free was in 2015.
While the tax-free weekend brings in a large number of shoppers, many customers have been out buying school supplies to avoid crowds, said Joe Clemente, who manages the Walmart store at 11250 E. Colonial Drive in Orlando. Q: What’s tax-free, and what isn’t?
Most clothes and shoes with a price tag of less than $60 are exempt from sales tax this weekend. The threshold used to be $100, but lawmakers lowered it in 2016.
Other tax-free items this year even include a host of nonschool-related items such as ski suits, diapers, pajamas, martial arts attire and more.
School supplies such as pencils, notebooks, glue and scissors also are eligible to be purchased without sales tax. Shoppers will still have to pay tax on a handful of items that may appear on school supply lists such as facial tissue, hand sanitzers and printer paper.
For a specific breakdown of what’s taxable and what’s not, go to floridarevenue.com. Q: What’s different this year?
Lawmakers cut technology from this year’s back-to-school shopping weekend savings, meaning customers will pay the full sales tax on computers, tablets and headphones, Miller said.
Excluding tech gadgets from the program will limit the effect at a number of stores such as Best Buy.
“Maybe people that were on
the fence about buying a computer would have gone ahead with a purchase, but that’s not the case this year,” Miller said.
It’s not the first time that technology items have been left out of the shopping holiday. Lawmakers didn’t include technology in 2016’s tax-free weekend, but brought it back in 2017.
Q: Can I shop online?
Yes. Purchases made online, in catalogs and by mail-order can all forgo paying taxes on purchases.
In-person is still the preferred way to shop back to school, with about 57 percent of people preferring to go to brick-and-mortar stores versus online, according to a July survey from research and accounting firm Deloitte.
Q: How much will you save?
The average family with school children spends about $510 on back-to-school items, according to Deloitte’s survey. Skipping tax on that would result in about $35 in savings, — or $35 more to spend on those items.
This year shoppers are estimated to save about $35 million to $40 million on sales taxes during the weekend, according to state budget estimators.
Q: When should I shop?
Tax-free weekend also marks one of the busiest shopping days of the year, as stores are packed with customers looking for deals in a small window, store managers said.
“It’s the second busiest weekend of the year for us because it’s all crammed into three days,” said Anna Bulger, general manager of the JC Penney store at Orlando Fashion Square.
Retailers often also add their own discounts to create even greater savings. They also extend hours earlier and later.
Bulger said her store is adding “bonus bucks” for shoppers to come back and spend later, and it brought in a large selection of school uniforms.