Everything you need to know about this weekend’s tax-free holiday

Tax-free weekend
This weekend is back to school tax-free weekend. (
Lacey Spear Muenstermann / Hville Blast)

Get those back-to-school lists ready!

Whether you’re preparing your little one or yourself for the coming semester here’s everything you should know going into this weekend:

What’s actually tax-free?

woman wearing blue denim jacket holding book
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Alabama has two tax-free holidays: One for back to school in July and one for severe weather preparedness in February.

This weekend’s tax-exempt holiday doesn’t apply to everything, only items that would be useful for the upcoming school year… with some exceptions:

  • Clothing
    • Eligible: All general-use apparel and articles of clothing valued under $100.
    • Non-eligible: Any clothing that costs more than $100 per article, most accessories, protective gear and sports equipment.

  • Electronics/computer supplies
    • Eligible: Computers, computer accessories, storage devices and printers. The sales price must be less than $750.
    • Non-eligible: Cell phones, non-educational video games, furniture and computer parts/components not sold with a CPU.

  • School supplies
    • Eligible: Items with a sales price of $50 or less, lunch boxes, drawing/writing instruments, notebooks, bookbags, art supplies etc. If it’s on an official school supply list provided by your school it should be eligible.
    • Non-eligible: Items with a sales price above $50.

  • Books
    • Eligible: Bound books with a sales price of $30 or less and textbooks valued between $30-50.
    • Non-eligible: Books with a sales price above $30, magazines, newspapers and unbound materials.

Click here for a full list of eligible and non-eligible items.

Where to get the best deals

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You should be able to find all your clothing needs at Bridge Street. (Christian Stanfield / Hville Blast)

During the tax-free holiday, which runs from Friday to Sunday, Alabama’s 4% sales tax will be waived as well as local sales tax in most areas in Alabama.

Huntsville and Madison County are included in this exemption but some areas such as County Line, Mentone and even Jefferson County will still have at least partial sales tax.

To get all of your shopping done efficiently we recommend shopping in an area with lots of offerings such as:

  • Bridge Street
  • Jones Valley
  • Parkway Place Mall

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Christian Stanfield
Christian Stanfield
Articles: 80