Mississippi tax-free weekend 2022: What you need to know

Clarion Ledger
·2 min read

Mississippi's sales-tax-free weekend is coming up between 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 29 and midnight Saturday, July 30.

According to the Mississippi Sales Tax Holiday passed by the Legislature in 2009 and amended in 2019, sales tax will not be due on articles of clothing, footwear or school supplies if the sales price of a single item is less than $100.

The Mississippi Department of Revenue laid out some guidelines for eligible and ineligible items — here's what you need to know:

Clothing

There are a few exceptions to the sales tax holiday, especially for clothing. Rental clothing and shoes are still subject to the 7% tax rate and do not qualify during the holiday. Accessories such as belt buckles, hair clips, jewelry, handkerchiefs and watches do not qualify as clothing items. Sports clothing, such as football pads, helmets, baseball pants and cleats are also not eligible.

Purchasing options

Additionally, how an item is purchased may disqualify the item for the tax holiday. The Department of Revenue website states that layaway items do not qualify for the tax break. When shopping with a coupon, manufacturers' coupons and rebates do not lower the original cost of the item, therefore, sales tax may still be collected if purchasing an item more than $100.

The tax holiday also qualifies for online purchases. The Department of Revenue's website states that mail, internet and telephone sales are eligible for the discount as long as they were purchased during the holiday and do not exceed $100.

Back to school

Mississippi's sales tax-free weekend is scheduled for July 29-30. Sales tax will not be collected on clothing, shoes or school supplies less than $100.
Mississippi's sales tax-free weekend is scheduled for July 29-30. Sales tax will not be collected on clothing, shoes or school supplies less than $100.

In 2019, the legislature amended the tax holiday to include school supplies in the tax holiday. Electronics such as laptops or tablets are not listed as eligible school supplies. The Department of Revenue lists these items as eligible during the tax-free weekend:

  • Backpacks

  • Binder pockets and binders

  • Blackboard

  • Bookbags

  • Chalk

  • Calculators

  • Cellophane tape

  • Clays and glazes

  • Compasses

  • Composition books

  • Crayons

  • Dictionaries and thesauruses

  • Dividers

  • Erasers

  • Folders: expandable, pocket, plastic and manila

  • Glue, paste and paste sticks

  • Highlighters

  • Index card boxes and index cards

  • Legal pads

  • Lunchboxes

  • Markers

  • Notebooks

  • Paintbrushes for artwork

  • Paints: acrylic, tempera and oil

  • Paper: loose-leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board and construction paper

  • Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes, pencil sharpeners, pencils and pens

  • Protractors

  • Reference books, reference maps and globes

  • Rulers

  • Scissors

  • Sheet music

  • Sketch and drawing pads

  • Textbooks

  • Watercolors

  • Workbooks

  • Writing tablets

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Tax-free weekend Mississippi 2022: What you need to know