Missouri sales tax holiday planned for this weekend

The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Aug. 2—Shoppers will be able to save some money on school-related purchases during Missouri's annual back-to-school sales tax holiday, which begins Friday and runs through Sunday.

During the weekend, state sales tax (4.225%) will not be charged on the following items:

—Clothing that does not have a taxable value of more than $100. Eligible clothing items include any article of apparel intended to be worn on or about the body, including footwear and disposable diapers for infants or adults. Cloth and other material used to make school uniforms or other school clothing are also included. Not included are watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands or belt buckles.

—School supplies, not exceeding $50 per purchase, that are used in a standard classroom for educational purposes. School supplies include, but are not limited to, textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, chalk, maps, globes, handheld calculators, graphing calculators that do not have a taxable value of more than $150, and computer software that does not have a taxable value of more than $350. Not included are watches, radios, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable or desktop telephones, copiers or other office equipment, furniture or fixtures.

—Personal computers that do not cost more than $1,500 and computer peripheral devices that do not cost more than $1,500. A personal computer can be a laptop, desktop, or tower computer system which consists of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor and a keyboard. Peripheral devices include items 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.

Anyone who makes a qualified purchase may participate; shoppers do not have to be a Missouri resident or student to participate, according to the Missouri Department of Revenue.

Cities that have opted not to participate in the sales tax holiday, meaning that city sales tax will still be collected, are Carl Junction, Carthage, Cassville, Granby, Jane, Joplin, Liberal, Loma Linda, Monett, Mount Vernon, Neosho, Noel, Purdy and Washburn.

Counties that have opted not to participate, meaning that county sales tax will still be collected, are Barry, Jasper, Lawrence and Newton.