2026 back-to-school sales tax holidays are here: See when and where
Multiple states are running sales tax exemptions ahead of the new school year.
Back-to-school shopping is on the horizon and so are sales tax holidays.
Florida is up first, with sales tax holidays kicking off this week and running for one month, until Thursday, Aug. 20, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators.
The Florida Department of Revenue notes that certain school supply items such as backpacks, calculators, clothing, computers, and lunchboxes will be exempt from sales tax in that 32-day period, and other specified items like learning aids will have price limits of $30 or less.
Here are other sales tax holidays coming up in August and September:
July 31 - Aug. 2: New Mexico, Tennessee
July 31 - Aug. 3: West Virginia
Aug. 1-2: Arkansas
Aug. 7-8: Iowa
Aug. 7-9: Texas, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia, South Carolina, Oklahoma
Aug. 7-16: Illinois
Aug. 8-9: Massachusetts
Aug. 9-15: Maryland
Aug. 16-22: Connecticut
Individual retailers are also running back-to-school deals, perfect to pair with tax free days.
Target is offering backpacks for as low as $5 and lunch bags starting at $3. Meanwhile, Walmart announced last week that it is lowering the cost of some back-to-school items to 2019 prices, with a box of 24 crayons priced as low as 50 cents.
Old Navy is also running discounts up to 50% on children's clothes and uniforms.
The exception is new tech for students. An increase in AI data centers and higher demand for memory chips and storage has driven up the cost of laptops and desktop computers, as well as other tech, with budget options costing $100 more than usual in some cases.
Despite this, retailers like Best Buy are still offering a few deals.
Best Buy is currently selling an HP OmniBook laptop for $649 instead of its previous price of $1,199. Apple is also offering students the newest MacBook Neo at a $100 discount for $599, if a customer can show proof of a student's enrollment.