What you need to know about Tennessee’s upcoming sales tax holiday weekend

TENNESSEE (WATE) — Tennesseans, the state’s sales tax holiday is coming up with two weekends to make purchases without sales tax on certain items.

First weekend of sales tax holiday

The first weekend of Tennessee’s sales tax holiday will begin 12:01 a.m. July 31 and end at 11:59 p.m. August 2.

The state outlines that the first weekend will focus on clothing, among other back-to-school items.

Clothing, school supplies, and computers as well as other qualifying electronic devices may be purchased tax-free (certain price restrictions apply).

There will also be exempt items sold online that will be eligible, but these items must be purchased for personal use, not for business or trade.

Clothing, what’s exempt and what’s not:

Exempt:

General apparel that costs $200 or less per item. Shirts, pants, socks, shoes, dresses, etc.

Not Exempt:

Apparel items priced at more than $200.
Items sold together, such as shoes, cannot be split up to stay beneath the $200 maximum.
Items such as jewelry, handbags, or sports and recreational equipment.

School Supplies, what’s exempt and what’s not:

Exempt:

School and art supplies with a purchase price of $200 or less per item, such as binders, books, backpacks, crayons, paper, pens, pencils, and rulers, and art supplies such as glazes, clay, paints, drawing pads, and artist paintbrushes.

Not Exempt:

School and art supplies individually priced at more than $200.
Items that are normally sold together cannot be split up to stay beneath the $200 maximum.

Computers and Other Electronics, what’s exempt and what’s not:

Exempt:

Computers for personal use with a purchase price of $3,000 or less.
Tablets, smartphones and electronic readers with a purchase price of $3,000 or less.
Televisions and video game consoles with a purchase price of $3,000 or less.

Not Exempt:

Storage media, like flash drives and compact discs
Individually purchased software
Printer supplies
Household appliances

Second weekend of sales tax holiday

The second weekend of the sales tax holiday will focus on restaurant sales.

This will begin 12:01 a.m. August 7 and end Sunday, August 9 at 11:59 p.m.

The state says that during this time, the retail sale of food and drink by restaurants and limited service restaurants as defined in Tenn. Code Ann. § 57-4-102, is exempt from sales tax.