School starts in Madison County on Monday, August 17 and, with the start of school, comes back to school shopping. But before you rush off to buy clothes and school supplies, you may want to plan your schedule around the back to school sales tax holiday that the Florida Legislature recently passed. Instead of the normal three-day tax break, it will be 10 days this year, giving shoppers plenty of time to shop around. The sales tax holiday begins Friday, August 7 at 12:01 a.m. and will end on Sunday, August 16 at 11:59 p.m. All clothing, footwear and certain accessories under $100 will be tax-free. The wallets and bags category includes handbags, backpacks, fanny packs and diaper bags, but excluding briefcases, suitcases and other garment bags. All footwear except skis, swim fins, roller blades and skates will be tax-free. Accessories such as watches, jewelry, umbrellas and handkerchiefs will not be tax-free but barrettes, bobby pins, belt buckles, bow ties, clips, hair bands, neckwear, ponytail holders, scarves and ties are tax-free. School supplies with the sales price of $15 and less will be tax-free.
School supplies means pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, notebook filler paper, legal pads, binders, lunch boxes, construction paper, markers, folders, poster board, composition books, poster paper, scissors, cellophane tape, glue or paste, rulers, computer disks, protractors, compasses and calculators. Taxes may not be levied on the first $750 of the sales price of personal computers or personal computer-related accessories purchased for noncommercial home or personal use. Personal computers include electronic book readers, laptops, desktops, handhelds, tablets or tower computers. This does not include cellular telephones, video game consoles, digital media receivers or devices that are not primarily designed to process data. Personal computer-related accessories include keyboards, mice, personal digital assistants, monitors, other peripheral devices, modems, routers and non-recreational software, regardless of whether the accessories are used in association with a personal computer base unit. Computer accessories not included are furniture or systems, devices, software or peripherals that are designed or intended primarily for recreational use. Monitors must not be devices that include a television tuner.