During the 2019 Mississippi Sales Tax Holiday on Friday and Saturday, sales tax will not be due on articles of clothing and footwear, just as on past tax holidays, but this year the statewide period includes the addition of school supplies.

“The original bill did not include school supplies. It took eight years to get it passed,” said state Sen. Walter Michel, R-Hinds.

The sales tax holiday was enacted by the Mississippi Legislature in 2009 for the sale of clothing and footwear. During the 2019 legislative session, Senate Bill 2955 was passed, which added school supplies to the list of items that are tax exempt.

To qualify, each individual item must cost less than $100 and must be purchased during the tax-free weekend.

“In order to get the bill passed, we included clothing and footwear…items that everyone could use. This year, crayons, erasers, pens, pencils, notebooks, lunch boxes, textbooks, backpacks and many more items are included,” said Michel.

The tax free period begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday, the first day of the two-day event, and concludes at midnight Saturday.

For purposes of the holiday, “clothing” includes “any article of apparel designed to be worn on the human body.” “Footwear,” however, is not all inclusive, excluding skis, swim fins, roller blades, skates and similar items. Accessories — such as jewelry, handbags, luggage, umbrellas, wallets, watches, briefcases and garment bags — do not qualify for the tax break.

Shoppers should note that manufacturer’s coupons cannot be used to lower the selling price of an item to below the $100 limit. Layaway sales do not qualify. Eligible items purchased by mail, phone or internet on Friday and Saturday will be subject to the same rules as items purchased in a brick-and-mortar retail establishment.

For more information on the tax-free holiday visit: http://ow.ly/zcaQ50vbtOm