Sales tax
Sales tax holidays in 2026
Every tax-free period of 2026, read on the official notice of each state.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
19 states held at least one sales tax holiday in 2026, for 25 holiday periods in all, according to the notices published by their revenue departments. Most fall on back-to-school weekends in late July and August and cover clothing, footwear and school supplies under a price cap per item, with computers in some states; others waive the tax on emergency and hurricane supplies, Energy Star or WaterSense appliances, or firearms and safety equipment. The first period of the year began on February 14, 2026 and the last ends on December 31, 2026. A holiday removes the state tax on qualifying items; whether the local tax is waived too depends on the state, and on the locality in some. Prices must be under the cap item by item, and items outside the list, such as accessories or sports equipment, stay taxed. The table gives every period with a link to the state's notice.
What a holiday weekend saves
State tax saved
$24.00
| Holiday | Maryland: Energy Star tax-free weekend |
| State rate waived | 6% |
Each item must be under the holiday’s price cap; local taxes are waived only where the locality joins in.
The 2026 calendar, in date order
| Dates | State | Holiday | What qualifies |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 14 to February 16 | Maryland | Energy Star tax-free weekend | Energy Star air conditioners, clothes washers and dryers, furnaces, heat pumps, standard refrigerators, dehumidifiers, boilers, programmable thermostats, CFL bulbs, and solar water heaters |
| February 20 to February 22 | Alabama | Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday | Held by statute on the last full weekend of February (Friday 12:01 a.m. to Sunday midnight): batteries, weather radios, flashlights, tarps, first aid kits and similar items (per-item cap adjusted for inflation since Act 2025-309; $94 per item and $1,564 for portable generators in the 2027 edition). Local participation varies. |
| April 19 to April 25 | Missouri | Show Me Green Sales Tax Holiday | Energy Star certified new appliances, up to $1,500 per appliance; state and local taxes |
| April 25 to April 27 | Texas | Emergency Preparation Supplies Sales Tax Holiday | portable generators under $3,000; certain emergency supplies under $300 (e.g. rescue ladders); batteries, flashlights, portable radios, phone chargers and similar items under $75 |
| May 23 to May 25 | Texas | ENERGY STAR Sales Tax Holiday | ENERGY STAR air conditioners ($6,000 or less), refrigerators ($2,000 or less), ceiling fans, light bulbs, clothes washers, dishwashers and dehumidifiers |
| May 23 to May 25 | Texas | Water-Efficient Products Sales Tax Holiday | WaterSense products and water-conserving items such as rain barrels |
| July 10 to July 12 | Mississippi | Mississippi Sales Tax Holiday | clothing, footwear and school supplies priced under $100 per item |
| July 17 to July 19 | Alabama | Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday | Clothing $156 or less per article; computers, software and school computer supplies, single purchase of $1,173 or less; school supplies, art supplies and instructional material $78 or less per item; books $47 or less. State tax only; local tax applies unless the locality opted in. |
| July 20 to August 20 | Florida | Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday | Clothing, footwear, wallets and bags (including backpacks) $100 or less per item; school supplies $50 or less; learning aids and jigsaw puzzles $30 or less; personal computers and accessories $1,500 or less for personal use. Dealers cannot opt out. |
| July 31 to August 2 | New Mexico | Back-to-school gross receipts tax holiday | clothing and shoes under $100; computers and e-readers up to $1,000 and related peripherals up to $500; school supplies under $30 (book bags, backpacks, maps, globes under $100; calculators under $200) |
| July 31 to August 2 | Tennessee | Sales tax holiday | clothing $100 or less per item; school and school art supplies $100 or less per item; computers $1,500 or less per item |
| July 31 to August 3 | West Virginia | West Virginia Sales Tax Holiday | clothing $125 or less; laptops and tablets $500 or less; school instructional material $20 or less; school supplies $50 or less; sports equipment $150 or less |
| August 1 to August 2 | Arkansas | Arkansas Sales Tax Holiday | Clothing and footwear under $100 per item; clothing accessories under $50 per item; school supplies, school art supplies, school instructional materials and electronic devices used for study. Exempt from both state and local sales tax. |
| August 7 to August 16 | Illinois | Back-to-School State Sales Tax Holiday | clothing and footwear priced under $125 per item and certain school supplies (no price limit on supplies); the state portion of the tax drops from 6.25% to 1.25%, local taxes still apply |
| August 7 to August 8 | Iowa | Iowa Sales Tax Holiday | articles of clothing and footwear with a selling price under $100 each; both state sales tax and local option tax are waived |
| August 7 to August 9 | Missouri | Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday | clothing $100 or less per item, school supplies up to $50 per purchase, software $350 or less, graphing calculators $150 or less, personal computers and peripherals up to $1,500 |
| August 7 to August 9 | Ohio | Back-to-school sales tax holiday | clothing priced at $75 or less per item; school supplies $20 or less; school instructional materials $20 or less |
| August 7 to August 9 | Oklahoma | Back-to-school sales tax holiday | articles of clothing or footwear priced under $100 (not athletic/protective gear, accessories or rentals) |
| August 7 to August 9 | South Carolina | Sales tax holiday (back to school) | clothing, clothing accessories, footwear, school supplies, computers, printers and software, bed and bath linens; excludes jewelry, cosmetics, eyewear, watches, furniture, layaway and business purchases. No price cap. |
| August 7 to August 9 | Virginia | Virginia's 3-Day Sales Tax Holiday | school supplies $20 or less per item; clothing and footwear $100 or less; portable generators $1,000 or less; gas chainsaws $350 or less; chainsaw accessories and other hurricane items $60 or less; Energy Star and WaterSense products for home use $2,500 or less |
| August 8 to August 9 | Massachusetts | Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday | most retail items of $2,500 or less bought for personal use; excludes meals, motor vehicles, motorboats, telecom, utilities, tobacco, marijuana and alcohol |
| August 9 to August 15 | Maryland | Back-to-school tax-free week | clothing and footwear priced $100 or less per item (accessories such as jewelry, watches and handbags excluded) and the first $40 of a backpack or bookbag |
| August 16 to August 22 | Connecticut | Sales Tax Free Week | Most clothing and footwear costing less than $300 per item, in stores and online (limit raised from $100; cleated shoes and backpacks now included). |
| September 1 to December 31 | Florida | Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Sales Tax Holiday | Certain hunting, fishing and camping items; not rentals or commercial purchases. |
| September 4 to September 6 | Louisiana | Louisiana Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday | consumer purchases of firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies (archery items, hunting apparel, hunting knives, optics, etc.); exempt from state and local sales tax |
The holidays by theme
Back to school. 18 periods in 2026 (Maryland, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, New Mexico, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia and Connecticut), usually covering clothing, shoes and school supplies under a per-item cap, sometimes computers.
Storms and emergencies. 3 periods in 2026 (Alabama, Texas and Virginia), usually covering generators, batteries, flashlights, tarps and similar supplies before the storm season.
Energy and water saving. 5 periods in 2026 (Maryland, Missouri, Texas and Virginia), usually covering qualifying appliances and water-efficient products.
Firearms and hunting. 2 periods in 2026 (Florida and Louisiana), usually covering firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies.
Within each theme, the details differ more than the names suggest: one state caps clothing at $100 an item, another at a higher figure, one includes backpacks and calculators, another only school supplies under a separate cap. The table above gives the list of each state as it published it, and the state page repeats it next to a calculator set on that state.
Notes on the dates
- Alabama: Act 2025-309 indexes the holiday price caps to the Consumer Price Index and requires localities to adopt the exemption at least 90 days before the holiday weekend.
- Connecticut: 2026 was Connecticut's 27th Sales Tax Free Week.
- Florida: Since 2025 the Back-to-School holiday is annual (August 1-31 in 2025). Chapter 2026-239, Laws of Florida, moved it to July 20 - August 20 each year starting in 2026. Disaster-preparedness items once covered by holidays (batteries, fire extinguishers, carbon monoxide alarms, etc.) have been permanently exempt since August 1, 2025.
- Illinois: Created by Public Act 104-0468; it is a reduced-rate holiday (state share cut by 5 points), not a full exemption.
- Iowa: Held every year on the first Friday and Saturday of August (Iowa Code 423.3(68)); 2026 dates derived from that rule.
- Louisiana: Act 11 of 2024 repealed the annual back-to-school holiday (R.S. 47:305.54) and the hurricane preparedness holiday (R.S. 47:305.58); only the Second Amendment Weekend remains.
- Maryland: Dates derived from the statutory rules: Saturday before the third Monday in February through that Monday; second Sunday in August through the following Saturday.
- Mississippi: The Department published guides for a Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday through 2025; no 2026 guide was found on the notices page.
- Missouri: Dates from statute: Show Me Green runs April 19-25 every year; back-to-school runs from the first Friday in August through the following Sunday.
- New Mexico: Statutory holiday (Section 7-9-95): from 12:01 a.m. on the last Friday in July to midnight the following Sunday; 2026 dates derived from that rule.
- Ohio: No expanded holiday on items $500 and under in 2026 (the expanded holiday created by H.B. 33 was not repeated); only the standard back-to-school holiday applies.
- Oklahoma: Dates follow 68 O.S. §1357.10 (first Friday in August through the following Sunday); the holiday exempts the state 4.5% portion only.
- South Carolina: Dates derived from the statute (12:01 a.m. on the first Friday in August through midnight the following Sunday), which falls on August 7-9 in 2026.
- Tennessee: By law the holiday runs from 12:01 a.m. on the last Friday in July to 11:59 p.m. the following Sunday; in 2026 that is July 31 to August 2 (dates computed from the rule).
- Texas: Texas also holds an annual back-to-school holiday in August (clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks under $100). The Comptroller's page now shows the 2027 dates (Friday, August 6 to Sunday, August 8, 2027); the 2026 dates are no longer displayed.
- West Virginia: The holiday runs from the Friday before the first Sunday in August to the following Monday (four days).
States without a holiday in 2026
No 2026 holiday was found on the official pages of Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Several states have repealed their holidays in recent years, and the five states without a statewide sales tax have no reason to hold one. When a state's page carries a note on a repealed or suspended holiday, it appears on that state's page.
How to use a holiday well
The cap is per item, not per receipt: a family buying four pairs of shoes under the cap pays no state tax on any of them, while a single coat above the cap is taxed in full in most states, not only on the part above it. Layaway, rain checks and online orders are covered by special rules in each state's notice; for online orders, what usually counts is when the order is placed and paid, and the delivery address. Items bought for a business are often excluded. If a seller charges tax on a qualifying item during the holiday, the state notice explains how to ask for a refund.
Returns, exchanges and coupons
Holiday purchases raise practical questions that each state answers in its notice: whether an item bought during the holiday and exchanged afterwards for a different size keeps the exemption, whether a coupon that brings a price under the cap counts, and whether a bundle can be split to fit under it. As a rule of thumb, a store coupon that lowers the selling price is taken into account, while a manufacturer's rebate is not, and items normally sold together cannot be priced separately to qualify. Keep the receipt: it is what the store and the state will ask for.
What a holiday is worth
The saving is the state rate, plus the local rate where it is waived too, on what you would have bought anyway. On $500 of back-to-school clothing, a 6% state rate is $30; on a $1,000 laptop where computers qualify, it is $60. The mini-calculator above uses the state rate of the holiday you pick. The full rate of each state, with its local part, is in the sales tax calculator.
Clothing and groceries outside the holidays
A holiday matters most where clothing is normally taxed. In states that exempt clothing all year, or exempt it under a threshold, the holiday adds little for clothes; see clothing sales tax by state. Groceries are exempt in most states all year, and the few that tax them do not usually include food in a holiday; see grocery sales tax by state.