Krystal Galaz straightens a display of lunch boxes and backpacks at JC Penney inside the Broadway Square Mall in Tyler on Aug. 10, 2017. Tax Free Weekend coincides with back-to-school shopping. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph File)

This year shoppers will have a chance to enjoy the tax free weekend from Aug. 9 to 11 in which numerous different products will be available for a tax free purchase as long as it is under $100.

Qualifying items can be purchased tax free from a Texas store or from an online or catalog seller doing business in Texas. In most cases, you do not need to give the seller an exemption certificate to buy qualifying items tax free. The sales tax exemption applies only to qualifying items you buy during the sales tax holiday. Items you buy before or after the sales tax holiday do not qualify for exemption, and there is no tax refund available, according to the Texas Comptroller.

As the 2024 to 2025 school year is getting ready to kick off, the tax free weekend can be a great way to get school supplies of all sorts. Most school supplies fall under the tax exemption for the holiday. These school supply items have been listed by the Texas Comptroller as tax exempt during the holiday:

Binders

Blackboard chalk

Book bags

Calculators

Cellophane tape

Compasses

Composition books

Crayons

Erasers

Folders – expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila

Glue, paste and paste sticks

Highlighters

Index cards

Index card boxes

Kits

Legal pads

Lunch boxes

Markers (including dry erase markers)

Notebooks

Paper – loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board, and construction paper

Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes

Pencil sharpeners

Pencils

Pens

Protractors

Rulers

Scissors

Writing tablets

For kits of school supplies that contain exempt items, as well as taxable ones, the taxability depends on the value of exempt or taxable items in it. There is no limit on the quantity of school supplies in a kit, but if the value of the exempt items is more than the taxable ones, the kit is exempt. If the value of the taxable items is more than the exempt ones, then the kit is taxable, according to the Texas Comptroller.

A comprehensive list of other tax exempt and non exempt items can be found on the Texas Comptroller website.

During the holiday shoppers can buy qualifying items in-store, by phone, mail, custom order or any other means, but the sale of the tax exempt item must take place during the holiday weekend. The purchase date can become complicated with online or remote purchases.

The purchaser must have given the consideration for the item during the period even if the item may not be delivered until after the period is over. Delivery, shipping, handling and transportation charges by the seller are part of the item’s sales price. Since clothing, backpacks and school supplies have to be less than $100 to qualify, you have to look at the item’s total sales price to determine if you can buy it tax free, according to the Texas Comptroller.

An example provided by the Texas Comptroller outlines how to determine if a delivered item is tax exempt or not: For example, you buy a pair of jeans for $95 with a $10 delivery charge for a total price of $105. Because the jeans’ total price is more than $100, tax is due on the entire $105 price.