Ohio cancels expanded sales tax holiday for 2026

Ohio has canceled its expanded 2026 sales tax holiday.

There’s been an annual sales tax holiday in Ohio for a decade. From 2015 to 2023, it was held for three days in August and applied to clothing and school supplies priced under certain amounts. House Bill 33 (2023) increased the price cap and allowed Ohio to lengthen the tax-free period in 2024 and subsequent years if there’s sufficient revenue in the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund.

With the enactment of House Bill 186, Ohio is reverting to a three-day back-to-school sales tax holiday.

• Between 2015 and 2023, Ohio provided a three-day, back-to-school sales tax holiday. The temporary sales tax exemption applied to eligible articles of clothing priced $75 or less, and school supplies priced $20 or less.
• Ohio extended and expanded its tax-free period in 2024 and 2025. Most tangible personal property priced $500 or less qualified for the sales tax holiday, which lasted 10 days in 2024 and two weeks in 2025.
• House Bill 186 cancels any potential expanded sales tax holiday for 2026. Barring another policy change, Ohio will offer a three-day, back-to-school sales tax holiday on the first Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of August 2026.

Between 2015 and 2023, Ohio offered an annual three-day, back-to-school sales tax holiday during which qualifying clothing priced $75 or less and qualifying school instructional material and supplies priced $20 or less were exempt from Ohio sales and use tax.

The enactment of House Bill 33 in 2023 increased the price cap to $500 and enabled Ohio to expand the exemption to more items and lengthen the sales tax holiday — so long as a new Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund contains at least $60 million of surplus general fund revenue at the end of the preceding fiscal year.

For the past two years, the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund was sizeable enough to allow Ohio to provide longer sales tax holidays covering more products. In both 2024 and 2025, Ohio’s sales tax holidays applied to most items of tangible personal property priced $500 or less, including business-to-business transactions. The tax-free period lasted 10 days in 2024 and two weeks in 2025.

But now Ohio has other priorities, like lowering property taxes for Ohioans.

HB 186, which was signed into law in December 2025, authorizes a property tax credit for the owners of property located in certain school districts. The bill requires a portion of the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund to be transferred to a new School Revenue Temporary Offset Fund. It also prohibits any potential expanded sales tax holiday from occurring in August 2026 and delays the certification of Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund revenue for purposes of scheduling an expanded sales tax holiday in 2027.

According to this analysis of HB 186, Ohio law provides that if the state does not hold an expanded sales tax holiday, the state will still offer a three-day tax holiday for back-to-school items.

The Final Analysis of HB 33 (2023) backs that up, explaining, “If there is insufficient surplus revenue to hold an expanded tax holiday in any year, continuing law’s ‘back-to-school’ sales tax holiday will still be held in that year.”

The Ohio Department of Taxation will provide more details, including the eligible items and price cap(s), at some point before August.

About 20 states will have one or more sales tax holidays this year. Find out when and where they’ll occur in our 2026 sales tax holidays blog post.

The enactment of House Bill 186 prevents increases in school district property taxes from exceeding the rate of inflation. To offset the reduced property tax collections, Ohio will transfer money from the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund to the School Revenue Temporary Offset Fund. This means there will not be enough revenue in the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund for Ohio to offer an expanded sales tax holiday in 2026.

In addition to clothing and school supplies, Ohio’s expanded sales tax holidays in 2024 and 2025 applied to most tangible personal property priced at $500 or less, including items purchased for business use.

Yes. If there is sufficient revenue in the Expanded Sales Tax Holiday Fund, Ohio can opt to hold an expanded sales tax holiday after 2026.