Last updated July 8, 2021; originally published January 2021.
A sales tax holiday is a limited period of time during which otherwise taxable products are exempt from sales tax. Approximately 17 states provide sales tax holidays each year; in most, the temporary sales tax exemption applies to specific products only, such as school supplies or energy-efficient appliances.
States have sales tax holidays (aka, tax-free periods) for several reasons. They tend to be popular with consumers because they help them save money. Although they can complicate tax compliance, business owners usually like them because they bring people through the door. (At least they did, before the COVID-19 pandemic.) They can also encourage purchases of certain items, like emergency preparedness supplies.
Tax-free periods follow a predictable cadence in most states because they’re annual, meaning they’ll take place every year unless specifically eliminated — which does sometimes happen. Thus, Alabama’s severe weather preparedness holiday always takes place during the last full weekend of February, and Iowa’s clothing and footwear holiday always starts the first Friday in August.
Some states, like Florida, often enact a one-time sales tax holiday. For one reason or another, lawmakers in these states seem to prefer one-time holidays over annual holidays.
Below is a list of 2021 sales tax holidays, with links to the most up-to-date information provided by state tax departments. Some departments tend to update their pages closer to the start of a tax-free period.
