If you need to do any kind of back-to-school shopping, this is the weekend to do it. As of yesterday and extending through Monday, West Virginia is having a sales tax holiday on back-to-school related items, which means you won’t be charged the 6% (or 7% within certain municipalities) tax on certain items. The hope is to encourage people to shop at local businesses.
Broadly, the tax holiday covers clothes, school supplies and instructional material, sports equipment, computers and tablets.
The specific list of what is covered is extremely long, but we’d like to make your shopping experience a little easier, so we’ll list some of what is and is not covered, based on the category. These lists are not extensive, but they will hopefully give you an idea of what is and is not tax free this weekend.
For the most part, if you can wear it and you would normally call it clothing, it’s covered, but some things aren’t. Not covered clothing: Individual clothing items over $125; clothing accessories like purses, cosmetics, hair accessories, jewelry, wallets or watches; protective equipment such as face masks, safety goggles, face shields or tool belts; sewing equipment/supplies like needles, fabric, yarn, thread or patterns; and belt buckles sold separately (belts are covered).
However, diapers do qualify under the tax holiday, so this might be a good time to stock up. Costumes are also covered if you’re looking ahead to Halloween, though costume masks sold separately are still subject to tax.
Sports equipment — such as cleats or spiked athletic shoes, sports gloves, skates, padding or mouth guards — isn’t considered clothing, but individual items costing less than $150 still qualify for the holiday. The state tax department makes clear items that normally come in pairs (think, pants or shoes) can’t be rung up as separate items at a lower price. For example, a $200 pair of ski boots can’t be rung up as two $100 items in an attempt to qualify for the tax exemption.
The list of qualifying school supplies is very strict, so here it is, directly from the Tax Department’s website: binders; book bags; calculators; cellophane tape; blackboard chalk; compasses; composition books; crayons; erasers; folders (expandable, pocket, plastic and manila); glue, paste and paste sticks; highlighters; index cards; index card boxes; legal pads; lunch boxes; 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; and writing tablets.
Similarly, only these instructional materials qualify: reference books, reference maps and globes, textbooks and workbooks.
As for laptop and tablet computers, the Sales Tax Holiday Q&A only says “certain” ones with a purchase price of $500 or less.
If you’re an online shopper, you’ll want to know this: The tax holiday does apply to qualifying items purchased online or via email or telephone so long as the order is placed and the payment accepted by the retailer for immediate shipment during the holiday. But you’ll want to check the seller’s time zone; if the time of purchase on their end falls outside the tax holiday window, you won’t get the discount. (Shipping and handling charges may be subject to tax on otherwise qualified items.)
For more information, visit https://tax.wv.gov/Business/Pages/SalesTaxHoliday.aspx.
The tax holiday is meant to promote small businesses, so we hope you’ll look to our local and locally owned shops before hitting the big box stores. You might just find something unique that can’t be found anywhere else.
