Class Action – Sales Tax Holiday lessens the cost of school supplies next weekend

THE WOODLANDS, TX – In just over a week, the annual Sales Tax Holiday hits the Lone Star State, courtesy of the Office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. This year, the holiday hits the weekend of Friday, August 7 through midnight of Sunday, August 9.

The holiday allows all taxpayers to support Texas businesses while saving money on tax-free purchases of most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks (sold for less than $100) during the annual tax-free weekend. 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, shoppers 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.

During the holiday, you can buy qualifying items in-store, online, by telephone, mail, custom order, or any other means. The sale of the item must take place during the specific period. The purchase date is easy to determine when the purchase is made in-store but becomes more complicated with 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.

For example, if a purchaser enters their credit card information in an online shopping website on Sunday Aug. 9, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.to purchase qualifying school supplies, but the school supplies will not be shipped until Friday Aug. 14, 2026 and will not arrive until Tuesday Aug. 18, the purchase will still qualify for the exemption. However, if the charge to your credit card is declined by the payment processor at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday Aug. 9, 2026 and the purchaser does not resubmit payment until Monday Aug. 10, the purchase is taxable.

Additional charges can affect the sales price. 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 each 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. 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.

If a delivery charge is billed per item, and an invoice has both exempt and taxable items, only the qualifying exempt item’s delivery charge is exempt. If the delivery charge is a flat rate per package, and the amount charged is the same regardless of how many items are included in the package, the total charge can be attributed to any one of the items in the package.

If you pay sales tax on qualifying items during the sales tax holiday, you can ask the seller for a refund of the tax paid. The seller can either grant the refund or provide their customer with Form 00-985, Assignment to Right to Refund, which allows the purchaser to file the refund claim directly with the Comptroller’s office.

Some people may wonder if the savings is worth the possible hassle of shopping on a weekend that could rival Black Friday mayhem. It’s worth bearing in mind that the sales tax rate in The Woodlands is a total of 8.25 percent, broken down into a state tax of 6.25%, The Woodlands Township tax of one percent, and the tax rate of The Woodlands Township Economic Development Zone of one percent, meaning a grand total of just over eight cents savings on every dollar spent, or eight bucks every hundred dollars. Waiting until after the tax-free weekend for a ten-percent-off sale will net you some bigger savings, but quite possibly less inventory to choose from. And you certainly don’t want to be caught out when the first school bell rings.