Missouri back-to-school sales tax holiday runs through Sunday

COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ).

Missouri's annual back-to-school sales tax holiday is underway, waiving state and local sales taxes on qualifying clothing, school supplies and technology through Sunday at midnight.

The three-day holiday weekend begins annually on the first Friday in August at 12:01 a.m. To qualify for the tax exception, purchases must be for personal use; this includes teachers purchasing classroom supplies with their own personal funds. Missouri residents and out-of-state shoppers all qualify for this tax break on in-store and online shopping.

The Missouri Department of Revenue's website specifies items eligible with price limitations and definitions for the items:

• Clothing: Wearing apparel intended to be worn on or about the human body, with a taxable value of $100 or less per item. Qualifying items include general apparel, shoes, boots, diapers, and materials used for school uniforms. Items sold in pairs, such as shoes, can not be split to qualify.
• School Supplies: Classroom items priced at $50 or less per purchase. Eligible items include textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, backpacks, book bags, lunch boxes, rulers, scissors, USB flash drives, and musical instruments. Graphic calculators are included in the tax break if the price does not exceed $150.
• Technology: Software for personal use with a taxable value of $350 or less included. Laptops, desktops, tower systems, tablets, and secondary devices such as keyboards, mice, monitors, printers, scanners, and external drives are all priced at $1,500 or less.

Certain items do not qualify for the tax exemption regardless of price:

• Accessories: Watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands, and belt buckles are excluded.
• Technology and equipment: Headphones, radios, CD players, digital cameras, MP3 players, desktop or portable telephones, copiers and sporting equipment are excluded.
• Furniture and office items: Furniture, fixtures, bulletin boards, briefcases and general office supplies excluded.

The sales tax holiday will end on August 9 at midnight.