For those making purchases in Montgomery County, this means a savings of 9.5 percent on purchases that meet the tax free requirements.

What’s Tax-Free?
Tax-free items include clothing with a price of $100.00 or less per item, school and school art supplies with a price of $100.00 or less per item and computers with a price of $1,500 or less. These items are exempt from state and local sales tax in Tennessee during the holiday. Local governments are held harmless and are reimbursed lost sales tax revenues by the state.

Who Can Participate?
Any individual can make a tax-free purchase during the holiday. However, items purchased for use by a trade or business are not exempt.

Can I Order by Mail, Telephone, E-Mail or Internet?
The holiday also includes purchases of qualified items sold via mail, telephone, e-mail or Internet if the customer orders and pays for the item and the retailer accepts the order during the holiday for immediate shipment, even if delivery is made after the exemption period.

What if the Item is Backlogged or on Backorder?
If a customer wishes to order a certain tax-free item during the holiday and it is not in stock, the item remains tax-free upon delivery. In other words, backlogs and backorders outside the buyer’s control will not affect the exempt status of tax-free items. Intentionally delayed sales are taxable.

What if I Want to Place an Item on Layaway or Pay for an Item That is Currently On Layaway?
Qualified items previously placed on layaway are exempt when the final payment is made during the holiday. Items are also exempt if placed on layaway during the holiday and the final payment is made after the exemption period.

When Did Sales Tax Holidays Start in Tennessee?
Tennessee Code Annotated 67-6-393 established annual sales tax holidays in Tennessee in 2006. The first Sales Tax Holiday was August 4th-6th, 2006, saving Tennesseans about $15 million. Since then, Tennesseans have enjoyed $8 to $10 million in tax savings each holiday.

Clothing ($100.00 or less)

Tax-Free Items Include:

Items Subject to Sales Tax Include:

Clothing Accessories: Belt Buckles (sold separately), Briefcases, Cosmetics,
Hair Notions, Handbags, Jewelry, Patches and Emblems (sold separately), Sewing Equipment and Supplies, Sewing Materials, Sunglasses, Umbrellas, Wallets, and Watches.

Protective Equipment: Breathing Masks, Face Shields, Hard Hats, Hearing Protectors, Helmets, Paint or Dust Respirators, Protective Gloves and Welder’s Gloves, Safety Glasses and Goggles, and Tool Belts.

Sports or Recreational Equipment: Ballet or Tap Shoes, Cleated or Spiked Athletic Shoes, Gloves (Baseball, Boxing, Golf), Goggles, Hand and Elbow Guards, Life Preservers and Vests, Mouth Guards, Roller and Ice Skates, Shin Guards, Shoulder Pads, Ski Boots, and Wet Suits and Fins.

School & Art Supplies ($100.00 or less)

Tax-Free Items Include:

Items Subject to Sales Tax Include:

School Computer Supplies: Compact Disks, Computer Printers, Computer Storage Media, Diskettes, Handheld Electronic Schedulers, Personal Digital Assistants, and Printer Supplies including Paper and Ink.

Note: Textbooks and Workbooks are always exempt from sales tax.

Computers ($1,500 or less)

Tax-Free Items Include:

• Computers with a purchase price of $1,500 or less, not for use in a trade or
  business, are exempt from sales tax.
• A computer is a central processing unit (CPU) that includes a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, cables to connect components, and preloaded software.

Items Subject to Sales Tax Include:

Computer parts: Monitors, Keyboards, Speakers, and Scanners when not sold in conjunction with a CPU. Individually purchased Software, or other software not part of a preloaded software package on the initial purchase of a computer.

Storage Media: such as Diskettes and Compact disks. Handheld Electronic Schedulers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and Video Game Consoles, Computer Printers, and Printer Supplies including Paper and Ink.

For More Information

Please contact the Tennessee Department of Revenue.

Online: www.tntaxholiday.com or www.TN.gov/Revenue
E-mail: salestax.holiday@TN.gov
Telephone: 800.342.1003
Monday – Friday, 7:00am – 5:00pm, Central Time.

Yonkers, NY – Going back to school can be expensive. From purchasing school supplies to prepping for class, the costs can add up fast. The September 2011 issue of ShopSmart magazine, from the publisher of Consumer Reports, prepares readers for the new school year with easy ways to save on back-to-school items and free websites that will help you brush up on any topic imaginable.

“The start of the school year is such an exciting time, but it’s also a costly one,” said Lisa Lee Freeman, editor-in-chief of ShopSmart. “It’s not always easy to find deals on school supplies and educational resources. Make sure you do your research before you buy for back-to-school – you’ll be surprised by how much you can save.”

3 Ways to Save on School Stuff

It may seem like summer has just begun, but now is actually the best time to start planning your back-to-school shopping. Here are a few ways to cut costs and still get everything you need:

1. Skip the sales tax on school and work items: The ideal time to buy clothes, computers, and supplies is when you can get a triple discount and combine a sale and a coupon with a state-tax holiday. That’s when some states lift the tax on certain items, usually for just a few days around this time of year. Sixteen states have tax holidays this year. To find out whether your state is one of them and when you can save, check out www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales_holiday.html. To find sales at stores near you, check online at SaleLocator. Nab coupons at Coupons.com and RetailMeNot.
2. Snag free school supplies: The first rule to saving on back-to-school basics is to avoid buying stuff you already have. So before you hit the stores, take inventory and see what you have at home. Chances are, you have some brand-new markers or barely used glue. Make a list of what you still need, then stock up at the big back-to-school sales, when you can snag pens and notebooks for pennies. Find bigger items, such as books, backpacks, calculators, and clothes, free at swap sites such as Swap.com and Swap Mamas. Enter items you want or items you have, and swap with people anywhere in the country or locally. (Bonus: You’ll save on shipping with a local swap.)
3. Save big on textbooks: New websites make it easy to find college textbooks at deep discounts. Check Better World Books and Neebo and get free shipping. Other sites include AddAll, Bigwords, DealOz, GetchaBooks, SlugBooks.com, and ValoreBooks.com. Or try e-books, which can save money and trees. CaféScribe lets you download books and try them free for a week, then buy and download what you want to keep. Prices vary by book and by site, and you’ll find lots of bargains.

Learn Anything—Free!

It’s good to be a grown-up—you can go to school and not have to take math if you don’t want to. Instead, how about a class on how to make a chocolate soufflé? Or maybe a modern-art course taught by an Ivy League professor? The Internet makes it easy. ShopSmart recommends the following websites, which offer free courses in a wide range of topics:

• Academic Earth (www.academicearth.org) — Best for: Tapping Ivy League brainpower
  Users can access more than 1,500 lectures on video by professors at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and other top-tier universities. Videos include single classes on topics as diverse as art, architecture, and astronomy, and can be grouped into courses.
• iTunes U (www.apple.com/education/itunes-u) — Best for: Exploring the world
  Apple’s iTunes is good for more than downloading music. Use it to find more than 350,000 lectures, videos, and films from universities and cultural institutions around the world.
• Howcast (www.howcast.com) — Best for: Learning everyday (and obscure) skills
  Learn from video and text guides created by experts sharing their knowledge of the world. Videos fall into 25 broad but finely subdivided categories, including the environment, first aid and safety, and parenting and family. The offerings cover the serious (how to survive a heart attack) and the frivolous (how to play charades). Lessons can be accessed online or on an iPhone, iPad, Android phone, or BlackBerry.
• Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org) — Best for: Brushing up on math and science
  If you want a refresher on finance basics or are tearing your hair out trying to help your 10th-grader understand geometry, this site is a great place to start. It features more than 2,100 videos simply presented on a sort of neon blackboard. You can also find practice exercises in kindergarten-to-12th-grade math, science, and the humanities, and an entire section on SAT prep. Videos are designed to be viewed at your own pace, and the site generates statistics for tracking your (or your kid’s) progress.

About ShopSmart Magazine

Launched in Fall 2006 by Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, ShopSmart draws upon Consumer Reports’ celebrated tradition of accepting no advertisements and providing unbiased product reviews. The magazine features product reviews, shopping tips on how to get the most out of products and “best of the best” lists.

ShopSmart is ideal for busy shoppers who place a premium on time. ShopSmart has a newsstand price of $4.99 and is available nationwide at major retailers including Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Borders, Kroger, Safeway and Publix. ShopSmart is available by subscription at www.ShopSmartmag.org.

“The annual Sales Tax Holiday was designed with Tennessee families in mind,” said Governor Phil Bredesen. “The holiday provides much needed savings for all Tennessee shoppers and prepares children for success by making sure they start the first day of school properly equipped with items they need.”

The holiday begins Friday, August 6th at 12:01am and ends Sunday, August 8th at 11:59pm. During the designated three-day weekend, consumers will not pay state or local sales tax on select clothing with a price of $100.00 or less per item, school and art supplies with a price of $100.00 or less per item, and computers with a price of $1,500 or less.

“Last year’s tax-free weekend was extremely successful in giving back to Tennesseans, providing nearly $8 million in tax savings to Tennessee families,” said Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr. “We are hopeful that all Tennessee shoppers will enjoy the immediate relief of the 2010 Sales Tax Holiday.”

Please visit the Sales Tax Holiday Web site at www.tntaxholiday.com to learn more about the items exempt from sales tax. The Tennessee Department of Revenue also assists consumers via e-mail, Salestax.Holiday@TN.gov, and through its toll-free statewide telephone hot line, (800) 342-1003. Staff is available to answer questions Monday through Friday 7:00am to 5:00pm Central Time. (Out-of-state and Nashville-area callers, please dial (615) 253-0600.)

In a continued effort to promote Tennessee’s sales tax holiday, the Department of Revenue has launched a new dedicated facebook page at www.facebook.com/TNTaxHoliday.

Examples of exempt items include:

• Clothing: Shirts, dresses, pants, coats, gloves and mittens, hats and caps, hosiery, neckties, belts, sneakers, shoes, uniforms whether athletic or non-athletic and scarves
• School Supplies: Binders, book bags, calculators, tape, chalk, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, pens, pencils, lunch boxes, notebooks, paper, rulers and scissors
• Art Supplies: Clay and glazes; acrylic, tempera and oil paints; paintbrushes for artwork; sketch and drawing pads; and watercolors
• Computers: Central processing unit (CPU), along with various other components including monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables to connect components and preloaded software (Note: While the CPU may be purchased separately, other items must be part of a bundled computer package in order to be eligible.) iPad’s are eligible for tax exemption, video games and consoles are not.

About the Tennessee Department of Revenue

The Department of Revenue is responsible for the administration of state tax laws and motor vehicle title and registration laws established by the legislature and the collection of taxes and fees associated with those laws. The Department of Revenue collects approximately 92 percent of total state tax revenue. During the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the department collected $10.2 billion in state taxes and fees. In addition to collecting state taxes, $1.9 billion of local sales tax was collected by the department for local governments during the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Besides collecting taxes, the department enforces the revenue laws fairly and impartially in an effort to encourage voluntary taxpayer compliance. The department also apportions revenue collections for distribution to the various state funds and local units of government. To learn more about the department, log on to www.TN.gov/revenue.

The holiday begins Friday, August 7 at 12:01 a.m. and ends Sunday, August 9 at 11:59 p.m. During the designated three-day weekend, consumers will not pay state or local sales tax on select clothing with a price of $100 or less per item, school and art supplies with a price of $100 or less per item, and computers with a price of $1,500 or less. Visit www.tntaxholiday.com for more information on the holiday.

“All Tennesseans can use this weekend as an opportunity to save money on back-to-school items and other needed purchases,” said Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr. “Shoppers have the chance to save nearly 10 percent on all purchases, something that many families need right now.”

AugTaxHoliday.mp3

Please visit www.tntaxholiday.com to learn more about the items exempt from sales tax. The Tennessee Department of Revenue also assists consumers via e-mail, Salestax.Holiday@TN.gov, and through its toll-free statewide telephone hot line, (800) 342-1003. Staff is available to answer questions Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. (Out-of-state and Nashville-area callers, please dial (615) 253-0600.)

Examples of exempt items include:

• Clothing: Shirts, dresses, pants, coats, gloves and mittens, hats and caps, hosiery, neckties, belts, sneakers, shoes, uniforms whether athletic or non-athletic and scarves
• School Supplies: Binders, book bags, calculators, tape, chalk, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, pens, pencils, lunch boxes, notebooks, paper, rulers and scissors
• Art Supplies: Clay and glazes; acrylic, tempera and oil paints; paintbrushes for artwork; sketch and drawing pads; and watercolors
• Computers: Central processing unit (CPU), along with various other components including monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables to connect components and preloaded software (Note: While the CPU may be purchased separately, other items must be part of a bundled computer package in order to be eligible.)

About the Tennessee Department of Revenue

The Department of Revenue is responsible for the administration of state tax laws and motor vehicle title and registration laws established by the legislature and the collection of taxes and fees associated with those laws. The Department of Revenue collects approximately 92 percent of total state tax revenue. During the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the department collected $10.2 billion in state taxes and fees. In addition to collecting state taxes, $1.9 billion of local sales tax was collected by the department for local governments during the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Besides collecting taxes, the department enforces the revenue laws fairly and impartially in an effort to encourage voluntary taxpayer compliance. The department also apportions revenue collections for distribution to the various state funds and local units of government. To learn more about the department, log on to www.TN.gov/revenue.