Everything You Need to Know About Ohio’s Tax Free Weekend

For a sixth year in a row, Ohio is offering a weekend-long sales tax holiday in August to help back-to-school shoppers reduce the cost of clothing and school supplies.

Here’s everything you need to know about Ohio’s Tax Free Weekend:

This year’s Tax Free Weekend is August 7-9, beginning at 12 am on Friday, August 7 and ending at 11:59 pm on Sunday, August 9.

 

The tax exemption applies to clothing and footwear items that cost $75 or less and to supplies and instructional materials that cost $20 or less. Items priced higher than those limits are not eligible for the tax savings.

There are lots of items that qualify for the Tax Free Weekend:

  • Any item of clothing priced at $75 or less;
  • Any item of school supplies priced at $20 or less; and
  • Any item of school instructional material priced at $20 or less.

Multiple qualifying items can be purchased in a single tax-exempt transaction:

For example, the purchase of two shirts, two pair of pants, a pair of shoes and a jacket (each item costing $50, total purchase $300) are all tax exempt? There is no limit on the amount of the total purchase. The qualification is determined item by item.

The $75 clothing exemption only applies to items under $75.

In other words, if the selling price of an item of clothing is $80, the exemption only applies to items selling for $75 or less. If an item of clothing sells for more than $75, tax is due on the entire selling price.

Many types of items qualify as school supplies.

 

According to the Ohio Department of Taxation, “School supplies” include the following items: 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.

Items not included in this list are taxable. “School supplies” does not include any item purchased for use in a trade or business or sports equipment/apparel.


Be sure to check with your favorite retailers (we LOVE Once Upon a Child!) for special sales and promotions. For example, many retailers last year offered sales on school supplies to break below the $20 price point.

Find more Sales Tax Holiday FAQ’s at ohio.gov.

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Midwest Parenting Publications published Cincinnati Parent for over 35 years and Dayton Parent for over 7 years. In 2021, the two merged to become Southwest Ohio Parent, expanding our reach into the growing Southwest Ohio market. At SW Ohio Parent, we proudly serve as the top parenting resource magazine and website for Cincinnati, Dayton, and the surrounding communities. Every day, we strive to deliver exactly what our readers need and are 100% dedicated to providing parents with the most trusted resources to find local events for every day of the week, community service organizations, and businesses that cater to the family market.

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