Back to School Sales Tax Holiday Begins Friday

 

Hillside, Ill. – The 10-day sales tax holiday to help families and teachers prepare for the upcoming academic year begins Friday, August 5 and lasts until Sunday, August 14.

"This has been a financially stressful year as we deal with rising costs, and back-to-school shopping can be expensive," said House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch. "It is my hope that this upcoming sales tax holiday will help ease some of that burden on our hardworking families and teachers."

Shoppers can save 5% on the sales tax for eligible clothing and school supply items. The tax credit will also be doubled for teachers who purchase their own school supplies. In total, this sales tax holiday is expected to save Illinois families $50 million.

Below is a list of qualifying items for the sales tax holiday:

Clothing, selling price must be less than $125:

  • Household and shop aprons

  • Athletic supporters

  • Bathing suits and caps

  • Belts and suspenders

  • Coats and jackets

  • Gloves and mittens

  • Hats, caps, and earmuffs

  • Lab coats

  • Neckties

  • Rainwear

  • Rubber pants (covers for cloth diapers)

  • Scarves

  • Underwear

  • School uniforms

  • Shorts and pants

  • Skirts and dresses

  • Hosiery and panty hose

  • Shirts and blouses

Footwear, selling price must be less than $125 per item

  • Shoes, sneakers, and shoelaces

  • Sandals

  • Slippers

  • Socks and stockings

  • Footlets

  • Boots and overshoes

  • Insoles for shoes

  • Steel-toed shoes

School supplies

  • Binders

  • Bookbags

  • Calculators

  • Cellophane tape

  • Blackboard chalk

  • Composition books

  • Crayons

  • Colored pencils

  • Erasers

  • Expandable pocket, plastic, and manila folders

  • Glue, paste, and paste sticks

  • Highlighters

  • Index cards and index card boxes

  • Legal pads

  • Lunch boxes

  • Markers

  • Notebooks and notebook paper, including loose leaf notebook, copy, graph, tracing, manila, colored and construction paper, and poster board

  • Pencils and pencil leads

  • Pens, ink, and ink refills for pens

  • Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes

  • Pencil sharpeners

  • Protractors, rulers, and compasses

  • Scissors

  • Writing tablets

For a full list of qualifying items, please visit the Illinois Department of Revenue's informational bulletin.

 
Andrea Garcia