North Carolina Sales Tax Holiday – Information on the Sales Tax Holiday

August 1-3, 2008

Every year at "Back to School" time, the North Carolina Department of Revenue gives us the gift of a sales tax holiday. During the tax holiday weekend, which always takes place from 12:01 A.M. the first Friday in August to 11:59 P.M. the following Sunday, certain items are not subject to sales tax. Sounds great, right? The short answer is that the sales tax holiday is a very good thing, but it's definitely not a free-for-all. The list of items that are tax-exempt is relatively limited.

In 2008, the North Carolina sales tax holiday will take place from Friday, August 1 to Sunday, August 3.

Before you hit your favorite Triangle-area mall for a sales tax holiday shopping frenzy, make sure that you know which items are tax-exempt, and keep in mind that the stores also know that it's a tax holiday weekend, and many of them price their wares accordingly.

Here's a list of some of the items which are exempt from sales tax during the tax holiday weekend:

• Clothes including shoes, coats, etc., that are priced at less than $100 per item
• Sporting goods and recreation equipment priced at less than $50 per item
• Computers that cost less than $3500 each
• Computer accessories such as printers, printer ink, CD-Rs, etc., that cost less than $250 per item
• School supplies, including art supplies, that cost less than $100 per item
• Instructional materials, including reference books, textbooks, etc. that cost less than $300 per item

Happy shopping!