Shoppers looking for school supplies in Missouri can take advantage of the annual statewide sales tax holiday that began today and will run through midnight Sunday. All sales taxes on eligible items — local and state — will be exempt.
Items approved for sales tax exemption, with some limitations, are clothing, school supplies, computer software, personal computers, computer peripheral devices and graphing calculators.
Applicable clothing includes any article of wearable apparel with a taxable value of no more than $100 including footwear, disposable diapers and fabric used to make school clothing.
Belts with and without buckles, coats, dresses, gloves, hats or caps, house coats, house slippers, jackets, leggings, pants, shirts, shorts, shoelaces, shoes or boots, socks, tights and undergarments are considered acceptable for the exemption.Watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands and belt buckles are not included.
Eligible school supplies, up to $50 per purchase, include any item normally used by students in a standard classroom for educational purposes such as textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, handheld calculators, chalk, maps and globes. Also included are graphing calculators up to $150 and computer software having a taxable value of $350 or less. Radios, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable or desktop telephones, copiers or other office equipment, furniture and fixtures are not included.
Other acceptable items are binder clips, blank computer disks, card stock, dry erase markers, file folders, glue, handheld calculators, index divider tabs, index dividers, inkjet refills, journals, lunch boxes, magnetic note pads, maps, mini pocket packs with paper, musical instruments, note cards, padlocks, poster mounting putty, punches and stencils, push pins, rubber bands, scissors, staplers, staples, tape, thumbtacks and USB flash drives.
Personal computers eligible, up to $1,500, include laptops, desktops or tower computer systems consisting of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor and a keyboard. The category also includes devices designed for use in conjunction with a personal computer, such as a disk drive, memory module, compact disk drive, daughterboard, digitizer, microphone, modem, motherboard, mouse, multimedia speaker, printer, scanner, single-user hardware, single-user operating system, soundcard or video card, likewise up to $1,500. Computer equipment also includes tablets and iPads.
Items which do not qualify for the exemptions include batteries, blackboards, briefcases, bulletin boards, copiers, all kinds of cameras, envelopes, facial tissues, handheld media devices or iPods, locker mirrors, paper trimmer and blade refills, power strips, sporting equipment and standalone printers.
Businesses with qualifying retail sales for the sales tax holiday may use the normal filing method for their August 2024 returns, said Missouri Department of Revenue officials. Enter total gross receipts for all sales made, indicating holiday sales as a negative adjustment on the return. These sales are no longer required to be filed using a separate item code. For more information, including a full list of exempt and nonexempt items, visit dor.mo.gov/taxation/business/tax-types/sales-use/holidays/back-to-school.
