No Sales Tax on Back-to-School Supplies, More This Weekend in Virginia

A three-day sales tax holiday begins Friday in Virginia, giving customers a break on back-to-school supplies and other qualifying items.

From 12:01 a.m. Friday through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, the sales tax exemption will be in effect for school supplies, clothing, footwear, hurricane and emergency preparedness items, and Energy Star and WaterSense products. According to the Virginia Department of Taxation, that includes the following items:

• School supplies, clothing and footwear 
  • Qualified school supplies — $20 or less per item
  • Qualified clothing and footwear — $100 or less per item
• Hurricane and emergency preparedness products  
  • Portable generators — $1,000 or less per item
  • Gas-powered chainsaws — $350 or less per item
  • Chainsaw accessories — $60 or less per item
  • Other specified hurricane preparedness items — $60 or less per item
• Energy Star and WaterSense​ products 
  • Qualifying Energy Star or WaterSense products purchased for noncommercial home or personal use — $2,500 or less per item

Before 2015, the three categories of items were available free of sales taxes on three separate weekends throughout the year.

Under current law, the sales tax rate is 5.3 percent — 4.3 percent for the state sales and use tax and 1 percent for the local option sales and use tax. In the Northern Virginia region, there is an additional 0.7 percent state tax for transportation.

For more details and a more extensive list of what items qualify for the tax exemption, check the Department of Taxation’s guidelines.