Families across South Alabama can start checking items off their back-to-school lists without paying state sales tax during the first weekend of August. Alabama’s ninth annual back-to-school sales tax holiday begins Friday, Aug. 1, at 12:01 a.m. and runs through midnight Sunday, Aug. 3.
The timing matters for local families because several area school systems open their doors before the month is out. Mobile County public schools are scheduled to start Aug. 7, giving parents just days after the tax-free weekend to finish shopping. Satsuma’s school system follows on Aug. 11, while Saraland and Chickasaw students head back on Aug. 13. Baldwin County schools open later, on Aug. 18, giving families there a bit more breathing room.
What Qualifies for the Exemption
The sales tax holiday, administered through the Alabama Department of Revenue, covers a wide range of everyday back-to-school purchases. Clothing items priced at $100 or less per article are exempt, covering everything from coats, jeans, and school uniforms to shoes, socks, and belts.
Computers also get a break under the exemption. A single purchase of a computer package priced at $750 or less qualifies, as long as it’s sold as a complete system with a central processing unit and components such as a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. Individual parts or peripherals sold separately from a full system don’t qualify. Related computer supplies, including storage media, handheld electronic schedulers, printers, and printer paper and ink, are also included, though cellphones and smartphones are specifically excluded.
Traditional school supplies priced at $50 or less per item are tax-free as well, a list that includes notebooks, binders, backpacks, pencils, pens, crayons, glue, scissors, and rulers, among dozens of other classroom staples. Art supplies such as paints, brushes, sketch pads, and watercolors also fall under the exemption, along with required textbooks priced between $30 and $50 and standalone books priced at $30 or less.
Not every city and county in Alabama participates in the sales tax holiday, since it’s optional for local governments to opt in. Shoppers in South Alabama are encouraged to check with the Alabama Department of Revenue or their local municipality ahead of time to confirm participation before heading out to shop.
With multiple school systems across Mobile and Baldwin counties opening within days of one another this August, the tax-free weekend offers a timely opportunity for area families to stretch their back-to-school budgets a little further before the first bell rings.