Tax Free Weekend Coming for Back-to-School Shoppers

(Radio Iowa) Back-to-school shoppers will get a bit of a break when the annual tax free weekend starts tomorrow. Iowa Department of Revenue spokesman, John Fuller

“It starts Friday at 12:01 a-m and goes through Friday and Saturday,” Fuller says.

Fuller says you can purchase clothing and shoes tax-free.

“At tax.iowa.gov there’s a list of what is non taxable and what would be taxable,” Fuller says. “For instance, hiking boots, you can wear those pretty much every day. So if there are 100 dollars or less — that’s the key — these are items are 100 dollars or less — you will not have to pay state sales tax which is seven percent. But something like rollerblades you would have to pay sales tax.”

Fuller says he is often asked if the sales tax holiday includes online sales.

“And the answer to that is ‘yes’, as long as you order and pay for the items during the two day period,” he says. He expects a lot of Iowans to take advantage of the event.

“So the Department estimates that the Iowans will save about five million dollars on this upcoming tax free weekend,” Fuller says. Iowa’s tax free weekend ends at 11:59 p-m this Saturday.

(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)