Ohio offering sales tax holiday on ‘Back to School’ items

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The Southern Ohio Educational Service Center, serving students in Adams, Clinton, Fayette, and Highland counties, recently announced that for parents of school children gearing up for the start of a new school year, shopping for new clothes and school supplies just became a little less daunting.

Ohio is now one of 17 states offering a sales tax holiday that will temporarily suspend the sales tax on official “Back to School” items and other qualifying products.

From 12 a.m. Aug. 5—11:59 p.m. Aug. 7, Ohio shoppers are exempt from sales and use tax when purchasing an item of clothing priced at $75 or less and/or an item of school supplies priced at $20 or less, in addition to an item of instruction material priced at $20 or less.

Items used in a business or trade are not exempt from taxes.

To make preparing that shopping list a little easier, the state of Ohio has provided a list of qualifying items that allow shoppers to purchase the following school supply items tax free: binders; book bags; calculators; cellophane tape; blackboard chalk; compasses; composition books; crayons; erasers; folders (expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila); glue, paste, and paste sticks; highlighters; index cards; index card boxes; legal pads; lunch boxes; markers; notebooks; paper; loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board, and construction paper; pencil boxes and other school supply boxes; pencil sharpeners; pencils; pens; protractors; rulers; scissors; and writing tablets.

To assist shoppers as they purchase back to school clothing, the state of Ohio has defined “clothing” as all human-wearing apparel suitable for general use. “Clothing” includes, but is not limited to, shirts; blouses; sweaters; pants; shorts; skirts; dresses; uniforms (athletic and nonathletic); shoes and shoe laces; insoles for shoes; sneakers; sandals; boots; overshoes; slippers; steel-toed shoes; underwear; socks and stockings; hosiery; pantyhose; footlets; coats and jackets; rainwear; gloves and mittens for general use; hats and caps; ear muffs; belts and suspenders; neckties; scarves; aprons (household and shop); lab coats; athletic supporters; bathing suits and caps; beach capes and coats; costumes; baby receiving blankets; diapers, children and adult, including disposable diapers; rubber pants; garters and garter belts; girdles; formal wear; and wedding apparel.

Additional information for the Ohio sales tax holiday can be found at the Ohio Department of Taxation’s webpage at www.ohio.gov .

Information for this article was provided by Diana Miller, who coordinates communications for several area schools.

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