Texas Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday 2024: What You Need to Know

school supplies and a cactus pencil cup on a bright blue background

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Updated: The 2024 sales tax holiday in Texas has ended.

Disney’s “Mary Poppins” wasn't the only anniversary celebrated this August. Texas welcomed back its 25th annual sales tax holiday for back-to-school shopping. This tax-free weekend made certain clothing items and school supplies exempt from sales tax, which only added to the reasons to move to the Lone Star state.

Find out below what was included in 2024's back-to-school holiday.

When was the back-to-school tax-free weekend in Texas?

The back-to-school holiday is one of three Texas holds. It began Friday, August 9th, and ended at midnight on Sunday, August 11th.

Many school supplies and clothing were exempt from the state’s 6.25% sales tax rate.

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What did the Texas tax-free weekend include?

Like its fellow no-income tax state Tennessee, Texas had a similar guideline for tax-exempt clothing. Articles of clothing must have been $100 or less to qualify for the tax holiday. School supplies also needed to be $100 or less.

Many tax-free items fell under these two categories, but here were just a few of our favorites:

Shirts, pants, jeans, hats, sneakers, shorts, skirts, and dresses
Raincoats, swimsuits, and cowboy boots
Pajamas, socks, and underwear
Binders, folders, and lunch boxes
Crayons, highlighters, erasers, markers, pencils, pens, rulers, and scissors
Notebooks, paper, and index cards
Writing tablets and calculators

While the Comptroller’s office estimated $143.4 million in savings for shoppers, keep in mind that many items were not included.

Items that were not tax-exempt in Texas’ back-to-school holiday

Unlike the back-to-school sales tax holiday in Florida, Texas had much stricter guidelines on back-to-school electronic supplies. Items like computers and printers were not included in the sale.

Below you’ll find a list of many other items that remained taxable:

Textbooks and software (including educational)
Jewelry, wallets, and watches
Hair accessories (including clips, bows, barrettes, and headbands)
Handbags, purses, briefcases, luggage and umbrellas
Items used to make or repair clothing, like fabric, thread, yarn, patterns, etc.
Athletic gear (including cleated shoes, gloves, helmets, and protective pads)
Non-prescription sunglasses

Note: For a complete list of included and excluded items, visit the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts website.

Additional limits on school supply kits and backpacks

Teachers and homeschool parents may have purchased school supply kits. Whether or not these kits were taxable depended on the value of the items inside. If the value of the tax-exempt items was more than the value of the taxable items, the kit was exempt. Otherwise, the kit was taxable.

Another item of consideration was bookbags. Book bags were tax-exempt only if they were for elementary or secondary students. Even then, you could not purchase more than 10 book bags tax-free during the holiday.

Could you buy online for the Texas tax-free weekend?

Online purchases could qualify for the sales tax holiday, but delivery to a Texas address was required.

Online retailers like Amazon honor state sales tax holidays. However, the retailer explains on its website that "tax may still be calculated on items if they do not qualify, which can include items over a certain threshold, bundles, or specific items that are not included in the holiday."

Kate is a CPA with experience in audit and technology. As a Tax Writer at Kiplinger, Kate believes that tax and finance news should meet people where they are today, across cultural, educational, and disciplinary backgrounds.