Sales tax holiday this weekend
Planning on a shopping spree? This weekend would be a good time to do it. Aug. 5-7 is Virginia’s “sales tax holiday.” You can buy school supplies, back-to-school clothes, hurricane and emergency preparedness items, and appliances without paying the state sales tax.
Eligible items listed on the Virginia Department of Taxation website include:
- School supplies, such as notebooks, backpacks, lunch boxes, and much more that cost up to $20 per item.
- Certain clothing, shoes, and accessories costing up to $100 per item.
- Portable generators up to $1,000.
- Gas-powered chainsaws up to $350.
- Chainsaw accessories costing $60 or less per item.
- Other specified hurricane preparedness items with a sales price of $60 or less per item.
- Certain items carrying either the Energy Star or WaterSense label with a sales price of $2,500 or less purchased for noncommercial home or personal use. Examples include dishwashers, air conditioners, ceiling fans, light bulbs, refrigerators, bathroom sink faucets, shower heads, toilets, and landscape irrigation controllers.
In the past, Virginia had three separate tax holidays during the year. Last year, the General Assembly combined them into one annual three-day tax holiday to begin at midnight on the first Friday in August.
The sales tax rate in Northern Virginia is 6 percent (the state rate of 5.3 percent plus a regional tax of 0.7 percent that applies to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads).
