If you are looking for a reason to do some retail therapy, you could save some cash during this back-to-school tax-free shopping weekend in Missouri.
In previous years, state sales tax was waived, but local jurisdictions could decide for themselves if they wanted to exempt local sales tax. This time around, state and local sales and use taxes are exempt on eligible back-to-school items.
Missouri’s back-to-school sales tax holiday runs through Sunday.
Rusty Strodtman, general manager of Columbia Mall, said his mall has more traffic during the annual weekend.
“The Christmas season, from Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Day, is typically the number one busiest season for us. And then second, would be back-to- school. So back to school is a big time for us,” he said. “It will be a busy weekend. And the retailers, you know, hopefully they’re scheduling a little extra this weekend, knowing that we’ll see a 5% to 10% increase in traffic and maybe even more this year, with the exemptions being the tax-free exemptions being larger.”
According to Strodtman, inventory looks higher than the past couple of years.
“We draw from, typically about 24 counties. So back-to-school and holidays, we typically maximize that footprint during the non-busy seasons of the year. We may not see a full 24 counties visiting us, but back-to-school is one that we will see that migration of people coming from all over central Missouri,” he said. “A lot of our retailers will schedule differently. They’ll stock differently. They’ll prepare differently for this weekend, because we will see an increase in traffic, and more importantly, it’s the kind of start of the season. So, it starts getting everybody in the mentality that the summer is kind of winding down.”
With road construction in full force this time of year, and when the I-70 widening project moves further along, Strodtman thinks some shoppers who are closer to St. Louis could bypass the big city and drive his way instead.
Strodtman said due to higher inflation, shoppers might have “sticker shock” on some items.
“Well, if you, you know, if you get a store that’s giving you 20% and you’ve put on another eight, you know, it adds up. And, you know, every penny matters, and with today’s inflation, I think it’s going to be very critical to, you know, look for these, these tax-exempt opportunities to save every penny that we can,” he said.
You do not have to be a Missouri resident or student to participate and save.
The sales tax exemption is limited to:
• Clothing – any article having a taxable value of $100 or less
• School supplies – not to exceed $50 per purchase
• Computer software – taxable value of $350 or less
• Personal computers – not to exceed $1,500
• Computer peripheral devices – not to exceed $1,500
• Graphing calculators – not to exceed $150
“Clothing” – any article of wearing apparel intended to be worn on or about the human body including, but not limited to, disposable diapers for infants or adults and footwear. The term shall include but not be limited to, cloth and other material used to make school uniforms or other school clothing. Items normally sold in pairs shall not be separated to qualify for the exemption. The term shall not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands, or belt buckles; and
“Personal computers” – a laptop, desktop, or tower computer system which consists of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor, a keyboard, and devices designed for use in conjunction with a personal computer, such as a disk drive, memory module, compact disk drive, daughterboard, digitalizer, microphone, modem, motherboard, mouse, multimedia speaker, printer, scanner, single-user hardware, single-user operating system, soundcard, or video card; and
“School supplies” – any item normally used by students in a standard classroom for educational purposes, including but not limited to, textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, handheld calculators, graphing calculators, chalk, maps, and globes. The term shall not include watches, radios, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable or desktop telephones, copiers or other office equipment, furniture, or fixtures. School supplies shall also include graphing calculators valued at $150 or less and computer software having a taxable value of $350 or less.
Copyright © 2024 · Missourinet
