Sales-Tax Holidays Coming

Mark these days on your calendar to avoid taxes on back-to-school items.

For most of you it probably seems too soon to start thinking about back-to-school shopping. But in just a few weeks several states will be offering their annual sales-tax holidays on purchases of clothing, school supplies or computers. Shopping on these days can be a good way to save a little money.

Mississippi has a sales-tax holiday the last two days of July. Fifteen states will exempt back-to-school purchases from sales tax on certain days in August. Georgia canceled its sales-tax holiday this year because of its budget deficit.

JULY

Mississippi: July 30-31. Clothing and footwear $100 or less exempt. More details

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AUGUST

Alabama: August 6-8. Clothing, computers, school supplies and books exempt (up to a certain dollar amount). See a complete list of tax-exempt items.

Connecticut: August 15-21. Clothing and footwear less than $300 exempt. More details

Florida: August 13-15. Clothing, books and school supplies exempt (up to certain dollar amounts). See a complete list of tax-exempt items.

Illinois: August 6-15. Clothing, footwear and school supplies less than $100 exempt. See a complete complete list of tax-exempt items.

Iowa: August 6-7. Clothing and footwear less than $100 exempt. See a complete list of tax-exempt items.

Louisiana: August 6-7. Most items less than $2,500 exempt. More details.

Maryland: August 8-14. Clothing and footwear $100 or less exempt. See a complete list of tax-exempt items.

Missouri: August 6-8. Clothing, computers and school supplies exempt (up to certain dollar amounts). More details

New Mexico: August 6-8. Clothing, computers and school supplies exempt (up to certain dollar amounts). More details

North Carolina: August 6-8. Clothing, computers, school supplies and sports equipment (up to certain dollar amounts). See a complete list of tax-exempt items.

Oklahoma: August 6-8. Clothing and footwear less than $100 exempt. See a list of tax-exempt items.

South Carolina: August 6-8. Clothing, computers and school supplies. See a list of tax-exempt items.

Tennessee: August 6-8. Clothing, computers and school supplies exempt (up to certain dollar amounts).See a list of tax-exempt items.

Texas: August 20-22. Clothing, footwear, backpacks and school supplies less than $100. See a list of tax-exempt items.

Virginia: August 6-8. Clothing, footwear and school supplies (up to certain dollar amounts).See a list of tax-exempt items.

Source: Federation of Tax Administrators

Follow me on Twitter. Log on to Twitter at 8 p.m. ET July 21, when I'll be answering questions about saving for college during a #dealchat hosted by Natalie P. McNeal, of TheFrugalista.com. Type #dealchat in the Twitter search field to follow the conversation.

Cameron Huddleston
Former Online Editor, Kiplinger.com

Award-winning journalist, speaker, family finance expert, and author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk.

Cameron Huddleston wrote the daily "Kip Tips" column for Kiplinger.com. She joined Kiplinger in 2001 after graduating from American University with an MA in economic journalism.