Virginia 2023 Sales Tax Holiday: Dates, Which Items Are Tax-Free

VIRGINIA — While Virginia's sales tax holiday has happened in August in recent years, this year's three-day event is set for this weekend.

For three days, every year, Virginia residents have a chance to stock up on school supplies, clothing and other qualifying items during a three-day sales tax holiday. The 2023 sales tax holiday will happen from 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 20 through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 22.

During the sales tax holiday, residents can purchase qualifying items without sales tax in stores and through online shopping. Sales tax in Virginia typically ranges between 5.3 percent and 7 percent, which includes the state's 4.3 percent state sales tax, the 1 percent local option tax, and other applicable regional taxes. In Northern Virginia localities, the combined sales tax is 6 percent.

The sales tax holiday typically happens in early August before the start of the school year. But that didn't happen in August 2023 because the sales tax holiday wasn't renewed in the 2022 Appropriation Act and the 2023 budget had not yet been approved. An October sales tax holiday was included in the state budget approved in September.

Items That Qualify

The sales tax holiday applies to qualifying school supplies, clothing, footwear, hurricane and emergency preparedness products, Energy Star products and WaterSense products.

Eligible school supplies costing $20 or less per item qualify for the tax break. Some examples of tax-exempt items are book bags, calculators, composition books, notebooks, hand sanitizer, lunch boxes, pencils, pens, textbooks and tissues.

Clothing and footwear eligible for the sales tax holiday must be $100 or less per item. Examples of qualifying items include boots, coats, diapers, dresses, jeans, shirts, slacks, sneakers and socks.

Ineligible items are considered clothing accessories, such as briefcases, cosmetics, handbags, jewelry, sunglasses, umbrellas and wallets. Protective equipment such as breathing masks, hard hats, helmets and tool belts are also not exempt from sales tax. Other items that do not qualify include sports equipment such as spiked athletic shoes, goggles, life preservers, mouth guards, shin guards and ski boots.

Eligible hurricane and emergency preparedness items for the sales tax holiday are portable generators priced at $1,000 or less each, gas-powered chainsaws at $350 or less each, chainsaw accessories at $60 or less each, and other specified items at $60 or less each.

Qualifying items at $1,000 or less include portable generators and generator power cords, inverters and inverter power cables, and photovoltaic devices that generate electricity.

Qualifying chainsaws and parts include chains, chain saw bar and nose lubricants, two-cycle motor oil, chain sharpeners and files, bars, wrenches, carrying cases and scabbards, safety apparel and repair parts.

Other emergency preparedness items qualifying for the sales tax exemption are ice packs, certain batteries, flashlights, portable or two-way radios, duct tape, carbon monoxide detectors, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, bottled water, cell phone chargers, First Aid kits and more.

Energy Star or WaterSense products qualifying for the sales tax exemption must be $2,500 or less per item and be for noncommercial, home or personal use.

The Virginia Department of Taxation has full lists of items qualifying for the sales tax holiday.