Back-to-school tax holiday continues

Florida back-to-school holiday through Sunday; Georgia's ends Saturday night

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida's annual back-to-school sales tax holiday runs through Sunday and features higher limits on exemptions from last year.

The exemption for clothing items has been increased to $100 per item, up from $75 per item last year.  In addition, the state Legislature added personal computers and certain computer-related accessories purchased by individuals to the tax holiday, with the first $750 of the sales price exempt from sales tax.

INFOGRAPHIC: Florida's tax holiday
MORE ONLINE: Tax holiday FAQs |
List of all tax-exempt items

Retailers said increased limits and addition of computer items to the list of tax-exempt items will help continue what has been a strong retail season. They are expecting an average increase of at least 30 percent in store traffic over the weekend because of the sales tax holiday.

In all, Florida residents are expected to save at least $40 million over the three-day holiday, which was passed unanimously by the 2014 Florida Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.

Combined spending for back to school and college is expected to reach about $5 billion in Florida, and tax-exempt sales will account for an estimated $600 million of that spending.

The term "personal computer" includes any electronic book reader, laptop, desktop, handheld, tablet, or tower computer, but does not include cell phones, video game consoles, digital media receivers, or devices that are not primarily designed to process data.

The term "related accessories" includes keyboards, mice, personal digital assistants, monitors (except those with TV tuners), modems, routers, and non-recreational software.

Clothing and shoes up to $100 will be tax exempt, along with school supplies up to $15.

That includes pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, notebook paper, legal pads, binders, lunch boxes, construction paper, markers, folders, poster board, composition books, poster paper, scissors, cellophane tape, glue or paste, rulers, computer disks, protractors, compasses, and calculators.

The tax-free holiday runs from 12:01 a.m. Friday through 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Georgia's back-to-school tax holiday runs Friday through 11:59 p.m. Saturday.