Missouri Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday

Taylor Souder, CPA



It's that time of year again...summer is winding down, kids will be heading back to school, and parents will be doing back-to-school shopping. 

This marks the ninth year of Missouri's back-to-school sales tax holiday where consumers can take advantage of the lifted 4.225% state sales tax on certain clothing, school supplies, and select other items.  The sales tax holiday begins Friday, August 3^rd at 12:01am and continues through Sunday at Midnight.

However, not all local jurisdictions will be participating in the sales tax holiday and consumers will still have to pay local sales tax which varies for each locality.  Some of the cities not participating this year include Ballwin, Brentwood, Bridgeton, Clayton, Des Peres, Ellisville, Fenton, Ferguson, Kirkwood, Ladue, Maplewood, Overland, Richmond Heights, St. Ann, St. Peters, University City, and Webster Groves.  In addition, Illinois will not be participating in the back-to-school sales tax holiday this year as they have in prior years, but Illinois residents can visit Missouri retailers in order to take part in the sales-tax holiday. 

There are some things that both consumers and vendors need to keep in mind about the sales-tax-holiday.

Consumer Guidelines

Items qualifying for the sales tax exemption include:

- Clothing of $100 or less- School supplies up to $50 per purchase

- Personal computers and related devices less than $3,500

- Computer software of $350 or less

Layaway items are eligible as long as the final payment occurs during the holiday.

If an item is out of stock, any rain checks issued will qualify as long as the item is ordered and paid for during the holiday period.

If an item purchased during the holiday is later exchanged for another eligible item of equal or lesser value, no sales tax will be due.

Vendor Guidelines

If the business is located in a jurisdiction not participating in the sales tax holiday, they will receive a long form Sales Tax Return (Form 53-1).  This return will replace the normal filing method for this period only.  All sales not qualifying and taxed at the full tax rate must be indicated on one line, and all sales that would qualify for the reduced rate will be treated as an item tax on a separate line.

If the business is located in a jurisdiction participating in the sales tax holiday, the will use their normal filing method for this period by using the total gross sales receipts for all sales made and entering the holiday sales as a negative adjustment on the return.

The sales tax holiday may not apply to any retailer when less than two percent of the retailer's merchandise offered for sale qualifies for the sales tax holiday. However, the retailer must provide the taxpayer a refund of the sales tax paid if the customer requests one.

All businesses that do not sell qualifying items may continue to use the normal filing method or voucher filing for this period.

For more information regarding the Missouri sales tax holiday refer to http://dor.mo.gov/business/sales/taxholiday/school/ or contact us.