This blog was last updated on June 26, 2021
Taxware releases the Official 2014 List of State Sales Tax Holidays.
Every year, many states participate in Sales Tax Holidays intended to boost economic activity. Many of these holidays take place during the back-to-school shopping season. It is important to note that sales tax holidays frequently apply only to certain types of purchases and that spending limits typically apply. The real savings can be found in states that offer sales tax relief on items such as computers and software and in states that offer virtually all-encompassing holidays with price thresholds as high as $2,500.
As they grow in number and in scope, Sales Tax Holidays continue to be an increasingly challenging issue for retailers of all sizes. Some holidays, such as the one in Massachusetts, are very broad and include virtually all types of tangible personal property sold to consumers, while other states, such as Connecticut, limit the tax break to clothing and footwear only.
With the numerous differences in criteria among the 17 states (and Puerto Rico) that participate in Sales Tax Holidays, these events can be an administrative nightmare for retailers. Some states do not officially pass the legislation authorizing the holiday until just before it is scheduled to take effect. An argument can be made that last-minute holidays prevent the deferred purchasing phenomenon, but that is little consolation for retailers left scrambling to put together an advertising campaign and configure their cash registers.
To better prepare retailers and consumers for this year’s upcoming Sales Tax Holidays, Taxware has researched Sales Tax Holiday rules throughout the country and compiled the applicable data onto an infographic, which includes the participating states along with their holiday dates. An interactive and more detailed version that includes all applicable items and spending thresholds can be found at http://taxware.com/sales-tax-holidays. *Please note that Sales Tax Holiday dates are subject to change, based upon the taxing jurisdiction’s discretion.
For retailers, the burden associated with Sales Tax Holiday administration can be enormous if they do not have a sales tax compliance management system in place. With Sales Tax Holidays coming up, retailers will need to reset their cash registers or point-of-sale systems, customize their tax rates and remap their product SKUs. However, with a sales and use tax compliance partner, such as Taxware, retailers would simply need to apply the regularly-scheduled content updates to their system to produce a result consistent with the tax holiday.
About Taxware
Taxware provides sales, use and value-added tax calculation and compliance software as well as compliance outsourcing solutions to more than 1,200 customers. Taxware’s indirect tax determination and reporting solution integrates with a wide-array of ERP, e-commerce and POS systems.
With a comprehensive repository of more than 210 million tax rules, Taxware tracks and analyzes tax law and form changes in approximately 13,000 state and local jurisdictions in the U.S. and nearly 200 countries around the world. The company is known for having reliable and robust tax research and world-class technology.
The combination of tax content, software and compliance outsourcing services provides clients with a single partner to achieve a new level of accuracy and compliance while dramatically streamlining global indirect tax operations.
For more information, please visit http://www.taxware.com.
