Mississippi Enacts Changes to Annual Back to School Sales Tax Holiday and Creates New Nonprofit Exemptions

Mississippi has enacted legislation that makes changes to the state’s annual back-to-school sales tax holiday that takes place in late July. The legislation adds retail sales of school supplies priced under $100 to the sales tax holiday. The sales tax holiday now applies to sales of:

• Clothing and footwear – less than $100 per item
• School supplies – less than $100 per item

“School supplies” means items that are commonly used by a student in a course of study. It includes backpacks, binders, calculators, notebooks, crayons and many more items.

The legislation also creates exemptions for sales of personal property or services to the following non-profit organizations:

• Junior League of Jackson
• Mississippi’s Toughest Kids Foundation for use in constructing, furnishing, and equipping buildings and related facilities and infrastructure at Camp Kamassa in Copiah County, Mississippi (this exemption expires July 1, 2022)
• MS Gulf Coast Buddy Sports, Inc.
• Biloxi Lions, Inc.
• Lions Sight Foundation of Mississippi, Inc.
• Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life

The legislation takes effect July 1, 2019. (S.B. 2955, Laws 2019)