Sales tax holiday planned for August

— A sales-tax holiday for the purchase of school-related supplies was announced by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration in a recent press release.

The Arkansas sales-tax holiday, created by Act 757 of 2011, provides for a sales-tax holiday in Arkansas during the first weekend of August each year. A salestax holiday is a temporary period when state and local sales taxes are not collected or paid on the purchase of certain products.

The Arkansas sales tax holiday for 2012 will begin on Saturday, Aug. 4, at 12:01 a.m. and will continue through Sunday, Aug. 5, at 11:59 p.m. State and local sales tax will not be collected during this 48-hour period on the sale of: (1) Clothing and footwear if the sales price is less than $100 per item; (2) Clothing accessories and equipment if the sales price is less than $50 per item; (3) School supplies; (4) School art supplies; and (5) School instructional materials.

According to the press release, a “school supply” is an item commonly used by a student in a course of study. The following is a listing of school supplies eligible for the holiday exemption (items not on the listing remain taxable during the sales-tax holiday period): binders, book bags, calculators, cellophane tape, blackboard chalk, compasses, composition books, crayons, erasers, folders ( expandable, pocket, plastic and manila), glue, paste, paste sticks, highlighters, index cards, index card boxes, legal pads, lunch boxes, markers, notebooks, paper (loose-leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board and construction paper), pencil boxes and other school-supply boxes, pencil sharpeners, pencils, pens, protractors, rulers, scissors and writing tablets.

"School art supply" is an item commonly used by a student in a course of study for artwork. The following is a listing of school art supplies eligible for the holiday exemption (items not on the listing remain taxable during the sales-tax holiday period): clay and glazes,paints (acrylic, tempera and oil), paintbrushes for artwork, sketch and drawing pads, and watercolors.

"School instructional material" is written material commonly used by a student in a course of study as a reference and to learn the subject being taught. The following is a listing of school instructional materials eligible for the holiday exemption (items not on the listing remain taxable during the sales-tax holiday period): reference books, reference maps and globes, and textbooks and workbooks.

More information on the sales-tax holiday is available at www.arkansas.gov/ salestax or by calling 501-682-7104 during business hours Monday through Friday.

News, Pages 10 on 07/11/2012