Tennessee: Does the state have a sales-tax-free weekend?
Tennessee holds a yearly sales tax holiday on the last weekend of July for clothing, school supplies, and computers.
The holiday runs from 12:01 a.m. on the last Friday of July through 11:59 p.m. Sunday; in 2026 that was July 31 to August 2. Clothing, school supplies, and school art supplies qualify at $100 or less per item, and computers at $1,500 or less. The law exempts the tax imposed by the state sales tax chapter, which also contains the local option sales tax, so local tax appears to be included too, though that is an inference. Tennessee also held one-time grocery tax holidays in 2021 through 2023.
Conditions
- Last Friday of July through the following Sunday
- Clothing and school supplies $100 or less per item
- Computers $1,500 or less per item
- Not for items bought for trade or business use
What the law says
(b)(1) There is exempt from the tax imposed by this chapter the following items of tangible personal property, if sold between 12:01 a.m. on the last Friday of July and 11:59 p.m. the following Sunday:
Sources
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-393 (FindLaw) Mirror of official text · codes.findlaw.com
- Federation of Tax Administrators: 2026 Sales Tax Holidays Secondary · taxadmin.org
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-702 (local option tax, FindLaw) Mirror of official text · codes.findlaw.com
Confirm with the state
- Agency
- Tennessee Department of Revenue
- Website
- tn.gov
How bordering states compare
- Alabama Has a tax-free periodAlabama holds two yearly sales tax holidays: a back-to-school weekend in July and a severe weather preparedness weekend in February.
- Arkansas Has a tax-free periodArkansas holds a back-to-school sales tax holiday every year on the first weekend of August, covering state and local tax.
- Georgia No tax-free periodGeorgia has no sales tax holiday now; its last back-to-school and energy-efficient holidays were in 2016.
- Kentucky No tax-free periodKentucky has a 6% sales tax and no sales tax holiday.
- Mississippi Has a tax-free periodYes. Mississippi holds a July back-to-school holiday and a late-August holiday for firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies.
- Missouri Has a tax-free periodYes. Missouri holds a back-to-school holiday each August and a Show Me Green holiday for Energy Star appliances each April.
- North Carolina No tax-free periodNorth Carolina has no sales tax holiday. The law that created its holidays was repealed effective July 1, 2014.
- Virginia Has a tax-free periodVirginia holds a three-day sales tax holiday every August, starting the first Friday, for school, clothing, hurricane, and energy-saving items.