WEST VIRGINIA (LOOTPRESS) – West Virginia’s annual Sales Tax Holiday begins Friday, giving shoppers four days to purchase qualifying back-to-school items without paying state or local sales tax.
The 2026 Sales Tax Holiday starts at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 31, and runs through 11:59 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3.
During the holiday, shoppers can purchase qualifying items tax-free as long as each individual item falls within the state’s price limits. There is no limit on the total amount a customer may spend.
Qualifying purchases include:
- Clothing priced at $125 or less per item
- Laptop and tablet computers priced at $500 or less per item
- School supplies priced at $50 or less per item
- School instructional materials priced at $20 or less per item
- Sports equipment priced at $150 or less per item
Eligible clothing includes items such as shirts, pants, dresses, shoes, sneakers, coats, socks, uniforms, hats, diapers, gloves, sweaters and other everyday apparel.
Items that do not qualify as clothing include jewelry, handbags, wallets, watches, umbrellas, wigs, sewing supplies, protective safety equipment and most clothing accessories. Cleated athletic shoes and other sports gear do not qualify under the clothing exemption but may qualify separately if they meet the sports equipment price limit.
The price limits apply to each individual item, not the first portion of an item’s price. For example, a shirt costing $120 qualifies for the exemption, while a coat costing $130 is fully taxable.
Retailers are not permitted to split the price of an item normally sold as a single unit in order to qualify it for the exemption.
School supplies eligible for the holiday include notebooks, backpacks, calculators, folders, glue, crayons, markers, pencils, pens, rulers, scissors, lunch boxes, composition books, binders and similar classroom items.
Eligible instructional materials include textbooks, workbooks, reference books, maps and globes.
The holiday also applies to qualifying purchases made online, by telephone or by mail if the order is placed, accepted and paid for during the tax holiday for immediate shipment. Delayed shipments or orders paid for after the holiday are not eligible.
Store discounts and retailer coupons that reduce an item’s selling price below the exemption threshold may allow it to qualify. However, manufacturer coupons that are reimbursed by a third party do not reduce the item’s selling price when determining eligibility.
The exemption applies only to personal purchases. Items purchased for use in a trade or business are not eligible for the tax exemption.
The sales tax holiday is established by state law, meaning all retailers doing business in West Virginia are required to participate. Both the state sales tax and applicable local sales taxes are waived on qualifying purchases made during the holiday.
