FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JULY 7, 2006


ANNUAL "SALES TAX HOLIDAY" WEEKEND IS AUG. 4 – 6; MORE SALES TAX RELIEF COMING IN NOVEMBER

South Carolina shoppers will have two opportunities to stretch their purchasing dollar later this year by cashing in on two upcoming tax-free shopping weekends. 

South Carolina's annual "sales tax holiday" weekend is Aug. 4 – 6. This is the seventh year the state has offered the sales tax-free weekend to back-to-school shoppers.

During the three-day event, the state's sales and use tax and any local sales and use tax are lifted on traditional back-to-school purchases such as school supplies, clothing, bed and bath items, computers and printers.

The list of tax exempt items, and non-exempt items, and frequently asked questions about the sales tax holiday, can be found at the DOR website, www.sctax.org, under the "What's New" listing on the homepage. There are no changes to the list of exempt items this year. 

While the August tax-free shopping weekend is limited to specific purchases, state legislators this year are giving shoppers an additional one-time, two-day relief from the state sales and use tax on all purchases. 

The special tax-suspension, good for this year only, is Friday and Saturday, Nov. 24 – 25, the weekend after Thanksgiving and traditionally the busiest shopping weekend of the year. 

While the suspension will apply to the state sales and use tax and the casual excise tax, it will not apply to the sales tax on accommodations or to any local sales and use tax administered by the South Carolina Department of Revenue. Information on the November tax-free shopping period will be available at the DOR website in early fall.

The August sales tax holiday has been an annual event since 2000. Typically, South Carolina shoppers save about $3 million each year by exempting the sales and use tax on many back-to-school purchases. South Carolina retailers have said the August tax-free weekend has become the third busiest shopping weekend of the year, behind the Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend before Christmas.

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