How tax-free weekend for back-to-school supplies will look different in COVID pandemic
Florida’s annual Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday begins Friday and runs through Sunday. This break on taxes for school supplies will continue as planned, even if school is going to look different for most children, teachers and parents in South Florida at the start of the school year.
The coronavirus will mess with how children will learn at the start of the 2020-21 school year.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Florida Keys public schools are all starting online-only, for instance.
Time frame and qualifying items
But one thing COVID-19 hasn’t put a halt to is the tax holiday on the 7th through the 9th.
Qualifying items are exempt from Florida’s sales tax during the promotion and include a number of supplies selling for $15 or less, per item. Items like binders, calculators, crayons, pens, construction paper, lunch boxes, notebook filler paper, glue, rulers and scissors.
Clothing, too, if it sells for $60 or less, per item.
Also tax free this year is the first $1,000 of the sales price of personal computers and certain computer-related accessories that are purchased for noncommercial home or personal use.
The impact of COVID-19
COVID-19’s rampage on Florida will still be felt. At the rate the coronavirus is spreading in the state, Florida should top 500,000 cases by the time the tax holiday begins. Thursday, alone, saw a third consecutive record day in the number of deaths — 253.
Expect more people to shop online this season rather than venture to stores. In some cases, they will have little choice. In late June, Apple, which sells a lot of computers during these annual tax holidays, re-closed 14 of its onsite stores in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties due to South Florida’s surge of the virus.
As in the past, eligible items purchased by mail-order, catalog, or online are tax exempt when the order is accepted by the company during the sales tax holiday period for immediate shipment — even if delivery is made after the sales tax holiday period ends at 11:59 p.m. Aug. 9, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
“It’s not completely clear how COVID-19 will impact the 2020-2021 school year, but parents may want to consider buying school supplies to help them with various options,” Robert Haag, president of the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, said in a release. “For instance, purchasing computer equipment during the sales tax holiday could save them significant dollars.”
However, one other rule remains. Despite the shift to online learning that began at the close of the 2019-2020 school year and the coming fall period — which means learning by computer — printers and computer paper do not qualify for the tax exempt rule.
What stores will do to be safer
What else may you notice?
Brick and mortar stores will have to show they are following new reality safety protocols to entice a nervous, COVID-weary populace through its doors again (albeit while wearing masks because that is mandatory in South Florida). This means more sanitization of surfaces at malls, more curbside pickup parking locations and antibacterial stations.
Shops at Pembroke Gardens Property Manager Annette Alvarez said the mall in Pembroke Pines would be employing these features. Expect similar at other popular destinations like Dadeland, The Falls, Aventura and Sawgrass Mills malls.
“We understand that going back to school will look different for many families this year, but we want our neighbors and guests to know that we understand the importance of these simple traditions, and are working hard to ensure the safety of our retailers, team members, and visitors to the center,” Alvarez said in a statement.
Back to school tax exempt rules
For a list of what is exempt and what is not, along with other rules on the use of gift cards, rain checks and how exchanging an item after the back to school tax break ends works, visit: revenuelaw.floridarevenue.com.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 6:10 AM.
