Local consumers will have to travel to take advantage of "Back to School" sales tax holiday

The state sales tax of 4.225 percent will be waived on certain "Back to School" purchases. (Photo illustration)

Families hoping to save big on back to school items this sales tax holiday most likely won't be spending their money in Kennett this year following a decision by the city and local business owners to opt out of participating in the yearly event. In fact, most of the other cities in the surrounding area have opted out as well.

The two closest cities to Dunklin County that have chosen to participate in this event is Dexter and Sikeston.

Usually the Back-To-School Sales Tax holiday starts on the first Friday in August and continues through the following Sunday. This year the event will start at midnight, Friday, August 6, 2010 and continue through the following Sunday, August 8, 2010. The state sales tax of 4.225 percent will be waived on certain "Back to School" purchases during this time.

Families benefit from this event because they are able to save over 4 percent when purchasing clothing, school supplies and even computer items. According to Alana M. Barragan Scott, director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, "Families and students can begin to plan what they need to buy now and save when they make qualified purchases during the first weekend in August."

People from neighboring states can benefit from this event as well. You don't have to be a Missouri resident to take advantage of the savings.

The following is a list for consumers wanting to know what is taxable and what is not:

* Clothing valued under $ 100 will be covered. This includes traditional wearing apparel which is worn on or about the body. Footwear is also included as is material for sewing a school uniform or other clothes for school. Not included is are accessories, including watches, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas scarves, ties, headbands and belt buckles.

* School supplies that do not exceed $ 50 per purchase will also be covered. These would need to be used in a regular classroom setting. The items include but aren't limited to textbooks, notebooks, pens, paper, crayons, pencils, supplies for art classes, rulers, book bags, backpacks, handheld calculators, chalk, maps and globes. Not included are watches, headphones, CD players, portable phones, equipment used in sports, copiers and other office equipment.

* Computers and computer peripheral devices are included as long as the cost does not exceed $ 3500. Computer software is also in this category and it is free from dales tax if the value is less than $ 350. Computers can be laptops, desktops or tower computer systems, consisting of a central processing unit, random access memory, storage drive, display monitor keyboard. Other related computer devices may also be included. The peripheral devices include dish drive, memory module, CD drive, microphone modem, motherboard, mouse speakers, printer scanner, sound cards or video cards.

Even though this holiday is billed as a "Back-to-School event," anyone may take advantage of the savings as long as they make qualified purchases.

Customers may enjoy a savings that is much higher in some Missouri cities and counties. The savings could be over 4 percent because the local taxes would be waived on qualified purchases.

Barragan-Scott said, " If a city, county or special district hasn't opted out of participating, the total sales taxes not applied could be as high as 8 or 9 percent."

If anyone is in need of more information, log on to http://dor.mo.gov/tax/business/sales/tax... or salesuse@dor.mo.gov. Consumers may also call 573-751-2836 for further details.