This weekend marks the 2016 Sales Tax Holiday for Mississippi. It takes place statewide, but local business owners want people to take advantage of this opportunity close to home.
The tax break runs from 12:01 a.m. on Friday to midnight on Saturday. The only non-participating city is Heidelberg.
According to a press release from the Mississippi Department of Revenue, “a sales tax holiday is a temporary period when sales taxes are not collected or paid on purchases of specific products and/or services.”
Local businesses, like MeLinda’s Fine Gifts, urge residents to shop locally.
“People should take advantage of the local stores because we have everything people need right next door to them. When they shop local, you are keeping fellow locals employed. Also, the local community will grow if you shop locally, and most of the time it is someone you know that either owns the store or is employed there. Shopping locally gives more people better opportunities to find jobs,” said MeLinda’s Fine Gifts owner MeLinda Shaw.
Eligible items include articles of clothing or footwear that cost less than $100 individually. The release states that if a customer purchases multiple items that add up to more than $100, but individually cost less than $100, then sales tax is waived. However, if someone purchases an eligible item that costs more than $100, the item is subject to the usual seven percent sales tax. Clothing rentals do not apply.
The release states that the amount someone purchases an item for at the cash register determines its eligibility, regardless of deals like buy one get one half off. For example, if someone were to purchase a pair of pants costing $110 and, because of the deal, the second one cost $55, sales tax would be charged to the first pair, but not the second. Retailers can also provide store discounts and coupons to lower prices of merchandise to allow it to be eligible, states the release.
Refunds and exchanges can get complicated during the holiday. If someone purchases a shirt of the wrong size and wants to exchange it for the correct size, even after the holiday, as long as it is the same style shirt, sales tax will not be charged for the exchange. However, the release states that if a shirt is exchanged for something different, like a jacket for example, sales tax will be charged for the newly purchased item if exchanged after the holiday.
Items ordered via mail, telephone and Internet have similar requirements during the holiday.
“People have to order and pay for the items on the day of the holiday for Internet purchases. If you order something online from a retailer, regardless of where they are located, and you are a resident of the state, sales tax is not due,” said Government of Affairs Director Kathy Waterbury.
Also, for online purchases, shipping and handling is not a factor in eligibility, said Waterbury. For example, if someone purchases a pair of shoes that are $95 and the shipping and handling charge is $8, the item would still be eligible.
“You are looking at the price of the item,” Waterbury said.
Shaw reminds shoppers that Picayune and Poplarville businesses have everything they need like clothes for children starting school and for working adults.