In 2026, Ohio will host the standard back-to-school sales tax holiday of three days, starting 12:00 a.m. Friday, August 7th until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, August 9th. The exemption will apply to all items of clothing priced at $75 or less, school supplies priced at $20 or less, and school instructional materials priced at $20 or less.

Clothing

“Clothing” means all human wearing apparel suitable for general use.

“Clothing” includes, but is not limited to: aprons, household and shop; athletic supporters; baby receiving blankets; bathing suits and caps; beach capes and coats; belts and suspenders; boots; coats and jackets; costumes; diapers, children and adult, including disposable diapers; earmuffs; footlets; formal wear; garters and garter belts; girdles; gloved and mittens for general use; hats and caps; hosiery; insoles for shoes; lab coats; neckties; overshoes; pantyhose; rainwear; rubber pants; sandals; scarves; shoes and shoe laces; slippers; sneakers; socks and stockings; steel-toed shoes; underwear; uniforms, athletic and nonathletic; and wedding apparel.

“Clothing” does not include items purchased for use in a trade or business; clothing accessories or equipment; protective equipment; sports or recreational equipment; belt buckles sold separately; costume masks sold separately; patches and emblems sold separately; sewing equipment and supplies including, but not limited to, knitting needles, patterns, pins, scissors, sewing machines, sewing needles, tape measures, and thimbles; and sewing materials that become part of “clothing” include, but not limited to, buttons, fabric, lace, thread, yarn, and zippers.

School Supplies

“School supplies” means items commonly used by a student in a course of study.

“School supplies” includes only the following items: binders; book bags; calculators; cellophane tape; blackboard chalk; compasses; composition books; crayons; erasers; folders, expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila; glue, paste, and paste sticks; highlighters; index cards; index card boxes; legal pads; lunch boxes; markers; notebooks; paper, loose-leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board, and construction paper; pencil boxes and other school supply boxes; pencil sharpeners; pencils, pens; protractors; rulers; scissors; and writing tablets.

“School supplies” does not include any item purchased for use in a trade or business.

School Instructional Materials

“School instructional material” means written material commonly used by a student in a course of study as a reference and to learn the subject being taught.

“School instructional material” includes only the following items: reference books, reference maps and globes, textbooks, and workbooks.

“School instructional material” does not include any material purchased for use in a trade or business.

Items That Do Not Qualify

In 2026, the sales tax holiday only applies to the above back-to-school items. It does not apply to clothing priced at $75.01 or more, school supplies priced at $20.01 or more, school instructional materials priced at $20.01 or more, food in restaurants, boats/watercrafts, titled outboard motors, motor vehicles, alcohol, tobacco, vape products, or items with marijuana. It also does not apply to any other tangible personal property, taxable services, and items purchased for use in business.

This article was created by the Ohio Department of Taxation. For the original article, click here.