The Southern Ohio Educational Service Center recently announced that for parents of school children gearing up for the start of a new school year, shopping for new clothes and school supplies just became a little less daunting, as Ohio is now one of 17 states offering a sales tax holiday that will temporarily suspended the sales tax on official “Back to School” items and other qualifying products.

From August 7-9, Ohio shoppers are exempt from sales and use tax when purchasing an item of clothing priced at $75 or less and/or an item of school supplies priced at $20 or less, in addition to an item of instruction material priced at $20 or less.

To make preparing that shopping list a little easier, the state of Ohio has provided a list of qualifying items that allow shoppers to purchase the following school supply items tax free: 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.

To assist shoppers as they purchase back to school clothing, the state of Ohio has defined “clothing” as all human wearing apparel suitable for general use. “Clothing” includes, but is not limited to, shirts; blouses; sweaters; pants; shorts; skirts; dresses; uniforms (athletic and nonathletic); shoes and shoe laces; insoles for shoes; sneakers; sandals; boots; overshoes; slippers; steel-toed shoes; underwear; socks and stockings; hosiery; pantyhose; footlets; coats and jackets; rainwear; gloves and mittens for general use; hats and caps; ear muffs; belts and suspenders; neckties; scarves; aprons (household and shop); lab coats; athletic supporters; bathing suits and caps; beach capes and coats; costumes; baby receiving blankets; diapers, children and adult, including disposable diapers; rubber pants; garters and garter belts; girdles; formal wear; and wedding apparel.

Additional information for the Ohio sales tax holiday can be found at the Ohio Department of Taxation’s webpage at www.ohio.gov.

Information for this article was provided by Diana Miller, who coordinates communications for several area schools.