Wisconsin Sales Tax Holiday 2018: Your Guide

WISCONSIN — Wisconsin is holding a sales tax holiday from Aug. 1 through Aug. 5 for back-to-school shoppers.

Over this five-day period, shoppers will not have to pay the 5 percent (or if you live in southeastern Wisconsin, 5.1 percent) sales tax on items.

Items purchased by mail, telephone, email, online, still qualify for the sales tax holiday so long as the buyer orders and pays for the item and the seller accepts the order for immediate shipment during the sales tax holiday, even if delivery is made after the sales tax holiday, according to state law.

But not everything that's on your child's wish list may be tax-exempt. Below is a list of items that are not taxable during the sales tax holiday.

Tax-Exempt Items

Clothing – Exempt if $75 or less per item (list is not all-inclusive)

• Aprons, household & shop
• Athletic supporters
• Baby clothes
• Baby receiving blankets
• Bathing suits & caps
• Beach capes & coats
• Belts & suspenders
• Boots
• Coats & jackets
• Costumes, not including costume masks sold separately
• Diapers, including disposables
• Dresses
• Earmuffs
• Footlets
• Formal wear
• Garters & garter belts
• Girdles
• Gloves & mittens for general use
• Hats & caps
• Hosiery
• Insoles for shoes
• Jeans
• Lab coats
• Neckties
• Overshoes
• Pantyhose
• Rainwear
• Pants & rubber pants
• Sandals
• Scarves
• Shirts
• Shoes & shoe laces, not including athletic shoes with cleats or spikes
• Shorts
• Slippers
• Sneakers
• Socks & stockings
• Steel toed shoes
• Sweaters
• Sweatshirts
• T-shirts
• Underwear
• Uniforms, athletic & non-athletic

• Wedding apparel

Computers – Exempt if for personal use and $750 or less per item (list is all-inclusive)

• Desktop computers
• Laptop and notebook computers

• Tablets

School Computer Supplies – Exempt if for personal use and $250 or less per item (list is all-inclusive)

• Computer printers
• Personal digital assistants, not including cellular phones
• Computer storage media, diskettes & compact discs
• Printer supplies for computers, printer paper & printer ink

• Handheld electronic schedulers, not including cellular phones

School Supplies – Exempt if $75 or less per item (list is all-inclusive)

• Binders
• Blackboard chalk
• Book bags
• Calculators
• Cellophane tape
• Compasses
• Composition books
• Crayons
• Erasers
• Folders
• Glue, paste, & paste sticks
• Highlighters
• Index cards
• Index card boxes
• Legal pads
• Loose-leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board, & construction paper
• Lunch boxes
• Markers
• Notebooks
• Pencils
• Pencil boxes & other school supply boxes
• Pencil sharpeners
• Pens
• Protractors
• Rulers
• Scissors

• Writing tablets

Taxable Items

And here is the list of items that, according to state law, will continue to be taxable during the five-day sales tax holiday in Wisconsin:

Computer Related Items – Taxable (list is not all-inclusive)

• Cases for electronic devices
• Cellular telephones and accessories
• Copy machines
• Digital cameras
• Digital media players

• Game consoles
• Health and fitness equipment
• Home appliances
• Items purchased for business use

• Navigation equipment
• Televisions
• Thermostats
• Watches

Clothing Accessories, Clothing Equipment, and Sewing Items – Taxable (list is not all-inclusive)

• Belt buckles sold separately from clothing
• Briefcases
• Cosmetics
• Costume masks sold separately
• Hair notions, including barrettes, hair bows & hair nets
• Hair pieces
• Handbags
• Handkerchiefs

• Jewelry
• Nonprescription sunglasses
• Patches & emblems sold separately
• Sewing equipment & supplies, including knitting needles, patterns, pins, scissors, sewing machines, sewing needles, tape measures & thimbles

• Sewing materials that become part of clothing, including buttons, fabric, lace, thread, yarn & zippers
• Umbrellas
• Wallets
• Watches
• Wigs

Protective Equipment – Taxable (list is not all-inclusive)

• Breathing masks
• Clean room apparel & equipment
• Ear & hearing protectors
• Face shields

• Hard hats
• Helmets
• Paint or dust respirators
• Protective gloves
• Safety belts

• Safety glasses & goggles
• Tool belts
• Welders gloves & masks

Sport or Recreational Equipment – Taxable (list is not all-inclusive)

• Athletic shoes with cleats or spikes
• Ballet & tap shoes
• Gloves, including baseball, bowling, boxing, hockey & golf

• Goggles
• Hand & elbow guards
• Ice Skates
• Life preservers & vests
• Mouth guards
• Roller skates

• Shin guards
• Shoulder pads
• Ski boots
• Waders
• Wetsuits & fins

School Art Supplies – Taxable (list is all-inclusive)

• Acrylic, tempera & oil paints

• Clay & glazes
• Paintbrushes

• Sketch & drawing pads
• Watercolors

School Instructional Materials – Taxable (list is all-inclusive)

• Reference books
• Reference maps & globes

• Textbooks

• Workbooks

For answers to other questions, readers are encouraged to visit the Wisconsin Department of Revenue website.

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