Alabama Tax-Free Weekend: Clothing, Computers, and School Supplies

Alabama’s tax-free weekend runs from 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 17, 2026, through midnight Sunday, July 19, 2026.¹ During those three days, the state’s 4% sales tax comes off qualifying clothing, school supplies, books, and computers, and the per-item dollar caps are higher than they’ve ever been thanks to a new inflation adjustment. State law fixes the holiday to the third full weekend of July every year.²

What You Can Buy Tax-Free in 2026

The 2025 Legislature passed HB 315, which required the Department of Revenue to raise every dollar threshold using the Consumer Price Index.³ The first adjustment applies to the 2026 holiday. The new caps:

Clothing: $156 per article (was $100)
School supplies and instructional materials: $78 per item (was $50)
Books: $47 per book (was $30)
Computers and software: $1,173 per single purchase (was $750)

Older shopping guides quoting the previous figures are out of date.

Clothing

Any article of clothing priced at $156 or less is exempt.¹ That covers shirts, pants, shoes, coats, dresses, socks, underwear, school uniforms, and similar everyday apparel. If a single item costs more than $156, the entire price is taxed at the normal rate. There is no partial exemption on the first $156.

Accessories are excluded no matter the price. The Department of Revenue specifically lists jewelry, handbags, wallets, watches, umbrellas, cosmetics, non-prescription sunglasses, and wigs as taxable.² If you wear it as apparel, it qualifies. If it accessorizes apparel, it doesn’t.

School Supplies and Instructional Materials

School supplies at $78 or less qualify when bought for personal, non-commercial use.¹ The list is broad: notebooks, binders, pencils, pens, markers, highlighters, crayons, erasers, folders, rulers, calculators, scissors, glue, lunch boxes, book bags, and paper of all kinds. School art supplies fall under the same cap and include paints, paintbrushes, clay, glazes, and sketch pads.

The “instructional materials” category picks up reference maps, globes, magazines, newspapers, and other non-bound printed documents used for coursework. It matters for one common situation: a required textbook on an official schoolbook list that costs more than $47 but less than $78 still qualifies, because it counts as instructional material rather than a book.¹

Computers and Software

A single computer purchase of $1,173 or less is exempt.¹ That covers laptop, desktop, and tower systems, including the CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers when sold together as a package. Software and school computer supplies such as printers, printer ink, printer paper, and storage media fall under the same cap.

Cell phones and video game consoles are excluded even if they come in under the price limit. Personal digital assistants and handheld electronic schedulers qualify, provided they aren’t also cell phones.²

Books

Books at $47 or less qualify for non-commercial buyers.¹ To count as a book, the item must be a set of printed sheets bound together and published with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Pamphlets and loose printed materials don’t meet that test, though many can still come in under the $78 instructional materials category.

Online, Phone, and Mail Orders

Purchases made online, by phone, by email, or by mail order qualify, but you have to both pay for the item and receive delivery during the holiday weekend.² A laptop ordered Friday that arrives the following Tuesday doesn’t get the exemption. An item pre-ordered before the weekend but delivered during the three-day window does. If you’re planning a large online purchase, the delivery date matters as much as the order date.

Local Sales Tax May Still Apply

The 4% state tax comes off automatically. Local sales taxes are a separate question. Each city and county decides on its own whether to waive its local tax for the weekend, and Alabama’s local rates can add several percentage points to a purchase.² If your city or county opts out, you’ll still owe the local portion at checkout even though the state tax is zero.

The Department of Revenue publishes an alphabetical list of participating and non-participating localities and updates it as cities and counties report in.⁴ Check that list for your city and county before a big purchase so you know what you’ll actually pay.

1
Alabama Department of Revenue. 2026 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday Fact Sheet
2
Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 810-6-3-.65 – Sales Tax Holiday for Back-to-School
3
Alabama Legislature. HB315 Enrolled – Sales Tax Exemption
4
Alabama Department of Revenue. Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday – Participating Counties and Municipalities