Illinois does not have a tax-free weekend scheduled for 2026. The state has no permanent, recurring sales tax holiday, and lawmakers have authorized one only twice in the past fifteen years. A bill that would create a holiday this August — and make it annual going forward — has been introduced but has not become law.
Where Things Stand for 2026
House Bill 4101, introduced in October 2025, would authorize a sales tax holiday from August 5 through August 14, 2026. The bill also contains language that would make the same August 5–14 window recur every year afterward, which would end the need for fresh legislation each time.1Illinois General Assembly. Bill Status of HB4101 – 104th General Assembly
As of February 2026, HB4101 was assigned to the House Revenue and Finance Committee.1Illinois General Assembly. Bill Status of HB4101 – 104th General Assembly It has not been voted out of committee, passed by either chamber, or signed by the governor. Until all three happen, the full state sales tax applies to back-to-school purchases. Watch for movement during the spring legislative session.
Why Illinois Has No Automatic Holiday
Most states that offer back-to-school holidays wrote the dates into their tax codes, so the holiday returns every year without a vote. Illinois chose the opposite path. When legislators created the 2010 holiday, they stripped out the clause that would have made it recurring. The 2022 holiday followed the same one-time model, tied to a broader tax relief package rather than added permanently to the code.
The default rule in Illinois is the Retailers’ Occupation Tax, which sets a 6.25% state rate on general merchandise. That rate holds unless lawmakers act.2Illinois Department of Revenue. What Are the Retailers’ Occupation and Use Tax Rates in Illinois? No holiday was authorized for 2023, 2024, or 2025, and the only holidays the state has ever held were the ten-day windows in August 2010 and August 2022.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 35 ILCS 120/2-10
It Is a Rate Cut, Not a True Tax-Free Weekend
Even when Illinois does hold a holiday, “tax-free” overstates it. The state portion of the sales tax drops from 6.25% to 1.25% on qualifying items — a five-percentage-point reduction, not a full exemption.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 35 ILCS 120/2-10 A $100 backpack that would normally carry $6.25 in state tax carries $1.25 instead. Retailers program the lower rate into their systems automatically, so nothing changes at checkout from the shopper’s side.
Local sales tax keeps running at full rate. Counties, municipalities, and special taxing districts collect their own portions throughout the holiday.4Illinois Department of Revenue. Home Rule and Non-Home Rule Sales Taxes Combined state and local rates in Illinois range from roughly 6.85% in the lowest-tax areas to 11% in the highest.5Illinois Department of Revenue. Sales Tax Rate Change Summary, Effective January 1, 2026 A shopper in a jurisdiction with a 4.75% local rate would still pay 6% combined on qualifying items during a holiday. The savings are real but smaller than the label suggests.
What Qualifies When a Holiday Is in Effect
Two categories of goods qualify under the statute: clothing and school supplies.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 35 ILCS 120/2-8
Clothing and Footwear
Any article of clothing priced below $125 qualifies. The threshold is per item, not per transaction, so three $100 shirts all qualify but a single $130 jacket does not. The statute defines clothing as wearing apparel suitable for general use, which covers shoes, coats, sneakers, underwear, school uniforms, and sandals.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 35 ILCS 120/2-8
Several categories are carved out even when priced under $125:
- Clothing accessories such as handbags, jewelry, wallets, watches, non-prescription sunglasses, umbrellas, and wigs
- Protective equipment including hard hats, helmets, safety glasses, breathing masks, and tool belts
- Sport or recreational gear like cleated athletic shoes, ski boots, baseball gloves, shin guards, roller skates, and wetsuits
The dividing line is general use. Steel-toed boots qualify because people wear them day to day. Cleated soccer shoes do not, because they are designed for a specific sport.
School Supplies
Qualifying school supplies are items a student uses in a course of study: notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, crayons, calculators, folders, highlighters, rulers, scissors, glue, and book bags.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 35 ILCS 120/2-8 There is no price cap on school supplies, but the items have to actually be for student use. The same notebook bought for a home office doesn’t qualify.
What Does Not Qualify
Several items parents routinely buy for school fall outside the Illinois holiday:
- Computers, tablets, and laptops, regardless of price
- Cell phones and personal digital assistants
- Cameras, memory cards, and video equipment
- School art supplies, which the statute treats as a separate category
- Textbooks and reference books, classified as instructional materials
- Computer accessories such as USB drives and printers, categorized as school computer supplies
The computer exclusion catches the most shoppers off guard. Several other states include computers in their holidays; Illinois does not.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 35 ILCS 120/2-8
Border-State Holidays You Can Use Instead
If Illinois has no holiday in a given year, two neighboring states hold annual ones in early August.
Iowa
Iowa’s holiday runs the first Friday and Saturday of August, with no Sunday included. Clothing and footwear priced under $100 per item are exempt from both state and local sales tax.7Department of Revenue. Iowa’s Annual Sales Tax Holiday The threshold is $25 lower than the Illinois figure, and the Iowa holiday covers only clothing and footwear, not school supplies.
Missouri
Missouri’s holiday runs the first Friday through Sunday of August — August 7–9 in 2026. It exempts qualifying clothing, school supplies, and computers from all state and local sales tax, making it a full exemption rather than a rate reduction.8Missouri Department of Revenue. Back to School Sales Tax Holiday Computers are the biggest contrast with Illinois, where they are specifically excluded.
One caution if you cross state lines: Illinois imposes a use tax on items bought elsewhere and brought back for use in Illinois. Enforcement on small consumer purchases is minimal in practice, but the legal obligation exists.