When Is Alabama’s Tax-Free Weekend? Dates, Items, and Exclusions

Alabama’s tax-free weekend for back-to-school shopping runs Friday, July 17 through Sunday, July 19, 2026, suspending the state’s 4% sales tax on qualifying clothing, school supplies, books, and computers.¹ A separate weekend in February covers severe weather preparedness supplies.

When the 2026 Back-to-School Holiday Runs

State law fixes the back-to-school holiday as the third full weekend in July every year. It starts at 12:01 a.m. Friday and ends at midnight the following Sunday, giving you a 72-hour window.² For 2026, that lands on Friday, July 17 through Sunday, July 19.¹ The transaction has to be completed inside that window for the state tax to come off at the register.

What You Can Buy Tax-Free

Four categories qualify, each with its own per-item price ceiling. The 2026 limits were adjusted upward from prior years:³

Clothing: $156 or less per item
School supplies: $78 or less per item
Books: $47 or less per book
Computer: $1,173 or less, single purchase

Clothing

Everyday wearable items qualify, including shirts, pants, shoes, sneakers, and sandals.⁴ The $156 cap is per individual article, so you can buy several qualifying pieces in one trip. Items normally sold as a pair, like shoes, cannot be split apart to meet the threshold.²

School Supplies

Supplies qualify only if they appear on the statute’s list. The law treats it as all-inclusive, meaning anything not named is taxable even when it looks school-related:⁴

Binders, book bags, folders (expandable, pocket, plastic, manila)
Calculators, compasses, protractors, rulers
Pencils, pens, pencil boxes, pencil sharpeners, highlighters, markers, crayons
Notebooks, composition books, writing tablets, legal pads, index cards and card boxes
Paper (loose-leaf, copy, graph, tracing, manila, colored, poster board, construction)
Scissors, erasers, glue, paste, paste sticks, cellophane tape
Blackboard chalk and lunch boxes

Things like USB drives, desk organizers, and backpack accessories don’t qualify no matter how cheap they are.

Books

A qualifying book has to be a bound, printed publication with an ISBN. Magazines, newspapers, and unbound materials are out.⁴ The standard cap is $47 per book. Required textbooks on an official school book list that cost between $47 and $78 can also qualify under the school instructional material category.³

Computers

You get one tax-free computer purchase up to $1,173 during the holiday. The term covers the device itself plus related items like software, a printer, or a monitor when they’re bought in the same transaction.³ One qualifying package per buyer, per holiday.

What’s Still Taxable

Plenty of merchandise stays fully taxable even when it looks like back-to-school material. Clothing accessories such as handbags, jewelry, watches, and umbrellas are excluded regardless of price. Protective equipment like goggles, face shields, and helmets is excluded. So is sport-specific gear like ballet shoes, roller skates, and ski boots.⁴

The price caps are hard thresholds, not deductions. If an item costs even a dollar over the limit — say, a $157 jacket — you owe sales tax on the full $157, not just the overage.³

Mixed packages are also a trap. If a single-priced bundle contains both qualifying and non-qualifying items, the whole package is taxable. A gift set pairing a wallet and a tie, for instance, loses the exemption because the wallet doesn’t qualify on its own.³

How Coupons, Discounts, and Gift Cards Affect the Price

Store coupons and retailer discounts do lower the price for threshold purposes. If a store coupon knocks a $170 shirt down to $150, the shirt qualifies because the actual price you pay is under $156.³

Manufacturer coupons work differently. Because the manufacturer reimburses the retailer later, the store’s selling price hasn’t actually changed, so a manufacturer coupon does not reduce the price for threshold purposes. Rebates follow the same logic since they arrive after the sale.³

Gift cards can buy qualifying items tax-free during the holiday, no matter when the card was purchased. But using the holiday to buy a gift card and then spending it later does not make the later purchases tax-free. A gift card also can’t be used to drag an item’s price below a threshold to force it to qualify.³

Do Local Sales Taxes Come Off Too?

The state’s 4% sales tax is waived automatically on qualifying items. City and county taxes are a separate decision. Each local government has to opt in by passing a resolution at least 30 days before the holiday weekend.⁵

If your city or county doesn’t participate, you’ll still owe the local portion even though the state share disappears. Local rates in Alabama can add several percentage points, so this makes a real difference to what you actually save. The Alabama Department of Revenue publishes a list of participating cities and counties before each holiday.⁶ Check it before you shop.

Online Orders, Layaway, and Rain Checks

Orders placed by mail, phone, email, or online qualify if you both pay for the item and receive delivery during the holiday period. Pre-orders that arrive during the holiday weekend also qualify.³ Under Alabama law, a sale isn’t complete until the item reaches the buyer in the state. An order placed Friday that doesn’t arrive until the following week would not qualify.

Layaway purchases qualify only if you make the final payment and the retailer hands the item over during the holiday weekend. Starting a layaway during the holiday and finishing it later does not count.³

A rain check issued during the holiday does not lock in the exemption; you still need to buy and receive the item before midnight Sunday. A rain check issued before the holiday can be used during the weekend tax-free, as long as you complete the purchase inside the window.³

Alabama’s Other Tax-Free Weekend: Severe Weather Preparedness

Alabama holds a second sales tax holiday each year for emergency supplies. In 2026, it runs from 12:01 a.m. Friday, February 20 through midnight Sunday, February 22.⁷ State law sets the timing as the last full weekend of February every year.⁸

Emergency supplies priced at $94 or less per item are exempt from the state sales tax. Qualifying items include household batteries, flashlights, lanterns, weather radios, first aid kits, fire extinguishers, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, tarps and plastic sheeting, duct tape and tie-down kits, storm plywood, non-electric coolers and can openers, ice packs, cell phone batteries and chargers, and gas or diesel fuel containers. Portable generators and the power cords used with them qualify at a higher cap of $1,564 for the single purchase.⁷

The same local opt-in rule applies: your county and city have to pass a resolution for their taxes to come off. The Department of Revenue keeps a separate participation list for this holiday.⁹

1
Alabama Department of Revenue. 2026 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday Fact Sheet
2
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 40-23-211 – Tax Exemption on Covered Items
3
Alabama Department of Revenue. Rule 810-6-3-.65 – Sales Tax Holiday for Back-to-School
4
Alabama Department of Revenue. Act 2025-309 – Sales Tax Holidays
5
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 40-23-213 – County and Municipal Exemptions Authorized
6
Alabama Department of Revenue. Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday Participating Localities
7
Alabama Department of Revenue. 2026 Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday Fact Sheet
8
Alabama Administrative Code. Rule 810-6-3-.66 – Sales Tax Holiday for Severe Weather Preparedness
9
Alabama Department of Revenue. Alabama Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday