Maryland's sales tax holiday
Tax year 2026
Normally you pay
6%
state plus local
The holiday removes
6%
varies by holiday
Saved on five hundred
$30
Days a year
10
What it means in Maryland
- ⚠️ Maryland does not treat its holidays the same way. On one of them the whole tax comes off, county share included. On the other only the state's part goes and local tax keeps running. So the saving depends on which holiday you are shopping in — the table below marks each one.
- Watch the price ceilings in Maryland. There are 3 groups of qualifying goods, and every one of them stops at a set price. Going a dollar over usually means tax on the whole item, not just on the excess. It is the most common way people lose a saving they were counting on.
- Maryland runs more than one of these, and they are not the same event — the first is Shop Maryland Energy Sales Tax Holiday, from February 14th to February 16th. Each has its own dates and its own list of what qualifies, so a receipt that would be exempt in one week is fully taxed in another. The table below has each one separately.
- Maryland is the one state in this dataset whose holidays differ on local participation: one suspends the combined rate of about 6% and the other only the state component of about 6%. ⚠️ A single state-level saving figure would therefore be wrong for one of the two, which is why every figure below is computed per holiday rather than per state. The per-holiday tables carry the applicable basis.
- Per-item caps define the boundary of Maryland's exemption. ⚠️ The cap is generally a cliff rather than a threshold — exceeding it makes the whole item taxable, not merely the amount above the cap — so the effective subsidy is concentrated in goods priced just beneath each ceiling. The ceilings below are the operative figures; the category names alone do not tell you what qualifies.
- Maryland holds multiple distinct holidays in the tax year, each with its own statutory window and its own qualifying categories. They are not extensions of one another: goods exempt during one are ordinarily taxable during the other, so the applicable list depends on which window a purchase falls in rather than on the state's holiday policy generally.
Tax-free days in Maryland
A $75,000 salary
| Shop Maryland Energy Sales Tax Holiday | 2026-02-14 to 2026-02-16 |
|---|---|
| Shop Maryland Tax-Free Week | 2026-08-09 to 2026-08-15 |
Dates come from statute, so they move with the legislature rather than with a data refresh.
At the register
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $6.00 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $106.00 |
| Rate here | 6% |
Uses this location’s stored combined rate and category rule. Clothing is one item; address-level coverage varies.
Shop Maryland Energy Sales Tax Holiday
Runs February 14th to February 16th.
Set by rule: Presidents Day weekend, annually
⚠️ Local sales tax still applies — only the state share comes off.
Check this holiday at Maryland's own source
| What qualifies | Up to | Saved at that price |
|---|---|---|
| ENERGY STAR and solar water heaters | no price limit | scales with price |
Shop Maryland Tax-Free Week
Runs August 9th to August 15th.
Set by rule: Second full week of August, annually
Local sales tax is suspended too, so the whole rate comes off.
Check this holiday at Maryland's own source
| What qualifies | Up to | Saved at that price |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing and footwear | $100 | $6 |
| Backpacks and bookbags | $40 | $2.40 |
What it saves on a real purchase
Reference amounts, not a claim about what anyone spends. What comes off depends on whether the locality suspends its own tax as well, which is recorded per holiday and applied here — not assumed.
| You spend | Tax normally | The holiday removes |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | $6 | $6 |
| $250 | $15 | $15 |
| $500 | $30 | $30 |
| $1,000 | $60 | $60 |
What this page cannot tell you
- ⚠️ These dates are worked out from Maryland's law, not copied from an announcement. Confirm them with the state before making a special trip.
- Which layers of tax come off is recorded per holiday here, not guessed. Individual towns can still differ from the state's general rule.
- And the category names here are summaries. Maryland publishes a much longer list of exactly what counts, with exclusions that surprise people.
- ⚠️ The dates shown are DERIVED from the statutory recurrence rule reproduced beside them, not from a published calendar. Where a legislature moves or suspends a holiday by special act, that change reaches this page only when the rule itself is re-read — so the state revenue department's own announcement is authoritative over this page for Maryland.
- Whether the local levy is suspended alongside the state's is recorded per holiday in the underlying delivery and applied to every figure on this page; it is not assumed. ⚠️ Residual variation remains possible at the municipal level in Maryland, since a small number of jurisdictions elect independently of the general state position, so a specific town's treatment is authoritative over this page.
- Category descriptions are condensed. Each state's implementing guidance enumerates qualifying and excluded items in far greater detail — commonly excluding rentals, items for business use, and specific product classes within an otherwise exempt category — so Maryland's own guidance governs any individual purchase.
Questions people ask
Is the whole tax suspended, or only part of it?
All of it, because there is nothing else to suspend. Maryland has no general local sales tax layer, so the state rate of about 6% is the whole charge — and when it lifts, a qualifying purchase genuinely carries no sales tax at all.
What actually qualifies?
A short list: 3 categories. Everything outside them is taxed exactly as usual, which is where most of the disappointment comes from.
How long do I have?
A wide window by national standards: 10 days. Statute sets it, so it does not vary between retailers.
Is there more than one of these each year?
Yes — 2 separate holidays here, each with its own dates and its own list. They are not interchangeable: an item covered by one is frequently taxable during another, so the relevant question is which holiday rather than whether there is one.
What is the full extent of the suspension here?
Maryland authorizes no general local sales tax, so the state rate of about 6% constitutes the entire combined rate. Suspension therefore eliminates sales tax on qualifying items rather than reducing it, unlike states where local participation is optional.
How narrow is the exempt class here?
3 categories are enumerated, a narrow class by national standards. Items outside the enumerated categories are taxed at the ordinary combined rate throughout, and per-item ceilings typically apply within the categories that do qualify.
What is the duration of the exemption window?
Total exemption duration is 10 days, exceeding the typical two- or three-day window. Dates are fixed in statute and may be amended by legislature between years, so they are not stable across tax years.
How many separate holidays does this state run?
This state operates 2 distinct exemption periods, each with independently defined qualifying categories, price ceilings and dates. Eligibility under one confers nothing under another.