Mississippi's sales tax holiday
Tax year 2026
Normally you pay
7.06%
state plus local
The holiday removes
7.06%
the whole rate, local included
Saved on five hundred
$35
Days a year
3
What it means in Mississippi
- In Mississippi the whole sales tax comes off, not just the state's part. On five hundred dollars of qualifying goods you would normally pay $35. During the holiday you pay nothing at all, so the saving is the same $35. Counties here waive their share too.
- Mississippi does not exempt everything in the store. It names 2 groups of goods, and each one has a price ceiling. Go a dollar over and the item pays full tax on the whole amount, not just on the part above the line. That detail catches people out every year.
- Mississippi holds one of these a year, and it is short. It is called Back to School Sales Tax Holiday, and it runs from July 10th to July 12th. Miss the window and there is no second chance until the same point next year, which is why the dates matter as much as the list of what qualifies.
- Mississippi's holiday suspends the local levy alongside the state's, so the exemption is the full combined rate of about 7.06% rather than the state component of about 7%. On a five-hundred-dollar qualifying purchase that is $35 against the $35 ordinarily due. ⚠️ Qualification still governs: goods outside the enumerated categories, or above a category's cap, pay the full combined rate as normal.
- Mississippi's exemption is bounded by per-item price caps rather than by total spend. ⚠️ In most states the cap operates as a cliff: an item priced a dollar over the ceiling is taxable on its full price, not on the excess. This is what makes the caps the operative detail rather than a footnote — they determine which goods the holiday actually reaches, and they are typically set low enough to exclude premium versions of the same category.
- Mississippi operates a single holiday in the tax year. Its window is narrow relative to the annual purchasing cycle, so the exemption functions less as a general tax reduction than as a timing incentive — it moves purchases into the window rather than reducing the tax burden on them across the year.
Tax-free days in Mississippi
A $75,000 salary
| Back to School Sales Tax Holiday | 2026-07-10 to 2026-07-12 |
|---|
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 | $7.06 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $107.06 |
| Rate here | 7.06% |
Uses this location’s stored combined rate and category rule. Clothing is one item; address-level coverage varies.
Back to School Sales Tax Holiday
Runs July 10th to July 12th.
Set by rule: Second full weekend of July, annually
Local sales tax is suspended too, so the whole rate comes off.
Check this holiday at Mississippi's own source
| What qualifies | Up to | Saved at that price |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing and footwear | $100 | $7.06 |
| School supplies | $100 | $7.06 |
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 | $7.06 | $7.06 |
| $250 | $18 | $18 |
| $500 | $35 | $35 |
| $1,000 | $71 | $71 |
What this page cannot tell you
- ⚠️ These dates are worked out from Mississippi'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. Mississippi 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 Mississippi.
- 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 Mississippi, 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 Mississippi's own guidance governs any individual purchase.
Questions people ask
Does the whole tax come off during the holiday?
Only the state's share is certain. about 7% of the about 7.06% combined rate is the part the state controls; whether the rest comes off is a local decision in several states.
What actually qualifies?
A short list: 2 categories. Everything outside them is taxed exactly as usual, which is where most of the disappointment comes from.
How long does this last?
Only 3 days. Short windows are the norm, and they are set in statute rather than announced by shops.
Is this the only one this year?
Yes, one window a year here. That makes it simpler than states running several — there is only one set of rules and one set of dates to check, and missing it means waiting.
Is local participation in the holiday mandatory here?
The state component of about 7% is suspended; the representative combined rate is about 7.06%. Local participation is mandatory in some states and optional in others, so residual local liability during a holiday is jurisdiction-specific and cannot be inferred from the state rule.
How narrow is the exempt class here?
2 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 3 days. Short windows concentrate qualifying purchases into a defined period, which is the standard design; forecasts generally treat much of the effect as timing shift rather than as incremental consumption.
Does this state run additional exemption periods?
A single exemption period operates in this state, with one set of qualifying categories and ceilings. States operating multiple periods define each independently; that complexity does not apply here.