North Carolina's Tax Free Weekend 2009, August 7-9

Saving money on back-to-school essentials in the Tar Heel State is as easy as shopping during North Carolina's Tax Free weekend 2009, which begins Friday, August 7 and runs through Sunday, August 9. North Carolina's tax free weekend allows residents a great opportunity to save money by being able to purchase eligible goods sales tax free.

North Carolina Tax Free Weekend 2009 basics

North Carolinians can purchase clothing with a price tag of $100 or less per item sales tax free during the tax free weekend. Clothing has a very broad definition and includes more than just standard shirts and pants or boots and shoes. North Carolina's tax free weekend may be a good time to stock up on baby essentials such as receiving blankets, rubber pants and even diapers, since all are tax exempt the weekend of August 7-9. Adult diapers are also included in the eligible listing as are costumes (but not masks). Purchasing a costume in advance of Halloween during the tax free weekend will give a shopper a bit of a discount while there's still a good selection to choose from in stores.

Other eligible items include sports apparel and gear with a price tag of $50 or less per item. Grab sports gear at a discount by shopping for shoulder pads, swim gear, goggles, cleats, mouth guards and other various pieces of sporting equipment on the weekend of August 7-9.

The lists of eligible products are available on North Carolina's Department of Revenue website, a link of which appears below in the sources.

Tax Free Weekend in North Carolina also means tax free computer purchases

Like a handful of other states, North Carolina's tax free weekend will include the ability to purchase a computer without having to pay sales tax. The purchased computer cannot exceed a retail price of $3,500, which gives buyers the flexibility to shop from the top of the line down to a basic computer comfortably without having to worry too much about having to choose between two computers based solely on sales tax as a factor. In addition to tax forgiveness for computers, computer peripherals can also be purchased sales tax free provided that they cost $250 or less. Computer peripherals consist of storage media (CDs), printers and printer ink, PDAs, and hand held schedulers so long as they are not phones.

Glue, pencils and other supplies tax free also during tax free weekend

The normal back-to-school items on teacher's wishlists are also tax free August 7-9 in North Carolina. The list provided on North Carolina's Department of Revenue site is all inclusive, so savvy shoppers not wanting to purchase items not covered by law should consider printing the list out for reference. Of note on the list are calculators, so now may be the time to spend the money on a graphing calculator for your advanced math student. These items must all $100 or less per item. Reference materials such as maps, globes, textbooks and workbooks used to be considered school supplies in past years and thus were subject to the maximum cost of $100 per item. This year, reference materials are tax exempt so long as they have a price tag of $300 or less. College students may want to make a point of buying their textbooks several weeks early to stretch their scholar dollars the furthest.

Sources:
List of eligible items: http://www.dornc.com/taxes/sales/holiday_4-08.pdf