Iowa sales tax holiday Friday, Saturday

The next two days mark the 22nd year in which Iowans celebrate the annual sales tax holiday.

John Fuller, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Revenue, said Iowa consumers are projected to save $4.6 million over the next two days.

“We have a research team and it’s based on their estimate,” he said.

Fuller noted the distinction of when this tax relief period occurs.

“Some people call this sales tax weekend, which may imply that it’s Saturday and Sunday, but it’s actually Friday and Saturday. It does not include Sunday,” he said. “As with anything related to taxes, there are some specific rules and guidelines. Those can be found at tax.iowa.gov. There’s a list of what’s taxable and what items are tax-free.”

He said some items are excluded.

“If somebody wanted to buy football equipment like shoulder pads and cleats for their football player in the family, those would still be taxed,” he said.

In order to qualify tax free, items must be priced under $100.

In May 2018 Governor Reynolds signed a bill applying Iowa’s 6-7% sales tax, which varies by locality, to internet purchases to level the playing field between online retailers and brick & mortar stores. The law took effect in 2019.

“It works pretty well,” Fuller said. “I think we were able to educate the online sellers about what was going on, and other states did that as well.”

Heather Downing, a stylist at Hazel Marie’s women’s clothing store in Creston, said the next two days will be a great time to take advantage of some back to school bargains.

“We’ll definitely have some promotions going on Friday and Saturday. It’s nice to get everyone in here Friday with the wine walk,” she said. “Then we’ll see a lot of those people come back on Saturday and do some shopping.”

Downing said HM has deals for everyone else too, not just back to school shoppers.

“We literally dress 12 year olds to 90 year olds,” she said.

She said the majority of their business is done in-store, but some is also online.

“We do have a website. And then we also get quite a bit off of Facebook and Instagram,” Downing said. “It’s definitely growing.”