Massachusetts will be sales tax-free this weekend. Here's what that means.

Boston Globe

3 days ago

'The sales tax holiday is a wonderful opportunity for our residents to get out into their communities, support local businesses, get their kids ready for school in fall or make a purchase that they've been putting off,' said State Senator Adam Gómez, a Springfield Democrat who helped set the date for this year's holiday, in a statement.
Any eligible retail items that are individually priced under $2,500 purchased in Massachusetts
Advertisement
Still, that leaves plenty of room for savings on big-ticket items such as electronics, appliances, furniture, and jewelry.
'It creates a level of excitement in some shoppers,' said Bill Rennie, vice president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, in a Thursday interview. 'It adds an important incentive to get consumers back into the stores, at a typically slow point in the retail calendar.'
Related
:
Advertisement
Certain purchases do not qualify for the sales tax exemption, including meals. That means, if you end up dining out at
Other purchases not covered by the exemption include motor vehicles (including motorboats); utilities such as gas, steam, electricity, and telecommunications; and drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana products.
Nevertheless, Rennie said the sales tax holiday is a 'proven winner' for Massachusetts retailers, which campaigned to codify the exemption as an annual event.
'Black Friday, that's always been a big event in the calendar,' he said. 'But I'll tell you this: we do have furniture members, some appliance sellers as well, where the sales tax holiday is still the biggest weekend of the year.'
It helps that the August sales tax holiday comes
'Not a lot of people get furniture as a gift, right?' Rennie said. 'But furniture always does very well on the sales tax holiday. It makes sense that it's a real big weekend for that category.'
Though the Retailers Association doesn't track specific data for sales tax weekend, Rennie said that, historically, a business might make 'five or six times' the sales of a typical summer weekend.
Advertisement
'It gets people to come out shopping,' he said. 'Whether they're going to different locations, maybe they're going to the mall, they end up in different stores, making impulse buys. And, historically, impulse buys are 30 percent of all purchases.'
Any businesses that erroneously charge sales tax on eligible items this weekend are required to refund customers with valid receipts or proof of purchase for any tax erroneously paid, officials said. Businesses must also remit wrongly-collected sales tax to the Department of Revenue.
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at