Celebrate! New Jersey sales tax holiday is just a week away

Parents and others connected to New Jersey schools are poised for savings when the Sales Tax Holiday commences next weekend and runs through Labor Day.

The 10-day window, Aug. 27-Sept. 5, is a “Sales Tax Holiday for certain retail sales of computers, school supplies, and sport or recreational equipment when sold to an individual purchaser for non-business use,” according to the state government website.

School begins for most public school districts on Sept. 6 or 7. A few schools start next week, others by mid-September.

Sales tax remains applicable for computers with a sales price of more than $3,000. Otherwise, items “related to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities” will be a touch less expensive.

The art supplies category includes clay and glazes; paints to include acrylic, tempera and oil; paintbrushes for artwork; watercolors; and sketch and drawing pads.

School computer supplies are for items under $1,000. These can be computer storage media, diskettes and compact disks; handheld electronic schedulers, with exception to cellphones; personal digital assistants, with exception to cellphones; printers; supplies for computers, printer paper and printer ink.

School instruction materials include reference books, workbooks, reference maps and globes or textbooks.

The supplies category is broad but includes the most obvious and usual – binders, book bags, rules, scissors, etc.

Sports or recreational equipment will cover most anything used by individuals in school team sports and a lot for individual recreational use.

There’s no limit on how many items can be purchased by individuals. Coupons from stores can help get some items under the respective thresholds of $3,000 and $1,000 for certain items, thereby qualifying them for the sales tax break.