When is the Ohio sales tax holiday in 2027?

By the Revised Code's rule, the three-day holiday begins the first Friday of August, which is August 6, 2027, and ends Sunday, August 8. In a year when the Tax Commissioner designates an expanded holiday under section 5739.41, the dates differ, and vendors are to be notified by June 1. Confirm the announced dates with the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Is a 25 dollar backpack exempt?

Book bags are on the statute's list of school supplies, but only at 20 dollars or less per item, so a 25 dollar bag is above the cap and taxable. Clothing is tested separately, at 75 dollars.

Are laptops, desk lamps or headphones covered?

Not by the statute we read. It says school supplies include only the items it lists, and calculators are on the list while laptops are not. Do not advertise a product as tax free unless you can point to the list.

Does a bundle price count as one item?

The statute tests the price of an item and does not mention sets, so we cannot tell you how the Department treats a bundle price. Ask the Ohio Department of Taxation in writing before you advertise a bundle as tax free, and keep each component's own price visible.

Do I have to collect Ohio tax from another state?

The use tax statute presumes a seller has substantial nexus with Ohio, with more than 100,000 dollars in gross receipts from Ohio in the current or preceding calendar year or 200 or more separate transactions. This is not tax advice; confirm with the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Ohio's per-item tax holiday: what a back-to-school bundle can and cannot do

Ohio's back-to-school tax holiday is narrow and precise. The statute exempts three kinds of items for three days in August: a piece of clothing priced at 75 dollars or less, a school supply priced at 20 dollars or less, and school instructional material priced at 20 dollars or less. It names the school supplies one by one, down to compasses and index card boxes, and it says that a state-designated expanded holiday can replace the three-day version in any year from 2024 on. For a Shopify store that sells in Ohio, the useful questions are practical. Which of your products are on the list, how does a bundle interact with a per-item price test, and where does a parcel for a shopper in Columbus come from. This page answers them from the Revised Code and from the Columbus airport authority, and it tells you which part to confirm with the Department of Taxation before you spend on advertising.

Updated October 10, 2026 · 11 sourced facts

Photo: Jm0371 at English Wikipedia, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Back-to-school sales tax holiday

The statute's standing rule is three days beginning the first Friday of August, which makes it Friday, August 6 through Sunday, August 8 in 2027. It covers clothing at 75 dollars or less per item, school supplies at 20 dollars or less per item and school instructional material at 20 dollars or less per item. In any year from 2024, a state-designated expanded holiday replaces it, and the Department of Taxation announces the dates by June 1, so check its announcement before you advertise.

Clothing, 75 dollars or less per item
School supplies from the statutory list, 20 dollars or less
Reference books, textbooks and workbooks, 20 dollars or less
Sales made during the window

Watch out: The test is each item's price, and the statute lists school supplies exhaustively, so a bag of pens at 12 dollars qualifies and a 12 dollar desk lamp does not. The statute we read does not mention sets, so ask the Department how a bundle price is split before you build one around the cap. This is not tax advice; confirm with the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Source: Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025)

Questions merchants ask

When is the Ohio sales tax holiday in 2027?: By the Revised Code's rule, the three-day holiday begins the first Friday of August, which is August 6, 2027, and ends Sunday, August 8. In a year when the Tax Commissioner designates an expanded holiday under section 5739.41, the dates differ, and vendors are to be notified by June 1. Confirm the announced dates with the Ohio Department of Taxation.
Is a 25 dollar backpack exempt?: Book bags are on the statute's list of school supplies, but only at 20 dollars or less per item, so a 25 dollar bag is above the cap and taxable. Clothing is tested separately, at 75 dollars.
Are laptops, desk lamps or headphones covered?: Not by the statute we read. It says school supplies include only the items it lists, and calculators are on the list while laptops are not. Do not advertise a product as tax free unless you can point to the list.
Does a bundle price count as one item?: The statute tests the price of an item and does not mention sets, so we cannot tell you how the Department treats a bundle price. Ask the Ohio Department of Taxation in writing before you advertise a bundle as tax free, and keep each component's own price visible.
Do I have to collect Ohio tax from another state?: The use tax statute presumes a seller has substantial nexus with Ohio, with more than 100,000 dollars in gross receipts from Ohio in the current or preceding calendar year or 200 or more separate transactions. This is not tax advice; confirm with the Ohio Department of Taxation.

A back-to-school bundle that keeps every item under its cap

In the spring, before the announcement
Sort your catalog against the statute: clothing at 75 dollars or less, and school supplies or instructional material at 20 dollars or less, from the lists in the Revised Code. Mark which products are on the lists, because a product that is merely school-related is not.
Source: Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025)
When you design the bundle
Build the bundle from components that each sit under their own cap, such as three notebooks and a pack of pens, and keep each item's price visible in the bundle. The test is per item, and the statute does not say how a set price is divided.
Source: Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025)
By June 1, 2027
Look for the Tax Commissioner's notice of the dates. If it announces an expanded holiday, the three-day window does not apply that year, so hold the campaign until the dates are published.
Source: Ohio Revised Code section 5739.41 (sales tax holiday designation; effective October 3, 2023)
The week of the holiday
Schedule the bundle to start and stop with the window, and use the Today's offers widget to show it. Ohio collects tax when the sale is made, so set the offer end at the time the holiday ends.
Source: Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025)

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Shipping into the state

Ohio is 40,861 square miles of land, and the sales tax follows the sale: the Revised Code collects the tax when the sale is made, whenever the price is paid or delivered. Central Ohio's Rickenbacker airport, with an intermodal rail terminal next door, is the state's cargo-focused gateway, and the airport authority describes it as a day's truck drive from nearly half the U.S. population. If you ship from a fulfillment partner near Columbus, that reach is a promise you can plan delivery messaging around.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau: State Area Measurements (2010)

Source: Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025)

Source: Columbus Regional Airport Authority: Air freight at Rickenbacker

Facts and sources

Ohio's Revised Code exempts sales on the first Friday of August and the following Saturday and Sunday of a clothing item priced at 75 dollars or less, a school supply item priced at 20 dollars or less and a school instructional material item priced at 20 dollars or less, except in 2024 or any later year in which an expanded sales tax holiday is held.
Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
Counting from the statute's rule, the first Friday of August 2027 is August 6, so the three-day window would run from Friday, August 6 through Sunday, August 8, 2027, unless the Tax Commissioner designates an expanded holiday instead.
Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
Under section 5739.41, when the director of budget and management makes a certification, the Tax Commissioner designates the dates of a sales tax holiday in the next fiscal year; a holiday longer than three days must include the first Friday of August and the weekend after it, and the commissioner must notify vendors of the dates by June 1 before the holiday.
Ohio Revised Code section 5739.41 (sales tax holiday designation; effective October 3, 2023) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The statute defines clothing as all human wearing apparel suitable for general use and says it does not include clothing accessories or equipment, protective equipment, sports or recreational equipment, or items bought for use in a trade or business.
Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The school supplies covered are an exhaustive list that includes binders, book bags, calculators, compasses, composition books, crayons, folders, glue, highlighters, index cards, lunch boxes, markers, notebooks, pencils, pens, protractors, rulers and scissors, and the statute says school supplies include only the items it lists.
Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
School instructional material means written material commonly used by a student as a reference and to learn the subject being taught, and the statute says it includes only reference books, reference maps and globes, textbooks and workbooks.
Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Revised Code sets the Ohio sales tax rate at five and three-fourths percent, and says the tax applies and is collectible when the sale is made, regardless of when the price is paid or delivered.
Ohio Revised Code section 5739.02 (sales tax levy and exemptions; page last updated July 31, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
A seller is presumed to have substantial nexus with Ohio for use tax when it has gross receipts above 100,000 dollars in the current or preceding calendar year from selling property for storage, use or consumption in Ohio, or engages in 200 or more separate such transactions in that period.
Ohio Revised Code section 5741.01 (use tax definitions; page last updated January 16, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Columbus Regional Airport Authority describes Rickenbacker International Airport as within a one-day truck drive to nearly half of the U.S. population and one-third of the Canadian population, and as adjacent to the Norfolk Southern Rickenbacker Intermodal Terminal.
Columbus Regional Airport Authority: Air freight at Rickenbacker (accessed October 10, 2026)
Foreign-Trade Zone 138 is based at Rickenbacker, serves a 25-county Central Ohio area, and offers duty deferral, so importers pay duties when the product leaves their site instead of at the port of entry.
Columbus Regional Airport Authority: FTZ 138 (accessed October 10, 2026)
Ohio has 40,861 square miles of land area.
U.S. Census Bureau: State Area Measurements (2010) (accessed October 10, 2026)

Cities in Ohio

ColumbusOffers keyed to Ohio State's 2027 calendar, the Columbus Arts Festival and home football Saturdays, with dated facts and a gift tier plan for Shopify stores.

Not tax advice. Confirm current rules with the state revenue department before you rely on a date or an exemption.

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