ILLINOIS (WAND) -- Parents will soon get a bit of a financial break as the state of Illinois begins its annual sales tax holiday for back-to-school shopping.
Under the state’s fiscal year 2026-27 budget, the sales tax holiday will take place over a period of 10 days beginning Aug. 7, allowing families to take advantage of lower sales taxes as they buy school supplies and other back-to-school essentials.
According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, the tax holiday applies to eligible clothing and footwear priced at less than $125 per item. Unlike clothing and footwear, school supplies such as notebooks, pencils and other classroom essentials are not subject to a price cap.
Curious about which items qualify?
Detailed lists can be found below:
Clothing
Less than $125 per item
- Household and shop aprons
- Athletic supporters
- Bathing suits and caps
- Belts and suspenders
- Coats and jackets
- Gloves and mittens
- Hats, caps, and ear muffs
- Lab coats
- Neckties
- Rainwear
- Rubber pants (covers for cloth diapers)
- Scarves
- Underwear
- School uniforms
- Shorts and pants
- Skirts and dresses
- Hosiery and pantyhose
- Shirts and blouses
Footwear
Less than $125 per item
- Shoes, sneakers, and shoe laces
- Sandals
- Slippers
- Socks and stockings
- Footlets
- Boots and overshoes
- Insoles for shoes
- Steel-toed shoes
School supplies
- Binders
- Bookbags
- Calculators
- Cellophane tape
- Blackboard chalk
- Composition books
- Crayons
- Colored pencils
- Erasers
- Expandable pocket, plastic, and manila folders
- Glue, paste, and paste sticks
- Highlighters
- Index cards and index card boxes
- Legal pads
- Lunch boxes
- Markers
- Notebooks and notebook paper, including loose leaf notebook, copy, graph, tracing, manila, colored and construction paper, and poster board
- Pencils and pencil leads
- Pens, ink, and ink refills for pens
- Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes
- Pencil sharpeners
- Protractors, rulers, and compasses
- Scissors
Copyright 2026. WANDTV. All Rights Reserved.
