Florida’s Back to School Tax-Free Holiday starts Friday

FLORIDA — This weekend you can give your wallet a little bit of a break if your kids are heading back to school.

Florida’s tax-free holiday weekend starts on Friday.

8-year-old Connor Godsey and his family are taking advantage of the tax-free holiday.

Action News Jax caught up with them as they were crossing off some items off their back-to-school list.

“We’re here to buy a family laptop for all of us to use and I’m going to be using it on the first semester for virtual school,” Godsey said.

The National Retail Federation said coronavirus could push back-to-school spending to record levels.

MORE: Florida back-to-school tax holiday: What’s tax free and when to shop

Parents with children in elementary school to high school, plan to spend an average of $790 per family.

With the pandemic, a lot of kids are opting to do online learning instead of in-person learning.

That means parents are purchasing big ticket items like laptops and computer accessories.

Other items on the list are speakers, headphones, and tablets.

John Dubreuil, the General Manager of the Best Buy on Southside Boulevard said electronics is really what’s driving up the spending this year.

“Really what’s hot right now is anything related to virtual work-from-home or virtual learning, so those are probably your hottest items right now,” Dubreuil said.

What qualifies for back-to-school tax-free weekend in Florida?

• Clothing costing $60 or less per item.
• School supplies and related items costing $15 or less per item.
• The first $1,000 for personal computers and related accessories

The National Retail Federal said spending is expected to total $33.9 billion. That’s up from last year’s $26.2 billion.

The tax free holiday runs until Sunday.

Click here for a full list of items that are included and excluded from the sales tax holiday.

Cox Media Group