Summer break is coming to an end for students and teachers. The first day of classes for the new school year will be Monday Aug. 1 for South Panola School District and North Panola School District. North Delta classes begin Monday, Aug. 8.

Drivers are cautioned to pay attention to school cross-walks, school bus stops beginning next week.

To help families with back-to-school expenses the State of Mississippi will hold it annual sales tax free weekend. It will be effective from 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 29 until midnight on Saturday, July 30.

Batesville and Panola County elected officials and business leaders are also using the opportunity to remind citizens of the importance of “shopping at home” and returning earned dollars into the local economy.

A sales tax holiday is a temporary period when sales taxes are not collected or paid on purchases of specific products and/or services. To access the state’s extensive guidelines for the tax period, and see the exhaustive list of allowed purchases, visit the Department of Revenue’s website at dor.ms.gov.

According to the Mississippi Sales Tax Holiday passed in the 2009 Legislative Session and amended in 2019 Legislative Session, sales tax is not due on the sale of articles of clothing, footwear, or school supplies during the specified period if the sales price of a single item is less than $100.

“However, the retailer may advertise and sell each pair of pants at 50 percent off, selling each pair of $120.00 pants for $60, making each pair sold eligible for the holiday,” the Department of Revenue (DOR) said in the 2022 Sales Tax Holiday guide.

“The Sales Tax Holiday will apply statewide to all consumer purchases of clothing, footwear, and school supplies with sales prices of less than $100.00 per article during the Sales Tax Holiday. The tax holiday does not apply to sales of any other items not defined as clothing or footwear,” the DOR said.

Some guidelines the DOR provided:

$100 Threshold. The Sales Tax Holiday applies to each eligible item selling for less than $100.00, regardless of how many items are sold at the same time.

Items priced at $100.00 or more are subject to Sales Tax at the regular retail rate of 7%.

For example, a customer purchases two (2) shirts at $50.00 each, a pair of slacks at $75.00, and a pair of shoes at $110.00. No Sales Tax is due on the sale of the two (2) shirts and the pair of slacks at a cost of $175.00, even though the combined cost exceeds the one-hundred-dollar ($100) threshold. However, Sales Tax is due on the entire $110.00 for the shoes since they exceed the one-hundred-dollar ($100) threshold.