Massachusetts Tax-Free Weekend 2014 Is August 16 and 17

Shopping photo via Shutterstock

Earlier this week, Governor Deval Patrick approved the annual tax holiday in Massachusetts for this weekend, August 16 and 17. Now in its fifth year, the 2014 tax-free weekend comes about a week later than in previous years—that’s one week deeper into back-to-school season, or one week closer to the end of summer, if you want to look at it that way. We don’t.

Anyway, here’s the skinny: Consumers in the state will not have to pay the usual 6.25 percent sales tax on individual items priced up to $2,500 excluding gas, utilities, cars, motorized boats, meals, and tobacco products.

You can save on high-end clothes, jewelry, home goods, and personal tech—think: Best Buy, Apple, etc. Speaking of brands, this is the first tax-free weekend we get to take advantage of since Amazon.com started charging a state sales tax last fall.

Far be it for us to tell you how to spend your hard-earned bucks, but there is some strategy to shopping on tax-free weekend in Massachusetts. Keep that $2,500 cap in mind, and know that clothes costing less than $175 are not taxed in Massachusetts anyway. That is to say, if you plan to spend the weekend scouring the racks of Newbury Street, know that you’re only “saving” on apparel exceeding that amount.

Happy shopping!

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