By: Isabelle Puente
Tennesseans are preparing for one of the most helpful holidays across the state – Tax-free weekend.
NOTE: Tennessee’s Food and Ingredient Tax Holiday runs the last weekend of October. For 2026: October 30 – November 1, 2026. During this weekend, food and food ingredients sold in Tennessee are exempt from the state’s 4% food sales tax rate (note: the full state rate is 7%, but food already has a reduced rate; this weekend waives it entirely).
The dates for back-to-school tax-free weekend 2026 will be July 31 through August 2.
Items that will be exempt from taxes will include clothing items costing $100 or less (apparel worn on the body; excludes accessories, jewelry, handbags, and umbrellas), school supplies costing $100 or less (pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, binders, backpacks, calculators) and computers priced at $1,500 or less (personal computers and tablets).
One local retailer, Best Buy, shared how they’ll be preparing for the crowds.
“On tax free weekend we do the same thing every year but we’ve already run a queue,” said Robbie Rains, general manager of Best Buy Jackson. “So, we do first come first serve, we put them in a queue so once their name comes up we have an associate with them.”
With Best Buy’s tax-free items exclusively being their computers, Rains said that the new MacBook Neo is expected to be their most popular item this year, due to its compact size and affordability.
However, Rains said that it all depends on what a person is looking for when it comes to making a decision and buying a product.
While a seven percent tax break might not seem like a lot, it’s sure to help some with the recent rise in computer and laptop prices.
According to Gadgets Salvation, the price of laptop computers have increased approximately 20 to 30 percent, with the main cause being the rise in Artificial Intelligence.
Flotek Group says that AI and the emerging large data centers require large amounts of memory supply making it less available and more expensive for laptop manufacturers.
If you would like to learn more about Tennessee’s tax free weekend you can visit https://freetaxweekend.com/tennessee-tax-free-weekend-2026/.
