The annual Iowa Sales Tax Holiday began at 12:01 a.m. today and will run until midnight Saturday, for two full days of sales tax-free shopping.

The sales tax exemption applies only to clothing and footwear items that are priced under $100. Qualifying items include shoes, boots, uniforms for work and school, jackets, belts, underclothes and even items like lab coats and martial arts attire.

Items like bookbags, jewelry, watches, sports uniforms, school supplies or rented clothing do not qualify for the tax exemption.

According to John Fuller, public information officer for the Iowa Department of Revenue, Iowa consumers save millions on sales tax each year during the holiday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
During the annual Iowa Sales Tax Holiday, today and Saturday, all clothing and shoes priced at less than $100 will be sold without sales tax. The tax exemption does not include jewelry or handbags.

“Last year, we estimated it was about $4.6 million,” he said. “The year before that, it was $4.4 million.”

Local retailers are preparing for the big shopping weekend, where they usually see a noticeable increase in shoppers.

“It’s one of the better weekends of the year,” said Morgan Fitzgerald, owner of Real Deals, 329 Central Ave.

Jill Bush, owner of Rush Hour Clothing Co., 1208 First Ave. S., said she usually sees “pretty steady traffic” in her store for the sales tax holiday, but is concerned about this year with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t know how COVID is going to affect it now,” she said. “It’s tough to say, as far as back-to-school shopping. … We’re just hoping it won’t affect it a lot.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Brown’s Shoe Fit Co. owner and manager Craig Jarrard expects Birkenstock sandals to be a big hit this weekend during the annual Iowa Sales Tax Holiday. All shoes priced under $100 will be sold free of sales tax.

Retailers rely on the families doing their back-to-school shopping over the sales tax holiday, and often include sales to incentivize consumers to shop.

At Brown’s Shoe Fit Co., 210 S. 25th St., the athletic shoes back-to-school sale is running all week and weekend.

“Footwear’s kind of a necessity, not just a luxury,” said owner Craig Jarrard.

Nearly everything at the Brown’s Shoe Fit Shoe Rack store next door will qualify for the sales tax exemption, as most items will be priced at less than $100.

“Over here’s it’s a little bit more challenging,” he said of the main store.

Jarrard said he expects Birkenstock sandals to be a big hit over the weekend.

At Rush Hour, Bush said she’ll be drawing customers in with a 20% off all clothing sale.

At Real Deals, Fitzgerald is offering buy one, get one half off on bottoms like jeans and shorts.

“We felt like it would be a good way to jump-start back to school shopping, because a lot of people tend to buy jeans for that season,” she said.

Fitzgerald noted that a lot of shoppers from the Fort Dodge area will travel to Des Moines to shop at larger retailers, but she said she hopes this year they’ll stay closer to home.

“Stay and shop local because a lot of times, the local retailers are wanting to go above and beyond to keep people in town, too,” she said. “More than any other year, I think this is the year to stress shopping local because COVID has affected all of us and we want to stick around forever. So in order to do that, we need help from the public.”

For shoppers who have a hard time finding what they’re looking for in stores, or who are wanting to keep socially distanced and avoid the crowds, the sales tax holiday applies to online shopping as well.

“As long as the item was selected and paid for during that two-day period,” Fuller said.

Items must qualify for the sales tax exemption, just as they would for in-store shopping.

The Iowa Sales Tax Holiday runs for Friday and Saturday. Sunday is not included in the holiday.