Get ready to shop because Alabama's annual back-to-school sales tax holiday kicks off this weekend, providing a prime opportunity for shoppers to save on items for the upcoming school year.

This year, the tax holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. on July 19 and ends at midnight on July 21.
During this period, shoppers can purchase certain school supplies, computers, books and clothing without paying the state's sales or use tax.

To ensure you take full advantage of these savings, here's a breakdown of eligible items according to the Alabama Department of Revenue (ALDOR):

CLOTHING

Eligible clothing items, each priced at $100 or less, include belts, boots, caps, coats, diapers, dresses, gloves, gym suits, hats, hosiery, jackets, jeans, neckties, pajamas, pants, raincoats, robes, sandals, scarves, school uniforms, shirts, shoes, shorts, socks, sneakers and underwear.

According to ALDOR, this is not an all-inclusive list.

Noneligible clothing includes accessories, protective equipment and sports or recreational equipment such as belt buckles (sold separately), briefcases, cosmetics, costume masks (sold separately), hair notions (barrettes, hair bows, etc.), handbags, handkerchiefs, jewelry, patches and emblems (sold separately), sewing equipment and supplies (pins, patterns, scissors, tape measures, etc.), sewing materials (thread, fabric, buttons, zippers, etc.), sunglasses, eyeglasses, contacts (prescription or nonprescription), umbrellas, wallets, watches, wigs and hairpieces, breathing masks, clean room apparel and equipment, ear and hearing protectors, face shields, hard hats, helmets, paint or dust respirators, protective gloves, safety glasses and goggles, safety belts, tool belts, welder gloves and masks, ballet or tap shoes, band instruments, cleated or spiked athletic shoes, gloves (baseball, bowling, boxing, hockey, golf, etc.), goggles, hand and elbow guards, life preservers and vests, mouth guards, roller and ice skates, shin guards, shoulder pads, ski boots, waders, wetsuits and fins.

COMPUTERS, SOFTWARE AND SUPPLIES

For computers, software and supplies, a single purchase priced at $750 or less is eligible for exemption. This includes computers (laptops, desktops and tower systems with CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers sold as a package), computer software and school computer supplies such as storage media, handheld electronic schedulers (excluding cellular phones), personal digital assistants (excluding cellular phones), computer printers and printer supplies (paper and ink).

Noneligible items include furniture and non-educational video games along with systems, devices, software and peripherals intended primarily for recreational use.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES, ART SUPPLIES AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL

Eligible school supplies, each priced at $50 or less, include binders, blackboard chalk, book bags, calculators, cellophane tape, compasses, composition books, crayons, erasers, folders (expandable, pocket, plastic and manila), glue (including paste and paste sticks), highlighters, index cards and boxes, legal pads, lunch boxes, markers, notebooks, protractors, paper (colored, construction, copy, graph, loose-leaf, manila, tracing and poster board), pencil boxes and other school supply boxes, sharpeners, pencils, pens, rulers, scissors and writing tablets.

Eligible school art supplies include clay and glazes, paints (acrylic, tempera, oil and watercolors), paintbrushes for artwork and sketch and drawing pads.

Eligible school instructional material includes reference maps and globes and required textbooks on an official schoolbook list with a sales price between $30 and $50.

BOOKS

Books with a sales price of $30 or less are also eligible. The term book refers to printed sheets bound together and published in a volume with an ISBN number.

Magazines, newspapers, periodicals and any other non-bound documents are noneligible.

For a complete list of exempt and non-exempt items from state sales and use tax, visit ALDOR's website at www.revenue.alabama.gov.