HOUSTON – If you are currently looking to make a major appliance purchase, hold off until Memorial Day Weekend.
You will see even bigger discounts because it is also the Texas’ Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday.
ENERGY STAR Tax-free weekend details
Beginning Saturday, May 29 through midnight, Monday, May 31, you can buy the following Energy Star-labeled items tax-free:
- Air conditioners (with a sales price of $6,000 or less)
- Refrigerators (with a sales price of $2,000 or less)
- Ceiling fans
- Incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs
- Clothes washers
- Dishwashers
- Dehumidifiers
Not all Energy Star items are tax exempt. You will still have to pay taxes on these items:
- Water heaters
- Clothes dryers
- Freezers
- Stoves
- Attic fans
- Heat pumps
- Aine refrigerators
- Kegerators
- Beverage chillers
You can make your purchases online or in-store to get tax-free savings.
Delivery, shipping, handling, and transportation charges by the seller are part of the item’s sales price. Charges for installing free-standing items are also part of the item’s sales price. If the item you buy is not taxable, then these charges are not taxable.
Pay careful attention though. If you are buying an Energy Star refrigerator just under $2,000, but the shipping and handling or delivery charges push the total up to over $,2000, then you will be charged tax.
What if the store doesn’t know about the tax-free holiday?
Purchasers can buy certain ENERGY STAR® energy-efficient products during the annual Texas ENERGY STAR Sales Tax Holiday. If you pay sales tax on these items during the sales tax holiday, you can ask the seller for a refund of the tax paid. The seller can either grant the refund or provide their customer with Form 00-985, Assignment of Right to Refund (PDF), which allows the purchaser to file the refund claim directly with the Texas Comptroller’s office.
Should you have additional questions about refund requests, please contact the Comptroller at 800-531-5441, ext. 34545, or visit their Sales Tax Refunds web page for further details on filing a refund claim.
Other Memorial Day sales
Memorial Day weekend is historically a huge time for savings on mattresses, appliances and furniture. Some of these sales have been running the entire month of May.
If it is house paint you’re looking for, plan to stock up Memorial Day weekend. Lowes and Home Depot both usually give big discounts on paint on Memorial Day, and July 4th and Labor Day weekends.
Think $5 to $10 off each gallon you buy. You can sometimes stack those savings with rebates you mail in.