Tag: School Supplies

Sales Tax Holidays in Quad Cities!!

August 6th and 7th are sales tax holidays in Iowa and August 6th through 15th are sales tax holidays in Illinois. So, shoppers hurry up and rush to the stores to enjoy the benefits. Beware of the exceptions while availing the sales tax holiday benefits. 🙂

Sales Tax Holidays

Every year state government declare certain days as sales tax holidays. Businesses that are open on these are required to participate. However, the maximum cost for which the sales tax is free varies from State to State. The items for which the sales tax is exempted also vary. The sales will boost for businesses during this period at the same time, consumers can enjoy the benefit as well. Businesses can claim this exemption while filing the tax returns.

Illinois

Illinois has declared August 6th through August 15th as sales tax holidays. Five percent of the sales tax will be exempted on all school supplies, clothing, and footwear up to $100. School supplies are not subject to the $100 threshold however, if the product is not used by the student in the course of study, that item is not exempted. For example, crayons are exempted but not the paint brushes and other art supplies.

Iowa

Iowa has declared August 6th and 7th as sales tax holidays. However, the items under this exemption are clothing and footwear only up to $100. Manufacturer coupon do not reduce the sales price of an item. But, store coupon reduce. So, correspondingly tax is adjusted.

Watch out

Notice the following rules while purchasing during the sales tax holidays.

  1. The sales tax exemption is valid for goods exchanged at a later date as well. 🙂
  2. The tax exemption is valid for mail orders during that particular dates.
  3. Clothing or footwear for athletic or swimming do not receive the exemption.
  4. Returns after the tax holiday receive the corresponding tax credit, but not the new item purchased after the dates.

Iowa has complete sales tax off on clothing and footwear while Illinois has 5% sales tax off on clothing, footwear, and school supplies. Happy Shopping everybody. 🙂

Back to School!

While back to school season means a lot of fun for children, it is a lot of work and stress for most parents. Taking care of the registrations, school supplies, back pack night, day care, transportation among others is easier for some but stressful for other parents.

Registration

American public schools require a child to register every year to enable them to plan the classes. Further, submitting address proof is mandatory so you fall in the same school district. Most schools have posted the registration information on their websites but some have sent the registration packets to all children as well. Some schools have online registration for middle school and high school children.

Physical presence of the parent at the time of registration is necessary in order to fill out the forms, pay the fees, and submit the proofs.

  • The forms include registration form, Language forms, Food forms, Transportation forms, Parent-Teacher-Association forms among others
  • The school fee may be from $40 to $60 for public schools and for private school may be $35.
  • The address proofs may be your most recent rental agreement, gas bill, cable bill, electricity bill, telephone bill , and so on.

Some schools require school physical form filled out from the child’s doctor which can be submitted later.

If you cannot register your child on the specified dates, you may register st a later date but the seat at the desired school may not be guaranteed. Then, it would depend up on the class strength. You may have to send your school to another school in the same school district.

School Supplies

School supplies list have been posted on the school websites and can be collected at the time of registration. Many departmental stores such as Walmart have school supplies list of  all local schools in the store itself. Some schools have the facility of arranging the supplies if you pay the amount to the school directly.

Most of the supplies for all schools are similar but may vary slightly depending on the school. Some of the supplies may be reused from the previous year’s stock. School uniforms and shoes may change and require further shopping.

Back Pack Night

Most schools have a preset date on which children and parents can visit the school before the school reopens. You may need to submit the school supplies and check out your child’s class room and teacher. It will be exciting for some children to meet their friends and class mates but some may feel nervous facing the new teacher.

First Day School

You do not want to miss the first day of school as it will be a lot of fun for the children. There will be introductions and children will get familiar with the class rules and regulations. For the first week, there may not be any serious classes but most adjustments and ice breaking sessions may be in progress.

Some parents may not like sending their children to school, but note that, the American government mandates that every child must receive education, be it public, private or, home schooling. 🙂