Connecticut’s 27th Sales Tax Free Week will be observed Sunday, August 16 through Saturday, August 22, 2026.

Sales or purchases of certain items of clothing or footwear costing less than $300 per item will be exempt from sales tax. This special exemption applies to purchases made from retailers located in Connecticut as well as from online retailers.

This year’s price limit is a threefold increase over previous years, when the limit was $100 per item.

Under the law, most articles of clothing and footwear intended to be worn on or about the body that cost less than $300 are eligible to be purchased exempt from tax during Sales Tax Free Week.

There are, however, certain items that are excluded from the scope of the Sales Tax Free Week exemption. Among those items are goggles, gloves, headbands, jewelry, ice skates and roller skates, safety glasses, sports helmets and uniforms, wallets, and watches. Readers are encouraged to check the full list of items at portal.ct.gov/drs/sales-tax.

Items purchased online during Sales Tax Free Week that are not delivered before the end of the week still qualify for the tax break.

Additional Notes

*Subject only to limitations retailers may impose, there is no limit on the number of qualifying items that can be purchased at one time.

*If a retailer offers a “buy one, get one free” promotion, the $300 limit applies to the item for which there is a charge. If the total charge for the one item exceeds $300, the retailer cannot allocate all or any portion of the charge to the item it gives away to attempt to qualify for the Sales Tax Free Week exemption. For example, if a customer buys one item at $350 and receives another item for free, the item that cost $350 would be fully subject to sales tax

*If a coupon can be applied to an item that will reduce the price of the item to $300 or less, the item will then qualify for sales tax exemption during the week. Eligibility for the Sales Tax Free Week exemption is based on the final sales price of the item after all coupons and other reductions have been applied.

*If a retailer has issued a rain check prior to Sales Tax Free Week for a qualifying item that costs less than $300 and the rain check is used during Sales Tax Free Week, the shopper would be eligible to purchase the item exempt from sales tax.

Rain checks issued during Sales Tax Free Week cannot be used later in the year to purchase the item tax free, however.

*If an item is purchased for more than $300 and a rebate would then qualify the item for Sales Tax Free Week, a shopper is not eligible to file a claim for a refund for the sales tax paid. The item is taxable because the cost of the item at the time of the sale exceeded $300.

*Shipping and delivery charges are generally subject to sales tax if the item being shipped is subject to sales tax. Therefore, if the item being shipped is an article of clothing and footwear costing less than $300 that was purchased during Sales Tax Free Week, no tax would apply to the shipping or delivery charges associated with such qualifying item.

*If a qualifying item purchased during Sales Tax Free Week needs to be exchanged, there are no tax consequences if the item is exchanged after the tax free timeframe.

For full details visit portal.ct.gov/drs/sales-tax/sales-tax-free-week.