PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – If you typically take advantage of the annual sales tax holiday weekend usually held in August, then we have some bad news to report. It’s not happening this year, barring any last-minute change.

Under Virginia’s 2022 Appropriation Act, the state’s sales tax holiday expires on July 1, 2023 and it has not been renewed.

The three-day sales tax-free weekend was expanded in 2015 to provide savings on hurricane preparedness products, back-to-school items and Energy Star and WaterSense products, and included both in-store and online purchases. The sales tax rate for most of Virginia is 5.3%. The state allows local governments to collect an additional regional or local tax.

The program allowed residents to purchase qualifying items without paying sales tax.

The Virginia Tax website that houses information about each year’s holiday dates and eligible items now states:

Pursuant to Item 3-5.25 of the 2022 Appropriation Act (House Bill 30, 2022 Acts of Assembly, Special Session I, Chapter 2), Virginia’s sales tax holiday expires July 1, 2023.

“Nobody for the last two years has put in legislation to fix this.  Last year it was temporarily fixed in the budget.  It will not happen this year because nobody put in the legislation and the old legislation had a sunset clause,” said Del. Barry Knight, (R-Virginia Beach), chair of the House Appropriations Committee. He is one of three state legislators in charge of negotiating the state budget.

However, he said this amendment for the tax holiday needs to come from the Finance Committee. 

Sen. George Barker (D-Alexandria) first put forward the legislation to extend the sales tax holiday in 2017 for the first weekend in August. That legislation had it ending in 2021 (July 1, 2022.)

It was added back as an amendment in the state budget for one year, last year.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, (R-Va.) who has made tax relief a pillar of his agenda could amend the budget to continue the tax holiday again. However, that would require the General Assembly to send him their amendments first.

Knight said there is hope that this could happen in the next several weeks.

Click here to view state and local tax laws enacted by the 2023 Session of the General Assembly.