Business

Mass. sales tax holiday weekend dates set for 2022

Most purchases under $2,500 apply.

A passer-by, left, enters a clothing store, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Boston's fashionable Newbury Street shopping district. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By Susannah Sudborough

June 14, 2022

The Massachusetts Legislature set this year’s sales tax holiday weekend for Aug. 13 and 14 on Monday, State House News Service reported.

Local

On these two days, Massachusetts shoppers do not have to pay the state’s 6.25% sales tax on most goods less than $2,500.

Purchases of cars, motorboats, food, alcohol, tobacco products, marijuana products, telecommunications services such as prepaid calls, natural gas, steam, and electricity are excluded from the sales tax holiday.

The now-annual weekend during which the state’s sales tax is nullified was made a permanent feature in the state by law in 2018.

The law appoints the Legislature to set the dates by June 15 each year. If it doesn’t, the Department of Revenue decides.

The sales tax holiday was part of the “grand bargain” bill which phased out time-and-a-half pay for workers on Sundays and holidays but set a timeline for raising the state’s minimum wage from $11 an hour to $15 an hour over the course of five years.