VIRGINIA — Every August, Virginia residents have a chance to stock up on school supplies, clothing and other qualifying items during a three-day sales tax holiday. The 2022 sales tax holiday will happen from 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 5 through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7.

During the sales tax holiday, residents can purchase qualifying items without sales tax in stores and through online shopping. Sales tax in Virginia typically ranges between 5.3 percent and 7 percent, which includes the state's 4.3 percent state sales tax, the 1 percent local option tax, and other applicable regional taxes. In Northern Virginia localities, the combined sales tax is 6 percent.

The Virginia General Assembly sets the sales tax holiday for the first Friday of August through the following Sunday. Before fiscal year 2016, sales tax holidays happened in May, August and October, but the legislature opted to combine them for one big sales tax weekend in August. Since the General Assembly last extended the sales tax holiday through July 1, 2023, future legislative action would be required to hold it in 2023 and beyond.

The sales tax holiday applies to qualifying school supplies, clothing, footwear, hurricane and emergency preparedness products, Energy Star products and WaterSense products.

Eligible school supplies are $20 or less per item. Some examples of eligible items are book bags, composition books, notebooks, hand sanitizer, lunch boxes, pencils, pens, textbooks and tissues.

Clothing and footwear eligible for the sales tax holiday must be $100 or less per item. Examples of qualifying items include bathing suits, boots, coats, diapers, dresses jeans, shirts, sneakers and socks.

Ineligible items are considered clothing accessories, such as briefcases, cosmetics, handbags, jewelry, umbrellas and wallets. Protective equipment such as breathing masks, hard hats, helmets and tool belts are also not exempt from sales tax. Other items that do not qualify include sports equipment such as spiked athletic shoes, goggles, life preservers, mouth guards and ski boots.

In the hurricane and emergency preparedness items category, items qualifying for the sales tax holiday are portable generators priced at $1,000 or less each, gas-powered chainsaws at $350 or less each, chainsaw accessories at $60 or less each, and other specified items at $60 or less each.

Qualifying items at $1,000 or less include portable generators and generator power cords, inverters and inverter power cables, and photovoltaic devices that generate electricity.

Qualifying chainsaws and parts include chains, chain saw bar and nose lubricants, two-cycle motor oil, chain sharpeners and files, bars, wrenches, carrying cases and scabbards, safety apparel and repair parts.

Other emergency preparedness items qualifying for the sales tax exemption are ice packs, batteries, flashlights, two-way radios, duct tape, carbon monoxide detectors, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, bottled water, cell phone chargers, First Aid kits and more.

Energy Star or WaterSense products qualifying for the sales tax exemption must be $2,500 or less per item and be for noncommercial, home or personal use.

The Virginia Department of Taxation has a full list of items that qualify for the tax-free holiday.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.