Ohio & Mahoning Valley - It's almost time for back-to-school shopping season, and the State of Ohio is once again giving shoppers a break on sales tax on select items.

Ohio's annual Sales Tax Holiday is set to take place Friday, August 1 through Thursday, August 14.

During this time, shoppers will not be charged sales tax on any tangible merchandise valued at $500 or less, including clothing, footwear, dine-in food, school supplies, sports equipment, personal care products and much more.

Additionally, personal computers, laptops and tablets priced at $1,500 or less are also exempt from sales tax.

The $500 limit applies to the value of individual items, not the total bill. For example, if a shopper bought 11 items all priced at $50 for a total price of $550, that bill would still be exempt from sales tax because all items were under $500.

However, there are still items that are not exempt from sales tax regardless of price, including alcohol, tobacco products, watercraft and motor vehicles.

If a purchase includes an item that is not exempt from sales tax, the sales tax will apply to the whole purchase. However, if the prices are listed separately, only the non-exempt items will be subject to tax.

The tax exemption applies to both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. For online purchases, even if the item is set to arrive after the holiday ends, the items are still exempt from sales tax as long as the item was purchased during the tax holiday.

Additionally, if an online purchase costs less than $500, but shipping costs bring the price up to over $500, the sales tax exemption will still apply because the item itself was valued at less than $500.

If your online order contains both taxable and non-taxable items, shipping costs will be taxed only on the portion attributed to the taxable items.

If you return a tax-free item purchased during the tax holiday and exchange it for the tax-free item, sales tax will still not be charged even after the holiday. However, sales tax will be charged if you exchange it for a new tax-free item after the holiday.