The Puerto Rico Treasury Department (PRTD) announced in Tax Policy Circular Letter (CL) 19-11 that the back-to-school sales tax holiday for school uniforms and supplies will be in effect from July 12, 2019 through July 13, 2019.

Section 4030.20 of Puerto Rico's Internal Revenue Code of 2011 (the 2011 PRIRC), as amended, establishes two sales tax holidays during the fiscal year. After July, the next holiday will be in January 2020.

Only school uniforms, supplies and textbooks are exempt from the sales and use tax. Specifically, under Section 4030.20(c) of the 2011 PRIRC, the following items are excluded from sales tax during the sales tax holiday:

• School uniforms, specifically required by the educational institution, that do not have a general use or cannot be worn outside the school
• Clothing and footwear that complement the uniforms as specifically indicated by the educational institution
• School supplies commonly used by a student in the course of study (e.g., pencils, erasers, markers, pencil boxes, index cards, and computer storage media, including disks, compact disks and flash drives)
• Art and music school supplies, as well as reference materials or materials used to learn the subject being taught (e.g., clay and glazes, paint (acrylic, oil or tempera), paint brushes for art work, sketchbooks, musical instruments, and maps and globes).

CL 19-11 specifically lists articles that will not be considered eligible school uniforms, such as belt buckles sold separately and protective, sporting, and recreational gear not suitable for general use (i.e., security helmets, goggles, ballet slippers). CL 19-11 also specifies a list of items that will be considered school supplies. If the articles are not included in that list, they will be subject to sales tax.

Textbooks and college books continue to be exempt throughout the year from sales tax. The exemption covers text and electronic books and applies both to the purchase and rent of the books.

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