iPads are not permanently tax-free in Florida, but during the state’s annual Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday you can buy one without paying the six percent state sales tax or your county’s local surtax, provided the iPad costs $1,500 or less and is for personal use. That window is the only reliable time each year for a tax-free iPad in Florida.
When the Holiday Runs
For 2025, the holiday ran from August 1 through August 31. The 2026 holiday is expected to cover August 1–31 as well, though the Florida Department of Revenue publishes final dates on its sales tax holidays page once the governor signs the annual tax package into law. Dates can shift if the legislature changes the timeline, so confirm before you buy.
One quick boundary: Florida also runs a Freedom Month Sales Tax Holiday, but it covers outdoor recreation and cultural admissions. No version of Freedom Month has included tablets or computers. Back-to-School is the only window that applies to iPads.
The $1,500 Price Cap
The iPad’s sales price has to be $1,500 or less. This is a hard cutoff. An iPad priced at $1,499 is fully exempt; an iPad priced at $1,501 is fully taxable on the entire amount. There’s no partial exemption on the first $1,500.
Most iPad configurations sit well under the cap. But some iPad Pro builds with the largest storage and cellular connectivity can push past $1,500. Check the exact price of the configuration you want, including any engraving or AppleCare that the retailer bundles into the sales price rather than listing separately. And you cannot split one iPad across two receipts to get under the cap. The exemption looks at the total sales price of the individual unit.
Personal Use Only
The exemption applies to iPads purchased for noncommercial home or personal use. Buying iPads for a business or for resale doesn’t qualify, regardless of price. Retailers are not required to verify how you’ll use the device, but the personal-use rule is written into the statute.
Florida’s holiday defines “personal computers” broadly enough to cover every iPad model, along with laptops, desktops, e-readers, and handheld computing devices. A few nearby categories are explicitly excluded: cell phones (even large-screen smartphones), video game consoles like the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, and streaming devices such as Apple TV or Roku.
Which iPad Accessories Are Tax-Free
Computer-related accessories priced at $1,500 or less are also exempt during the holiday when bought for personal use. The Department of Revenue’s Tax Information Publication lists these among the qualifying items:
- Keyboards, including Apple’s Magic Keyboard and other Bluetooth keyboards designed for computers.
- Mice and trackpads.
- Printers, including all-in-one models.
- Monitors, but only those without a built-in television tuner.
- Speakers, microphones, headphones, and earbuds designed for computer use.
- Cables, docking stations, and chargers, including car adaptors for laptops.
- Routers and modems used with a computer.
- Nonrecreational software. Productivity software qualifies; games do not.
Now the accessories that catch people off guard. These stay taxable even during the holiday:
- iPad cases and covers. The Department of Revenue specifically lists “cases for electronic devices” and “tablet cases or covers” as taxable.
- Furniture, including desks and monitor stands.
- Recreational peripherals such as game controllers and VR headsets.
- Monitors with built-in TV tuners.
The Apple Pencil sits in a gray area. The Tax Information Publication doesn’t name styluses, but qualifying accessories include “other peripheral devices” that aren’t primarily recreational, which would seem to cover a stylus used for notes or digital art. The Department of Revenue hasn’t published explicit guidance. If you’re adding a Pencil to your order, watch the tax calculation at checkout.
Online Orders
Buying an iPad online from Apple, Amazon, or any other retailer qualifies as long as the order is accepted during the holiday window. “Accepted” doesn’t mean delivered. It means the retailer has taken action to fill the order: assigned an order number, sent a confirmation email, or date-stamped a mail order. Shipping delays, backorders, and out-of-stock situations don’t disqualify the purchase, as long as you didn’t request delayed shipment yourself.
Timing matters at the edges. If you place an order at 11:55 PM on the last night of the holiday and the retailer confirms it at 12:03 AM, you may lose the exemption. Major retailers update their systems to strip sales tax automatically on qualifying items during the holiday, so you should see a $0 tax line at checkout. If tax still appears on an iPad priced under $1,500, don’t complete the purchase until you’ve confirmed the exemption is applied.
Your shipping address has to be in Florida. Retailers calculate tax based on the delivery destination, so an iPad shipped out of state won’t get the exemption even if you’re a Florida resident ordering during the holiday.
Where the Exemption Doesn’t Apply
Certain locations are carved out of the holiday. Sales made inside these locations stay fully taxable:
- Theme parks and entertainment complexes.
- Hotels and other public lodging establishments, including gift shops.
- Airports, including electronics stores inside terminals.
Rentals of qualifying items are excluded, and so are repair and alteration services. A cracked iPad screen repaired during the holiday is still taxable.
Local Surtax Waived Too
Beyond the six percent state sales tax, most Florida counties add a local discretionary sales surtax between 0.5 and 1.5 percent. During the Back-to-School holiday, qualifying purchases are exempt from both. On a $1,300 iPad Pro, that puts your savings between $78 and $97.50 depending on the county, not just the $78 in state tax.
Confirming the Current Rules Before You Buy
Florida’s tax holidays are authorized fresh each legislative session, and dates, price thresholds, and qualifying items can shift year to year. Two Department of Revenue sources are the reliable checks: the sales tax holidays page at floridarevenue.com, and the Tax Information Publication for the Back-to-School holiday, typically posted a few weeks before the holiday begins. The TIP lists qualifying and non-qualifying items line by line and spells out the online ordering rules.