Florida disaster preparedness tax holiday begins May 27

Florida's disaster preparedness sales tax holiday is coming up fast.

The first of two 14-day sales tax holidays to help residents purchase hurricane supplies starts Saturday, just days before the June 1 start of hurricane season. The Florida Department of Revenue updated its website Thursday, saying the sales tax holiday has been signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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House Bill 7063, which describes several sales tax holidays for Florida, was passed unanimously by the Legislature May 5 and sent to DeSantis May 23, four days before the disaster preparedness holiday is scheduled to start.

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Need some ideas of what hurricane supplies you need? Then compare your list with what is covered in the sales tax holiday.

May 27 through June 9 and Aug. 26 through Sept. 8.

A second 14-day tax-free period was added this year. The second period comes right before the peak time of hurricane season, which happens Sept. 10. Although hurricanes can happen any time, historically, August through October is the busiest time.

House Bill 7063 makes the following items exempt from sales tax during the two 14-day periods:

The tax holidays also include a number of items related to the safe evacuation of household pets. Exempted items include:

The bill says common household consumable items selling for $30 or less will be exempt from sales taxes. What are "common household consumable items"? Those include: