If you were planning on shopping for back-to-school clothing and supplies, this weekend is the time to make those purchases.

The State of Alabama’s fifth annual three-day sales tax holiday officially begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6 and ends at midnight on Sunday, Aug. 8. It exempts certain “covered items” from state sales tax.

Although the state 4 percent sales tax will be waived for “covered items,” the City of Atmore, along with numerous neighboring cities and Escambia County are not participating in the tax holiday. Atmore’s 3 percent tax and the county’s 1 percent tax will be charged with each purchase.

“We haven’t participated in the last couple of years,” Atmore Mayor Howard Shell said. “One of the reasons we are not participating is because a number of the merchants had a problem trying to get their computers and cash registers programmed just for a couple of days of sales tax exemption. Another issue with some of them was trying to keep up with what qualifies for exemption and what didn’t.”

Flomaton is the only city in Escambia County participating in the sales tax holiday. The cities of Brewton and East Brewton are not participating.

Shell said that although the city does not participate in the sales tax holiday, it does offer quite a bit of tax money to county schools.

“We try to make up the difference by supporting our schools with the ad valorem tax that we give the school system,” Shell said.

Shell said that the ad valorem tax given to the county each year is approximately $300,000 earmarked for Atmore.

According to the Alabama Department of Revenue’s Web site, retailers are required to participate and may not charge tax on items that are legally tax-exempt during the Sales Tax Holiday.

For a Sales Tax Holiday quick reference sheet of exempt items log onto http://www.ador.state.al.us/salestax/salestaxhol.htm and download the PDF.