Florida's Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Sales Tax Holiday Started Today. Here's Everything That Qualifies Through December 31.

Hunting Supplies — No Price Cap on Firearms

This is the most important distinction in the entire holiday — and the detail most shoppers and retailers are applying incorrectly.

Firearms of any price qualify. A $300 handgun and a $3,000 rifle are both fully exempt during the holiday. There is no price ceiling.

Ammunition of any price qualifies. Every qualifying round — rifle, shotgun, handgun, rimfire — is exempt through December 31. The Florida Department of Revenue specifies that all components must be present for an object to qualify as ammunition — meaning the projectile, propellant, and primer or ignition system must all be present.

Bows and crossbows of any price qualify. The definition covers any handheld device consisting of flexible material with a string connecting its two ends, used for discharging arrows, that propels arrows only by stored energy from drawing the device.

Firearm accessories qualify with no price cap. The full list of qualifying accessories includes:

• Barrels, cases, and range bags
• Charging handles, cleaning kits, and handguards
• Holsters, internal parts and components
• Magazines and ammunition-feeding devices
• Pistol grips, shooting chronographs, and shooting mats
• Rests and bipods, sights and optics
• Slides and cylinders, slings
• Stocks and braces, suppressors and silencers
• Triggers

Arrows, bolts, quarrels, quivers, releases, sights, optics, and wrist guards for bows and crossbows also qualify with no price cap.

Fishing Supplies — Specific Price Thresholds Apply

Unlike hunting gear, fishing supplies have price caps. These are the thresholds most retailers are configuring incorrectly.

Individual bait or fishing tackle items — $10 or less per item. When multiple qualifying bait or tackle items are sold together as a package, the total must be $20 or less.

Individual rods and reels — $75 or less per item. A rod-and-reel set qualifies if it costs $150 or less as a complete set.

The individual versus set distinction matters significantly. A rod priced at $80 sold alone is fully taxable. A rod-and-reel set priced at $140 is fully exempt. Your system needs to evaluate whether a product is sold individually or as a set before applying the correct threshold.

Camping Supplies — Four Category Thresholds

Camping supplies qualify at the following price limits:

• Camping lanterns and flashlights — $30 or less per item
• Camping stoves — no price cap specified — all qualifying stoves exempt
• Portable hammocks — no price cap specified — all qualifying hammocks exempt
• Collapsible camping chairs — no price cap specified — all qualifying chairs exempt
• Sleeping bags — $50 or less per item
• Tents — $200 or less per item

The sleeping bag and tent thresholds are the most commonly misapplied. Premium outdoor gear frequently exceeds these caps — a high-end sleeping bag at $200 is fully taxable, and a four-season tent at $350 is fully taxable. Retailers who apply a blanket exemption to all camping inventory without checking individual prices will over-exempt and create liability.

What Does NOT Qualify

Several exclusions are worth calling out specifically because they contradict what shoppers might intuitively expect.

Rentals and repairs are excluded. A hunting rifle brought in for cleaning and sight adjustment — even during the holiday window — generates taxable repair income. The holiday covers new retail purchases only.

Theme parks, entertainment complexes, public lodging establishments, and airports are excluded. Outdoor gear sold at a hotel gift shop, a resort pro shop, or an airport retail location is fully taxable even if the same item would qualify at a standalone retailer.

Commercial purchases are excluded. The exemption applies to retail sales for personal use. A hunting guide service buying gear commercially, or a fishing charter purchasing supplies for its business operation, does not qualify.

Camping apparel is not listed as a qualifying category. Verify specific apparel questions directly with the Florida Department of Revenue.

The Gift Card Rule — The Detail Most Retailers Miss

The Florida DOR's guidance is explicit about gift cards — and the rule surprises most people.

The sale of a gift card is not taxable. Eligible items purchased during the holiday using a gift card qualify for the exemption regardless of when the gift card was purchased. Eligible items purchased after the holiday using a gift card are taxable — even if the gift card was purchased during the holiday.

In plain terms: the item purchase date determines taxability, not the gift card issue date. A customer who buys a $200 gift card in November and uses it to buy a qualifying tent in December qualifies — the tent purchase happens during the holiday. A customer who buys a $200 gift card during the holiday and uses it in January to buy a tent after December 31 — that purchase is taxable.

For retailers processing gift card redemptions, your system must evaluate the item purchase date — not the gift card issue date — when determining whether the exemption applies.

Online Purchases Qualify

Florida's outdoor holiday covers online purchases on the same terms as in-store purchases.

For ecommerce sellers with Florida nexus, qualifying items ordered and paid for between September 1 and December 31 are exempt — even if delivery occurs after December 31, provided the customer didn't specifically request post-holiday delivery. The transaction date determines taxability, not the delivery date.

Florida's economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in annual Florida sales. Remote sellers crossing that threshold are required to collect Florida sales tax — and are required to apply the outdoor holiday exemption on qualifying products during the window. Participation is mandatory for all registered businesses.

What Retailers Need to Do Right Now

The holiday started this morning. If your systems aren't configured yet, every qualifying sale since midnight has been incorrectly taxed.

Here's the immediate action list:

1. Update your POS for the no-price-cap hunting categories immediately. Firearms, ammunition, bows, crossbows, and all listed firearm and archery accessories are exempt with no price ceiling.

2. Configure the fishing price thresholds at the item and set level. Individual bait and tackle at $10 or less. Multi-item packages at $20 or less. Individual rods and reels at $75 or less. Rod-and-reel sets at $150 or less.

3. Configure the camping price thresholds. Sleeping bags at $50 or less. Tents at $200 or less. Lanterns and flashlights at $30 or less.

4. Exclude rental and repair transactions. The exemption covers retail sales of qualifying items only.

5. Exclude theme park, lodging, and airport locations. The holiday doesn't apply to sales at these venues even if the same products sold elsewhere are fully exempt.

6. Handle gift card redemptions correctly. The exemption applies when the qualifying item is purchased during the holiday — not when the gift card was issued.

7. Treat this as a four-month configuration, not a weekend override. Unlike most holidays that require a temporary POS adjustment for a few days, Florida's outdoor holiday needs to be a standing exemption for qualifying items through December 31. Build it into your product taxonomy rather than a temporary manual override.

How Florida's Holiday Compares to Louisiana's Second Amendment Weekend

Many outdoor enthusiasts just took advantage of Louisiana's Second Amendment sales tax holiday, which ran September 4-6. Here's how the two compare:

Louisiana covered firearms and ammunition with no price caps — same as Florida — plus hunting apparel, decoys, tree stands, and archery gear. Louisiana's holiday lasted three days.

Florida covers firearms and ammunition with no price caps, plus an unusually comprehensive firearm accessory list including suppressors and optics. Florida's holiday lasts 122 days.

For Florida hunters, the four-month window creates a genuine planning opportunity — there's no urgency to make all your purchases at once. The savings are there every day through December 31.

The Broader Florida Tax Context

Florida's outdoor holiday is the second major event in Florida's 2026 restructured holiday calendar. The back-to-school holiday ran July 20 through August 20. The outdoor holiday starts today and runs through December 31. Home hardening and hurricane preparedness programs are also in effect through June 2029.

For a complete overview of every 2026 sales tax holiday still on the calendar — including upcoming holidays in other states through year-end — visit our complete 2026 sales tax holiday guide.

Selling hunting, fishing, or camping supplies in Florida and want to make sure your systems are correctly configured for the September 1 through December 31 holiday? Book a free consultation with our team at sales.tax. We'll audit your Florida compliance setup and make sure you're applying the right exemptions from today through December 31.