Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

This publication was previously called Food Stamps.

Eligible purchases made with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits or the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program are exempt from sales tax.

If a purchase includes any taxable item and SNAP benefits are used in an amount equal to or greater than the total purchase price of these items, the items will be exempt under the EBT SNAP tax exemption.

Examples   

Example 1:
A customer buys $40 worth of groceries and uses $10 in SNAP benefits. 
Among the items, the taxable SNAP eligible items cost $5.

Because the customer used $10 in SNAP, which fully covers the $5 in eligible taxable items, no sales tax is charged on those items. Any items that are not SNAP eligible are still taxable.

Example 2:
A customer buys $40 of groceries and uses $10 in SNAP benefits. 
The taxable SNAP eligible items total $12.

SNAP covers $10 of that amount, so that $10 is tax exempt. The remaining $2, which is not covered by SNAP, is taxed, along with any other taxable non-eligible items in the purchase.

Legal References

Minnesota Statutes

• 297A.67, subd. 3, SNAP