Missouri Payroll Taxes and Withholding Guide (2026)

What Makes Missouri Payroll Different

Federal payroll tax is the same in every state. What changes from one state to the next is the second layer: state income tax withholding, employer unemployment taxes, and any local wage taxes. Missouri sits in the middle. Its state income tax is graduated but modest, topping out at 4.70%, and its local wage tax reaches only two cities rather than the whole state.

Missouri's state tax is applied after a generous standard deduction set by MO W-4 status, so the effective rate most workers see is well below the 4.70% headline. What sets Missouri apart is the pair of city earnings taxes: Kansas City and St. Louis each charge a flat 1% on gross wages, and because that tax rides on gross rather than the state-reduced base, it behaves differently from the state tax. The federal baseline behind all of this is explained in the how payroll taxes work guide.

Employee Withholding Overview in Missouri

A Missouri employee sees federal taxes and a graduated state tax, plus a 1% earnings tax if they work in Kansas City or St. Louis. There is no employee unemployment line and no state disability line.

The federal lines work identically to any other state. For Social Security, the 2026 wage base is $184,500, after which Social Security stops for the year. Medicare has no cap. What is unique to Missouri is that the state line is graduated but capped at 4.70%, and the 1% earnings tax appears only for workers in Kansas City and St. Louis, with no employee unemployment contribution at all.

How Is Missouri State Income Tax Withheld?

Missouri uses the graduated percentage method in the Missouri Department of Revenue's annual Withholding Tax Formula. The employer annualizes wages, subtracts the state standard deduction set by MO W-4 status, applies the rate table, then divides across pay periods and rounds each period to the nearest whole dollar. The 2026 schedule below applies to Missouri taxable income, which is annual wages minus the standard deduction.

Missouri applies the same rate table to every employee; only the standard deduction changes with MO W-4 status. The federal Form W-4 sets federal withholding, covered in the W-4 withholding explained guide, while Form MO W-4 sets the Missouri status and any additional Missouri amount. Missouri has been reducing its top rate under a series of revenue-triggered cuts; the 4.70% top withholding rate carries into 2026.

Missouri Withholding (Form MO W-4)

Form MO W-4 is Missouri's version of the federal W-4. Unlike many states, it does not use a per-dependent allowance count. Instead it sets a filing status that determines the state standard deduction, plus an optional additional dollar amount.

State Standard Deduction by Status

The Missouri state standard deduction is a flat annual amount tied to the federal standard deduction Missouri conforms to:

The critical point is the married split. A married employee gets the larger $32,200 state standard deduction only when the spouse does not work. When both spouses work, the correct status uses $16,100, the same as a single filer, so a two-earner couple is not double-counting the deduction. Choosing the $32,200 status when both spouses work removes an extra $16,100 of wages from the taxable base and under-withholds. If no MO W-4 is filed, the employer withholds as single with zero. To see how status and the earnings-tax city change take-home pay, use the Missouri paycheck calculator.

The Kansas City and St. Louis Earnings Tax

This is the layer that defines Missouri's two largest cities. Kansas City and St. Louis each levy a 1% earnings tax on gross compensation. Unlike the state income tax, which is charged on wages after the standard deduction, the earnings tax rides on gross wages, so it does not share the state base.

Employers withhold the 1% and remit it to the city collector, using Form RD-110 in Kansas City and Form W-10 in St. Louis. Because the earnings tax is charged on gross wages, a traditional 401(k) deferral does not reduce it, though a Section 125 cafeteria-plan premium does because it lowers Medicare wages. A resident owes the tax on all earnings regardless of where the work is performed; a nonresident who works part of the year outside the city can file to reclaim the tax on the days worked elsewhere. The Missouri paycheck calculator adds the 1% line when you select either city.

Employer Payroll Obligations in Missouri

Missouri employers carry the federal employer taxes plus State Unemployment Insurance through the Division of Employment Security. The federal side, covered in the employer payroll tax obligations guide, includes the matching 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare plus Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA). On top of that, Missouri adds the employer unemployment contribution. There is no employee unemployment contribution to withhold.

The Missouri unemployment taxable wage base falls to $9,000 per employee for 2026 (from $9,500), so the employer unemployment tax stops once an employee's year-to-date wages pass $9,000. New employers pay a 2.376% entry rate before moving to an experience-rated rate; these are employer costs and are never deducted from employee pay. Employers in Kansas City or St. Louis also register with the city to withhold and remit the 1% earnings tax. Model the combined cost-to-hire with the employer payroll tax calculator.

Missouri Has No Employee Unemployment Deduction

A handful of states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, take a small unemployment contribution directly from employee wages. Missouri is not one of them. The entire cost of Missouri unemployment insurance falls on employers through the Division of Employment Security, so there is no employee unemployment line on a Missouri pay stub at all.

This matters most for workers who move to Missouri from a state that does deduct employee unemployment and expect to see the same line. In Missouri that line simply does not exist, and its absence is correct, not a payroll error. Missouri also has no state-run disability insurance deduction and no paid-family-leave payroll deduction, so the mandatory deductions on a Missouri stub are federal taxes, the graduated state income tax, and, in Kansas City and St. Louis, the 1% earnings tax.

Missouri Supplemental Wage Withholding

Supplemental wages are payments outside regular salary: bonuses, commissions, overtime, sales awards, and back pay. Missouri gives employers a choice on the state line.

• Flat method: withhold Missouri state tax at a flat 4.7% of the supplemental payment, per the Missouri Withholding Tax Formula.
• Aggregate method: add the supplemental wages to regular wages and run the combined amount through the standard withholding formula.
• Earnings tax: the 1% Kansas City or St. Louis earnings tax applies to supplemental wages the same as to regular wages, on gross.
• Employee unemployment: none, on supplemental wages or regular wages.

Federal income tax withholding on supplemental wages is a separate calculation set by the IRS, and Social Security and Medicare still apply under their own rules. For the federal supplemental math, use the Bonus Tax Calculator.

Missouri Filing and Payment Frequency

Missouri employers report and remit withheld state income tax using Form MO-941 on a quarter-monthly, monthly, quarterly, or annual schedule based on the amount withheld, and reconcile annually with the W-2 information. The Missouri Department of Revenue's Employer's Tax Guide (Form 4282) sets out the deposit schedule and the withholding tables. The federal deposit schedule is covered separately in the payroll tax deadlines guide.

Unemployment tax is reported and paid separately from income tax withholding, on a quarterly basis through the Division of Employment Security. Kansas City and St. Louis earnings tax is remitted to the city on its own schedule. New employees must be reported to the Missouri new-hire directory within 20 days of the hire date.

How Take-Home Pay Works in Missouri

The calculation sequence runs from gross pay down to net pay. Because Missouri income tax begins with federal adjusted gross income, the same pre-tax deductions that reduce federal wages also reduce the Missouri state base, but the city earnings tax rides on gross wages and does not move with them.

1. Start with gross wages for the pay period.
2. Subtract federal pre-tax deductions (401(k), Section 125 health premiums) to find taxable wages for federal and Missouri state tax.
3. Apply federal income tax withholding using the Form W-4 and IRS Publication 15-T.
4. Subtract the per-period share of the Missouri state standard deduction, apply the graduated state table, and round to the nearest dollar.
5. If the work city is Kansas City or St. Louis, apply the 1% earnings tax to gross wages (less Section 125 medical).
6. Subtract Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) on FICA wages (gross less Section 125 medical). The remainder is net pay; there is no employee unemployment line.

To see exact figures for a specific salary, MO W-4 status, work city, and pay frequency, use the Missouri paycheck calculator or the general take-home pay calculator for a full pre-tax benefits stack.

Missouri Payroll Quick Facts (2026)

Frequently Asked Questions