Missouri Form MODES-4 is the quarterly Contribution and Wage Report that liable employers file with the Division of Employment Security to report each employee’s wages and pay unemployment insurance contributions. One report covers one calendar quarter, and it is due by the last day of the month after the quarter closes: April 30, July 31, October 31, or January 31.1Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Quarterly Reports File even if you paid no wages that quarter, because the late-filing penalty applies to zero-wage reports too.
Who Has to File
You are a liable employer under RSMo 288.032 if either of two tests is met. The first: you paid $1,500 or more in wages in any single calendar quarter during the current or preceding calendar year. The second: you employed at least one person for some part of a day in each of 20 different calendar weeks, consecutive or not, in the current or preceding year.2Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 288.032 – Employing Unit, Defined as Employer, When Agricultural labor and domestic services are excluded from both tests.
Once you’re liable, the obligation continues every quarter until the Division confirms termination of coverage. Until then, a MODES-4 is due for every quarter, even ones with no payroll.
Deadlines
Each report and the contributions it calculates are due by the last day of the month after the quarter ends:1Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Quarterly Reports
- Q1 (January through March): April 30
- Q2 (April through June): July 31
- Q3 (July through September): October 31
- Q4 (October through December): January 31
When a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. Contributions must be paid by the same deadline to avoid interest and penalties.
What to Have Ready
Gather the following before you open the form or log into UInteract:
- Your Missouri Employer Account Number, assigned when you registered with the Division. It appears on your annual rate notice and on prior filings.
- Your Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
- Your assigned contribution rate for the year. Missouri rates run from 0.0% to 6.0% before any maximum rate surcharge or contribution rate adjustment. New employers without enough experience history typically start around 2.376%.3Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Tax Rates
- Full legal name and Social Security number for every employee you paid during the quarter.
- Gross wages per employee for the quarter, including salary, hourly pay, commissions, bonuses, and the cash value of non-cash compensation.
- Year-to-date wages per employee, so you can identify which workers have already passed the taxable wage base for the year.
Reporting Wages and Calculating What You Owe
MODES-4 does two things. It lists every employee’s wages for the quarter, and it computes the contribution owed on the taxable portion of those wages.
Individual Wage Entries
List each employee who received any wages during the quarter with their name, Social Security number, and total gross quarterly wages. If you have more than 30 employees, use Form MODES-10B continuation sheets and enter a wage subtotal at the bottom of each page. The sum of all individual entries must match the total gross wages you report in the summary section.
Taxable Wage Base and the Math
Missouri taxes only the first portion of each employee’s earnings each year. For 2026, the taxable wage base is $9,000 per employee.3Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Tax Rates The figure can change from year to year; it was $9,500 in 2025. Verify the current base on the Division’s rate notice at the start of each calendar year.
For each employee, compare year-to-date wages (including the current quarter) against the cap. Anything above the cap is “excess wages” and is not taxable. Take an employee who earned $7,000 in Q1 and $5,000 in Q2. Year-to-date is $12,000. Only $2,000 of the Q2 wages are taxable, because $7,000 of the $9,000 cap was already used in Q1. The other $3,000 is excess.
The summary section walks through three figures:
- Total gross wages: the sum of all wages paid to all employees during the quarter.
- Excess wages: the sum, across all employees, of amounts above the $9,000 cap.
- Taxable wages: total gross wages minus excess wages.
Multiply taxable wages by your assigned contribution rate to get the amount due. At a 2.376% rate on $45,000 of taxable wages, that’s $1,069.20. Recheck the arithmetic. Math errors in this section are the most common reason employers later get billed for additional interest.
Filing Through UInteract
The Division’s UInteract portal at uinteract.labor.mo.gov is the primary filing channel. You need a user ID and password tied to your registered employer account. New employers register through the Missouri Department of Labor site before they can access the portal.4Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. New Unemployment Tax Account
In the wage reporting section, you can key in employees one at a time or upload a formatted bulk file. The Division publishes electronic reporting specifications for employers submitting wage data in bulk.5Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Electronic File Transfer and Magnetic Media Reporting Specifications Review the data for accuracy, then click the certification button. That certification is your legal signature and your attestation that the information is correct.1Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Quarterly Reports
The system issues a confirmation number after final submission. Save it. If a filing date is ever disputed, that number is your proof.
Filing on Paper
If you cannot file electronically, download the fillable MODES-4 PDF from the Missouri Department of Labor website, complete it, and mail it to:
Missouri Division of Employment Security
P.O. Box 888
Jefferson City, MO 65102-08881Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Quarterly Reports
A report postmarked by the deadline is treated as timely even if it arrives later. Electronic filing still has the edge, because the instant confirmation settles any question about when you filed.
Paying the Contribution
Filing and paying are separate steps that share a deadline. Options:
- ACH debit or credit through UInteract, drawn from a checking or savings account. ACH payments can be postdated, which lets you file a few days early while scheduling the debit for the deadline.
- Credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express) through a third-party processor. The processor charges a convenience fee of 2.0% plus $0.25 per transaction, not the state.6Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Employer Credit Card Payments
- Check or money order with a payment voucher, mailed to the Division. The payment address is P.O. Box 59, Jefferson City, MO 65104-0059, which is different from the report mailing address. Do not combine them.6Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Employer Credit Card Payments
Late Filing Penalties
If you miss the filing deadline, the penalty is 10% of the contributions due or $100, whichever is greater, for each month the report is late. The total caps at 20% of contributions due or $200, whichever is greater.7FindLaw. Missouri Code 288.160 – Penalties Because of the $100 minimum, even a zero-wage report filed a month late triggers a penalty.1Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Quarterly Reports
Interest accrues on unpaid contributions from the original due date. Where the Division finds fraud or intentional evasion, the penalty is 25% of the underpaid amount and is due immediately.7FindLaw. Missouri Code 288.160 – Penalties
If a penalty assessment looks wrong, you have 30 days from the mailing date of the notice to petition the Division for reassessment. After that, it’s final.
Records to Keep
Retain payroll records tied to unemployment insurance for at least three years. That includes employee names, Social Security numbers, dates of hire and termination, hours worked, and wages paid. Keep a copy of each filed MODES-4 and each UInteract confirmation number for the same period. The Division can request these during an audit or investigation.
Why On-Time Filing Also Protects Your Federal Credit
The federal unemployment tax (FUTA) and Missouri contributions are linked. The gross FUTA rate is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s annual wages, and employers who pay their state unemployment taxes on time get a credit of up to 5.4%, cutting the effective FUTA rate to 0.6%.8U.S. Department of Labor. FUTA Credit Reductions Filing MODES-4 late or paying Missouri contributions late puts part or all of that credit at risk on your federal return. Accurate, on-time quarterly filing keeps your state account current and preserves the full federal credit.