How to Complete Missouri’s Farm Tax Exempt Form 149

To claim Missouri’s agricultural sales tax exemption, complete Form 149, the state’s Sales and Use Tax Exemption Certificate, and give it to the seller when you buy qualifying farm supplies, equipment, or livestock inputs. Presenting a properly filled-out Missouri farm tax exempt Form 149 removes the 4.225 percent state sales tax and any local sales tax from the purchase, and it works the same way for use tax on items bought from out-of-state vendors.¹²

Where to Get Form 149

Form 149 is a PDF you download from the Missouri Department of Revenue’s forms page.³ The same form handles several kinds of exemptions, so the agricultural claim is one option among many. You fill it out, sign it, and hand it to the retailer. You do not send it to the Department of Revenue. The seller keeps it in their records as the reason no sales tax was charged.⁴

Filling Out the Form Step by Step

Purchaser and Seller Information

The top of the form asks for the purchaser’s legal business name, address, and Missouri Tax Identification Number. There is also a field for an SSN or FEIN. Sole proprietors can use a Social Security Number, and farms operating with a federal Employer Identification Number use their EIN.⁵ If your farm has employees, operates as a partnership or corporation, or pays excise taxes, the IRS requires you to use an EIN instead of your Social Security Number.⁶ A separate section identifies the seller by business name and location.

Selecting the Agricultural Exemption

On page two of the form, a list of exemption categories appears. Check the box labeled “Agricultural.” Then write a description of what you are buying. Be specific. “Farm supplies” is vague enough to invite questions in an audit. “Bulk soybean seed for 200-acre row crop operation” or “replacement hydraulic pump for Case IH combine” tells the seller and any future auditor exactly what was bought and why it qualifies.⁵

Signature and Date

Sign the form by hand, add your title, and date it. Without a signature the certificate is not valid, and the seller has no legal basis for skipping the sales tax. An unsigned Form 149 discovered in an audit leaves the seller on the hook for the uncollected tax, which is why most retailers will not accept one until every line is filled in.

Giving the Form to the Seller and Keeping Copies

You hand the completed form to the retailer at the point of sale. Most farm supply dealers keep a certificate on file for repeat customers, so you will not need to fill out a fresh Form 149 every time you buy feed, seed, or parts from the same vendor.

Keep your own copies of every Form 149 you sign. Missouri’s Department of Revenue can assess additional tax, interest, and penalties when it later concludes an exemption was claimed improperly, so a paper trail is your defense. Hold records for at least three years after the tax year involved. For capital purchases like equipment and grain bins, keeping the paperwork permanently is the safer call, because those assets can be reviewed across multiple tax years.

What Form 149 Covers on the Agricultural Side

Section 144.030 of the Missouri Revised Statutes lists the items that qualify. The core requirement is that the purchase be used in producing crops, livestock, or poultry that will ultimately be sold at retail.² Common qualifying purchases include:

New or used farm machinery and equipment, along with repair parts, supplies, and lubricants used directly in production.
Off-highway utility vehicles used for agricultural purposes that are between 50 and 80 inches wide, weigh no more than 3,500 pounds dry, and run on four or six wheels.⁵
Seed, limestone, and fertilizer for crops that will be sold or fed to livestock or poultry ultimately sold in processed form.
Livestock and poultry feed, feed additives, and bedding used in food or fiber production.
Drugs, medications, and vaccines administered to livestock or poultry in food or fiber production.
Registered pesticides and herbicides used in crop, livestock, or poultry production, including adjuvants such as crop oils, surfactants, and marking foam.
Livestock, poultry, and captive wildlife bought for breeding or feeding.
Grain bins used for storing grain intended for resale.
Propane, natural gas, electricity, and diesel fuel used exclusively for drying agricultural crops.
Fencing materials for agricultural use.⁵
Freight charges on any item that itself qualifies for the exemption.

What Form 149 Will Not Cover

The statute explicitly excludes airplanes, motor vehicles, and trailers from the definition of farm machinery.² A pickup truck used around the farm is still a taxable motor vehicle. The utility-vehicle carve-out described above is narrow and size-specific for that reason.

Anything not used directly in agricultural production is outside the exemption. Yard lawnmowers, office supplies, building materials for a non-agricultural structure, and decorative landscaping do not qualify. Home garden supplies do not count either, even if you sell some produce at a roadside stand.

The phrase “to be sold ultimately at retail” runs throughout Section 144.030 and carries real weight. Missouri draws the line between commercial agriculture and hobby farming based on whether the operation’s products actually reach the marketplace. At the federal level, the IRS presumes an activity is for-profit if it turns a profit in at least three of the last five tax years, or two of the last seven for horse breeding, training, showing, or racing.⁷ If Missouri’s Department of Revenue decides your operation is not genuinely producing goods for sale, past tax-free purchases can be reclassified as taxable, with interest and penalties added.

Using Form 149 for Out-of-State Purchases

Missouri’s agricultural exemptions apply to use tax as well as sales tax.² Use tax applies when you buy from an out-of-state seller who does not collect Missouri sales tax. If the item would have been exempt at a Missouri retailer, it is also exempt from use tax. A tractor bought at auction in Kansas, for instance, does not generate a Missouri use tax bill when it is used directly in your farming operation.

Where farmers get tripped up is buying something out of state that does not fall neatly into an exempt category. If no sales tax is collected and the item is not covered by a specific exemption, you owe Missouri use tax at the combined state and local rate for your location. Keeping a signed Form 149 on file with the vendors you buy from regularly, in state and out of state, simplifies the paperwork and gives you a record if the purchases are later questioned.

What Happens If You Misuse the Certificate

Handing a Form 149 to a retailer for something that does not qualify is more than an accounting error. Under Section 144.210, when a purchaser claims an exemption that turns out to be improper, the Director of Revenue can collect the full tax that should have been paid, plus interest, additions to tax, and penalties, directly from the buyer.⁴ The seller gets credit for whatever the state collects from you, but the financial hit lands on you.

The practical rule: do not present a Form 149 for anything you could not confidently describe as a direct input to your farming operation. A borderline purchase that saves $40 in sales tax today can cost several times that in back taxes, interest, and penalties later.

1
Missouri Department of Revenue. Sales/Use Tax
2
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 144.030 – Exemptions From State and Local Sales and Use Taxes
3
Missouri Department of Revenue. Forms and Manuals
4
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 144.210 – Refund of Overpayments
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Missouri Department of Revenue. Form 149 – Sales and Use Tax Exemption Certificate
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Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
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Internal Revenue Service. Is Your Hobby a For-Profit Endeavor?