Missouri Form 53-C, the Consumer’s Use Tax Return, is the return individuals use to report and pay use tax on tangible personal property bought from sellers who did not collect Missouri sales tax. You file it when your untaxed out-of-state or online purchases exceed $2,000 in a calendar year, and the return is due April 15 of the following year. You can submit it on paper or electronically through MyTax Missouri.
Do You Have to File
Missouri imposes use tax on tangible personal property stored, used, or consumed in the state when the seller did not collect Missouri sales tax at purchase.1Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 144.610 – Tax Imposed, Property Subject, Exclusions, Who Liable The liability sticks with the person who stores, uses, or consumes the property until the tax is paid.
A filing obligation only kicks in once your cumulative untaxed purchases exceed $2,000 in a single calendar year.2Missouri Department of Revenue. Form 53-C – Consumer’s Use Tax Return Stay under that amount and you do not have to file. What counts toward the threshold includes internet orders, catalog purchases, and goods bought in other states where no sales tax was charged, as long as the property ends up at your Missouri address.
Some property is outside Form 53-C entirely. Motor vehicles, trailers, motorcycles, mopeds, motortricycles, boats, and outboard motors that must be titled under Missouri law are taxed separately when you apply for the title.1Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 144.610 – Tax Imposed, Property Subject, Exclusions, Who Liable Property bought for resale, agricultural machinery used exclusively for farming, and prescription pharmaceuticals are also generally exempt.
When It’s Due
For individuals reporting on a calendar year, the deadline is April 15 of the following year.3Missouri Department of Revenue. Tax Calendar Purchases made in 2025 are reported by April 15, 2026.
If you already filed a federal extension, Missouri grants an automatic filing extension. Otherwise, you can submit Form MO-60 on or before April 15 to request up to six more months.4Missouri Department of Revenue. Application for Extension of Time to File An extension to file is not an extension to pay. If you owe, interest and a 5 percent addition start accruing from the original April 15 deadline.
What to Gather First
Before you open the form, pull together:
- The name and location of every out-of-state seller you bought from during the year.
- The total price of each taxable item, including any shipping or delivery charges billed by the seller.
- The jurisdiction code for the Missouri city and county where you live or store the property, available through the Department of Revenue’s rate-lookup tool at mytax.mo.gov.5MyTax Missouri. Find Sales Use Tax Rates
- The combined state and local use tax rate for that jurisdiction, which the lookup tool provides as a single figure.
- Documentation of any sales tax a seller charged you from another state, if you plan to claim credit against Missouri use tax. Credits require Department of Revenue approval and a completed Form 472s attached to the return.
Keep invoices, order confirmations, and shipping receipts organized by vendor. You’ll use them to fill in Page 2 and to back up your figures if the Department asks.
Filling Out the Form
Form 53-C has a front page for totals and payment and a second page where you break purchases down by jurisdiction and item type.
Header
Enter your name, address, city, state, and ZIP at the top. Individuals who don’t run a business can leave the Missouri Tax I.D. Number, Federal Employer I.D. Number, Filing Frequency, and PIN fields blank; those are for businesses with recurring returns.2Missouri Department of Revenue. Form 53-C – Consumer’s Use Tax Return Fill in the reporting period to match the calendar year.
Page 2: Purchase Breakdown
For each location where you received or stored taxable goods, list the city and county, the jurisdiction code, the item code assigned by the Department, and the site code if one applies. Enter the dollar amount of taxable purchases for that location. The form supplies the combined rate (state, conservation, parks and soils, and local option use tax) for each jurisdiction code, so you multiply your purchase total by that rate to get the tax owed on each line.2Missouri Department of Revenue. Form 53-C – Consumer’s Use Tax Return
Food vs. General Merchandise
The base state use tax rate is 4.225 percent on general merchandise. Qualifying food, broadly the same groceries you could buy with food stamps, is taxed at a reduced state rate of 1.225 percent.6State Regulations. 12 CSR 10-110.990 – Tax-Sales of Food Separate food and non-food purchases on your worksheet before you calculate. Local rates sit on top of the state rate and vary by jurisdiction.
Page 1: Totals
Once Page 2 is done, carry the figures forward:
- Line 1: total taxable purchases and total tax due from all pages.
- Line 2: approved credit (such as tax paid to another state), with Form 472s attached.
- Line 3: balance due, Line 1 minus Line 2.
- Line 4: interest, if you’re filing late. The statutory annual rate for 2026 is 7 percent.7Missouri Department of Revenue. Statutory Interest Rates
- Line 5: additions to tax for late filing or late payment.
- Line 6: the amount to pay, which is Lines 3, 4, and 5 added together.
How to Submit and Pay
You have two choices.
Online, you can file and pay through the Department’s secure portal at mytax.mo.gov and get immediate confirmation that the return was received.2Missouri Department of Revenue. Form 53-C – Consumer’s Use Tax Return
By mail, send the completed form with a check or money order to:2Missouri Department of Revenue. Form 53-C – Consumer’s Use Tax Return
Missouri Department of Revenue
Taxation Division
P.O. Box 840
Jefferson City, MO 65105-0840
Make the check or money order payable to the Missouri Director of Revenue. Don’t send cash. Certified mail gives you a dated receipt if a deadline dispute ever comes up.
If You File or Pay Late
Missouri treats late filing and late payment as separate violations with separate penalties.8Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 144.665 – Failure to File Return, Penalties, Exceptions
- Failure to file on time: 5 percent of the tax for each month or partial month the return is late, capped at 25 percent.
- Failure to pay on time: a flat 5 percent of the unpaid tax.
When both would apply, you pay only the failure-to-file penalty; the two don’t stack.2Missouri Department of Revenue. Form 53-C – Consumer’s Use Tax Return Interest runs separately on top of any penalty at a daily rate derived from the 7 percent annual statutory rate for 2026.7Missouri Department of Revenue. Statutory Interest Rates The additions can be waived only if you show the failure was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect or fraud.
Records to Keep
Hold on to a copy of the filed return and all supporting receipts, invoices, and shipping confirmations for at least three years from the date you filed.9Missouri Department of Revenue. 12 CSR 10-101.800 – Record Keeping and Record Retention If you never file for a period when you should have, the Department can request records for that period with no time limit. Scanning your order confirmations and storing them alongside a copy of the completed form is the simplest way to stay covered.