Missouri Form MO-1040 is the individual income tax return you file with the Missouri Department of Revenue if you earned income as a Missouri resident, part-year resident, or nonresident with Missouri-source income. For tax year 2025, the return is due April 15, 2026.1Missouri Department of Revenue. Individual Income Tax FAQs You start with your federal adjusted gross income, apply Missouri-specific additions and subtractions, take a deduction and exemption, run the result through the state’s graduated brackets, then subtract credits and withholding to arrive at what you owe or what you get back.
Do You Have to File
Missouri follows federal filing requirements. If you are not required to file a federal return, you do not have to file with Missouri either. If you did file federally, you can still skip the MO-1040 when:
- You are a resident and your Missouri adjusted gross income is less than $1,200.
- You are a nonresident and your Missouri-source income is less than $600.
- Your Missouri adjusted gross income is less than your standard deduction plus your personal exemption.
If none of those apply, you file.2Missouri Department of Revenue. MO-1040 Instructions 2025 A few situations force you to use the full MO-1040 rather than any simpler return: claiming the Property Tax Credit alongside other credits, reporting income from another state, filing an amended return, or claiming the Working Family Tax Credit.
What to Gather Before You Start
Because the MO-1040 begins with your federal AGI, complete (or nearly complete) your federal Form 1040 first. Then pull together:
- W-2s showing Missouri state tax withheld.
- 1099 forms for interest, dividends, retirement distributions, and freelance income.
- Federal Schedules C, E, and F if you have business income and want the Missouri business income deduction.
- Pension and Social Security statements if you plan to claim the public pension or Social Security subtractions.
- Property tax receipts or a certificate of rent paid if you qualify for the Property Tax Credit.
- Records of contributions to a MOST 529 or other qualified 529 plan.
- Long-term care insurance premium statements.
Working Through the Form
Personal Information and Federal AGI
The top of the return collects your name, Social Security number, address, and filing status. Your filing status on the MO-1040 must match what you used on your federal return.3Missouri Department of Revenue. Nonresidents and Residents with Other State Income Then you enter your federal adjusted gross income, taken from Line 11 of federal Form 1040. Every calculation flows from that figure.
Missouri Modifications on Form MO-A
Missouri does not accept your federal AGI as-is. Form MO-A lists the additions and subtractions that convert it into Missouri adjusted gross income. Common additions include interest from other states’ municipal bonds, which Missouri taxes even though the federal government does not. Common subtractions include interest on U.S. government obligations, which Missouri exempts. You finish MO-A and carry the adjusted figure back to the MO-1040.
Standard Deduction or Itemized, Plus the Personal Exemption
Subtract the larger of the Missouri standard deduction or your itemized deductions. Missouri ties its standard deduction to the federal amount, so for tax year 2025 it is $15,750 for single filers, $31,500 for married filing jointly, and $23,625 for head of household. Itemized deductions must qualify under Missouri rules, which occasionally differ from federal. Then subtract your personal exemption. What is left is your Missouri taxable income.
Applying the 2025 Tax Brackets
Missouri uses a graduated schedule, and the brackets are indexed for inflation each year.4Missouri Department of Revenue. Individual Income Tax Year Changes For tax year 2025:
- $0 – $1,313: no tax
- $1,314 – $2,626: 2.0% of the amount over $1,313
- $2,627 – $3,939: $26 plus 2.5% of the amount over $2,626
- $3,940 – $5,252: $59 plus 3.0% of the amount over $3,939
- $5,253 – $6,565: $98 plus 3.5% of the amount over $5,252
- $6,566 – $7,878: $144 plus 4.0% of the amount over $6,565
- $7,879 – $9,191: $197 plus 4.5% of the amount over $7,878
- Over $9,191: $256 plus 4.7% of the amount over $9,191
Credits and Payments
After you compute the tax, subtract the Missouri withholding shown on your W-2s, any estimated tax payments you made during the year, and any payment you sent with a Missouri extension. If those exceed your tax, the difference is your refund. If they fall short, you owe the balance.
Missouri Subtractions and Credits Worth Checking
Several state-only breaks are where filers most often leave money on the table.
Social Security and Public Pensions
Starting with tax year 2024, Missouri fully exempts Social Security benefits and Social Security disability benefits from state income tax for individuals age 62 and older, with no income cap. If you receive a public pension from a state retirement system, federal civil service, or similar government plan, you can subtract those benefits up to the maximum Social Security benefit amount, as long as they are included in your federal AGI.5Missouri Department of Revenue. Pension FAQs
Business Income Deduction
If you report business income on federal Schedules C, E (Part II for partnerships and S corporations), or F, you can subtract a percentage of it when computing Missouri AGI. The percentage is set by a revenue-trigger mechanism with a statutory maximum of 25 percent.6Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Revised Statutes of Missouri Section 143.022 S corporation shareholders and partners take their share based on the Schedule K-1.
529 Plan Contributions
Contributions to Missouri’s MOST 529 plan or another qualified 529 plan are deductible up to $8,000 per person, or $16,000 for married couples filing jointly.7MOST 529. Tax Advantages Nonqualified distributions taken during the year must be added back on Form MO-A.
Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums
Missouri residents can deduct 100 percent of unreimbursed long-term care insurance premiums, as long as those premiums were not already included in federal itemized deductions. For married couples filing separately, the deduction is split according to each spouse’s share of premiums paid.8Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Revised Statutes of Missouri Section 135.096
Working Family Tax Credit
Missouri’s version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit equals 20 percent of your federal EITC. It is nonrefundable and cannot be carried forward, so it reduces your Missouri tax only down to zero.9Missouri Department of Revenue. Missouri Working Family Tax Credit FAQs Claiming it requires filing the full MO-1040.
Property Tax Credit
Senior citizens and residents who are 100 percent disabled can claim a separate Property Tax Credit covering part of the real estate taxes or rent paid during the year, up to $1,100 for homeowners and $750 for renters. You claim it on Form MO-PTC and need receipts from your county collector or a certificate of rent paid from your landlord. Renters in facilities that do not pay property taxes are not eligible.10Missouri Department of Revenue. Property Tax Credit
Residency and Filing Status
Missouri has two ways to classify you as a resident. If Missouri is your permanent legal home (domicile), you are a resident, unless you kept no permanent living quarters in the state, maintained a permanent home elsewhere, and spent 30 days or fewer in Missouri during the year. If you are domiciled elsewhere but kept permanent living quarters in Missouri and spent more than 183 days in the state, Missouri also treats you as a resident.3Missouri Department of Revenue. Nonresidents and Residents with Other State Income
Part-year residents split income between the portion earned while living in Missouri and the portion earned elsewhere. Nonresidents owe Missouri tax only on Missouri-source income (wages from a Missouri employer, rental income on Missouri property, business profits earned in the state) and use Form MO-NRI to compute a prorated tax.11Missouri Department of Revenue. Nonresidents and Residents with Other State Income FAQs
Active-duty service members who entered the military from Missouri are presumed to be Missouri domiciliaries and face specific rules for claiming nonresident status while stationed elsewhere. Missouri also lets active-duty members subtract 100 percent of their military compensation on Line 19.12Missouri Department of Revenue. Military Information
Deadline, Extensions, and Late Penalties
The tax year 2025 return is due April 15, 2026. Fiscal-year filers file by the 15th day of the fourth month after their fiscal year closes.
If you filed a federal extension and expect a refund or zero balance, Missouri automatically honors it. Enclose a copy of the federal extension when you eventually submit the MO-1040. File Missouri’s own Form MO-60 only if you expect to owe tax (send it with your payment by April 15), if you want a Missouri extension without a federal one, or if you need more time than the federal extension provides. An approved MO-60 pushes the filing deadline to October 15, 2026.13Missouri Department of Revenue. Application For Extension of Time to File (Form MO-60)
An extension gives you more time to file, not more time to pay. If you owe and do not pay by April 15, the Department of Revenue adds a 5-percent penalty for the first month and another 5 percent for each additional month, capped at 25 percent.14Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Revised Statutes of Missouri Section 143.741 Interest also accrues on the unpaid balance from the original due date.
How to Submit
E-filing is the fastest option. The Department of Revenue works with certain software providers to offer free online filing for qualifying taxpayers, and most commercial tax software supports the Missouri return.15Missouri Department of Revenue. Individual Income Tax Electronic Filing Refunds on e-filed returns arrive weeks ahead of paper.
If you mail a paper return, the address depends on whether you owe:
- Balance due, sending payment: Missouri Department of Revenue, P.O. Box 500, Jefferson City, MO 65105-0500
- Refund or no amount due: Missouri Department of Revenue, P.O. Box 329, Jefferson City, MO 65105-0329
Make checks or money orders payable to “Missouri Department of Revenue” and write your Social Security number on the payment.16Missouri Department of Revenue. Form MO-1040 – 2025 Individual Income Tax Return
Tracking Your Refund
Check your return through the Missouri Return Tracker at mytax.mo.gov. You will need the first Social Security number on the return, your filing status, the whole-dollar refund or balance-due amount, and the tax year.17MyTax Missouri. Missouri Return Tracker E-filed returns usually appear within a few days; paper returns take longer. If the tracker shows the refund was sent but it does not arrive within several weeks, contact the Department of Revenue directly.