Missouri car sales tax, title and plate fees

The local rate comes from your home address

Missouri dealers do not collect sales tax on the cars they sell. You pay it when you apply for the title, within 30 days of the purchase, and the local part follows the address on your application rather than the dealer's location. The Department of Revenue motor vehicle rate chart lists hundreds of cities and districts, from no local tax at all to 6.5%. Rates are revised every quarter, so check the chart for the month you title the car or type the rate in the calculator. The trade-in allowance and any documented rebate come off the price first, and if they exceed it, no tax is owed. Late titling costs $25 after 30 days and another $25 for each further month, up to $200.

Plates priced by horsepower, not weight

Passenger plates in Missouri are priced by taxable horsepower, a figure based on the engine that appears on your title: $21.25 a year from 12 to 23 horsepower, rising in steps to $51.25 at 72 and above, each with a $9 processing fee or $18 for two years. Electric cars pay the bottom rate of $18.25, then the special fuel decal: $150 a year for a battery electric car and $75 for a plug-in hybrid in 2026, plus $9, in place of the fuel tax they do not pay. Regular hybrids need no decal. Before buying plates you also need last year's paid personal property tax receipt from your county.

Inspections are lighter than they used to be

A car is exempt from the every-other-year safety inspection for ten years after its model year unless it passes 150,000 miles; older cars need one before registration, at up to $12. Residents of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties also need an emissions test after a car's first four model years, at up to $24. Dealers may charge an administrative fee of up to $620.79 in 2026. To see how a horsepower-based plate compares with weight-based ones, open the registration fee comparison, or check the doc fee caps by state.

What sets Missouri apart

• Missouri charges a 4.225% state sales tax on a vehicle plus the local rate of the buyer's home address, collected when the title is applied for, not by the dealer (Missouri Department of Revenue).
• Local motor vehicle sales tax ranges from nothing to 6.5% on the DOR chart: 3.513% in unincorporated St. Louis County, 5.454% in the City of St. Louis and 4.75% in Kansas City's Jackson County part (Missouri Department of Revenue).
• The trade-in allowance and any documented rebate are subtracted before the tax, and no tax is owed when they exceed the price (Revised Statutes of Missouri § 144.025).
• Passenger car registration depends on taxable horsepower, from $18.25 to $51.25 a year, plus a $9 processing fee; electric cars pay the lowest rate (Missouri Department of Revenue).
• The title costs $8.50 plus a $9 title processing fee, and the buyer has 30 days to title the car before a $25 penalty starts (Missouri Department of Revenue).
• Electric cars buy a $150 special fuel decal each year and plug-in hybrids a $75 one, plus $9 processing, in lieu of fuel tax; ordinary hybrids are exempt (Missouri Department of Revenue).
• Vehicles are exempt from the every-other-year safety inspection for ten years after their model year unless they reach 150,000 miles (Revised Statutes of Missouri § 307.350).
• Emissions tests apply only in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties, with a fee capped at $24 (Revised Statutes of Missouri § 643.350).
• Dealers may charge an administrative fee of up to $620.79 in 2026, a ceiling raised each year with the Consumer Price Index (Missouri Department of Revenue).
• To buy new plates you must show a paid personal property tax receipt, or a statement of non-assessment, from your county for the previous year (Missouri Department of Revenue).

What the Missouri calculation cannot know

• Passenger car registration is priced by taxable horsepower, a figure printed on the title that the form does not ask; the fee is shown as the official range ($18.25 to $51.25 a year) except for electric cars, which pay the $18.25 rate.
• Local sales tax rates come from the DOR motor vehicle sales tax chart for January to March 2026, the latest chart that could be read (dor.mo.gov refuses automated requests; the copy was read through the Internet Archive). Rates change quarterly, so check the current chart or type your rate. Use-tax rates for cars bought from out-of-state dealers are lower in many places and are not listed.
• Counties and the City of St. Louis assess a yearly personal property tax on vehicles at their own levies; it is billed by the county collector and shown without an amount.
• Safety inspection stations may charge up to $12 and emissions stations up to $24; the station sets the price, so both are shown as ranges. Mileage exemptions (150,000 miles for safety, 40,000 for the first emissions test, under 12,000 miles between tests) depend on the odometer, which the form does not ask.
• The special fuel decal for electric and plug-in hybrid cars is prorated monthly when the vehicle starts operating after January 31; the engine shows the full-year fee.
• Whether the dealer administrative fee is part of the taxable price was not read on an official page; the engine leaves it out of the taxed amount.