Do I need a sales tax permit in Missouri?

Every person responsible for collecting Missouri sales tax must hold a retail sales license before making sales at retail. The Department says this includes anyone with a Missouri business location that sells or leases goods or provides a taxable service to a final consumer. Missouri calls the registration a Missouri retail sales license. For a seller outside Missouri, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous or current calendar year, checked after each calendar quarter against the twelve months ending with that quarter. Missouri's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

Sales tax permit · Missouri

How to Get a Missouri Retail Sales License

The short answer. In Missouri, the registration a business must hold before it makes sales subject to Missouri sales tax is a Missouri retail sales license, issued by the Missouri Department of Revenue. Missouri charges no fee for the retail sales license.

Missouri Retail Sales License at a Glance

What Missouri calls it	Missouri Retail Sales License
Issued by	Missouri Department of Revenue
How to apply	Online or paper
Fee	Free
Security deposit or bond	May be required
Expires	Does not expire (see Renewal)
Several locations	Not confirmed
Local sales tax	Covered by the state registration
Threshold for sellers outside the state	$100,000 in sales

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 29, 2026. See the sources.

Who Needs a Missouri Retail Sales License

Every person responsible for collecting Missouri sales tax must hold a retail sales license before making sales at retail. The Department says this includes anyone with a Missouri business location that sells or leases goods or provides a taxable service to a final consumer.

For a seller outside Missouri, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous or current calendar year, checked after each calendar quarter against the twelve months ending with that quarter. Missouri's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

How to Apply

You apply to the Missouri Department of Revenue. You can apply online or on a paper application. Go to Missouri's registration page.

Missouri requires your registration to be displayed at the place of business.

What It Costs

Missouri charges no fee for the retail sales license.

Missouri may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Department may require a bond from a licensee that is behind on filing returns or paying tax, of up to two times its average monthly tax liability. The statute also requires itinerant or temporary businesses to post a bond before selling.

Does It Expire?

The retail sales license does not expire. It stays valid until the Department revokes it or the business surrenders it when sales stop. The Department can revoke it after ten days' notice only if the business is 60 days behind on paying sales or withholding tax.

More Than One Location

We have not confirmed whether Missouri requires a separate retail sales license for each location; check with the Missouri Department of Revenue.

Local Sales Taxes in Missouri

Missouri cities, counties and special districts levy their own sales taxes, and the Missouri Department of Revenue administers and collects them with the state tax.

Worth Knowing in Missouri

A Missouri retail sales license, together with a Department statement that no tax is due, is required before a city or county will issue or renew an occupation license for a business that sells at retail. A seller with no Missouri location whose sales into Missouri exceed the remote seller threshold registers with the Department of Revenue to collect and remit Missouri vendor's use tax.

More for Missouri Businesses

Missouri resale certificate, for buying inventory for resale.
Sales tax nexus checker, to see which other states your sales may require you to register in.
Missouri LLC guide, for forming and running an LLC in the state.
LLC guide for eBay sellers in Missouri, for selling only through a marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Every person responsible for collecting Missouri sales tax must hold a retail sales license before making sales at retail. The Department says this includes anyone with a Missouri business location that sells or leases goods or provides a taxable service to a final consumer. Missouri calls the registration a Missouri retail sales license. For a seller outside Missouri, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous or current calendar year, checked after each calendar quarter against the twelve months ending with that quarter. Missouri's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: Missouri charges no fee for the retail sales license. Missouri may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Department may require a bond from a licensee that is behind on filing returns or paying tax, of up to two times its average monthly tax liability. The statute also requires itinerant or temporary businesses to post a bond before selling.
: The retail sales license does not expire. It stays valid until the Department revokes it or the business surrenders it when sales stop. The Department can revoke it after ten days' notice only if the business is 60 days behind on paying sales or withholding tax.
: We have not confirmed whether Missouri requires a separate retail sales license for each location; check with the Missouri Department of Revenue.
: Missouri cities, counties and special districts levy their own sales taxes, and the Missouri Department of Revenue administers and collects them with the state tax.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's law and tax agency say about the registration a business holds before it makes taxable sales, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you whether your own business must register: that turns on what you sell, where you sell it from, and how much you sell into the state, and fees, security rules and thresholds change between our reviews. Confirm your own position with the tax agency named on this page before you start selling.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Missouri sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=144.083RSMo 144.083, Retail sales license required
revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=144.087RSMo 144.087, Retail sales licensee, bond
revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=144.605RSMo 144.605, Definitions (engages in business activities within this state)
revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=32.087RSMo 32.087, Local sales taxes, duties of director of revenue
revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=32.085RSMo 32.085, Local sales taxes, definitions
revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=67.1545RSMo 67.1545, Community improvement district sales and use tax
revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=238.235RSMo 238.235, Transportation development district sales tax
dor.mo.gov/faq/taxation/business/registration.htmlMissouri DOR, Business Tax Registration FAQs
dor.mo.gov/forms/2643.pdfMissouri DOR Form 2643, Missouri Tax Registration Application (Revised 02-2026)
revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=144.650RSMo 144.650 Vendors to register

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.