Stay compliant in Missouri

Missouri’s recurring dates depend on the structure. An LLC has no annual report with the Secretary of State. A corporation has a registration report in its own month. Income tax and sales tax sit on the Department of Revenue calendar. Employer accounts start only if you have people on the payroll. Official mail goes to your registered agent, so keep that address current.

What’s different in Missouri

• An LLC does not file an annual report. A corporation must file within 30 days of incorporation or qualification, and then every year in the month the company was incorporated or qualified, unless that month was changed¹.
• A late corporation report can lead to dissolution. If the report is not filed within 90 days, the secretary of state may start administrative dissolution². The Secretary of State must provide notice and an opportunity to correct the problem. The late fee is $15³ for each 30 days.
• The franchise tax is not imposed for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2016⁸. Corporation income tax remains, at 4%⁷.
• The 2026 minimum wage is $15¹⁵ an hour, and it is no longer adjusted by the Consumer Price Index. Workers’ compensation starts at five or more employees, or one or more employees if the work is construction that erects, demolishes, alters, or repairs improvements¹³. Unemployment tax is the employer’s.

Do this

1. If you have an LLC, do not wait for an annual-report form. Limited liability companies do not have to file annual reports with the Secretary of State. Limited partnerships are not required to file annual reports⁶. You still keep a registered agent, and you still file the taxes that apply. A fictitious name lasts 5 years from the filing date, if it was filed on or after August 28, 2004¹⁹. Renew it before it expires. The fee is $7⁵.
2. If you have a corporation, file the registration report in the portal. Online it is $20. On paper it is $45. Under RSMo 351.120, a corporation formed on or after July 1, 2003 files within 30 days of incorporation or qualification, and then every year in the month the company was incorporated or qualified, unless that month was changed. A corporation that existed before July 1, 2003 uses the month on its last registration report¹. The filings page says the annual report is due at the end of the month the corporation incorporated or qualified³. For the first report, the statute’s deadline is the one to meet. File even if nothing changed. A biennial report, if the system accepts it, is $40⁵ online. Once you choose biennial, you stay on it for 24 months²⁰.
3. If a dissolution notice arrives, use the deadline on the notice. If the report is not filed within 90 days, the secretary of state may start administrative dissolution². The filings page says the company has 60 days after the mailed notice to correct the problem or explain it. Reinstatement of a domestic corporation includes $55, the missing reports, and a Certificate of Tax Clearance from the Department of Revenue, valid for 60 days, or a payback plan with the department. After a voluntary dissolution, another entity cannot use that corporate name until one year has passed³. The name hold stated on the filings page applies to voluntary dissolution. Do not assume that deadline also governs administrative dissolution.
4. Replace a registered agent who leaves. An LLC’s agent is an individual who lives in Missouri, or a corporation authorized to do business in Missouri, and that person's or company's business office has to be the registered office²¹. A change is $10⁵ on the schedule. A corporation has 60 days to register a new agent. After that, a domestic corporation is administratively dissolved³. For a business that is not a corporation, the filings page says a missing agent can cancel the registration. The notice of a problem goes to the agent on the records. If that address is dead, you will not see the notice.
5. File individual income tax if you are in the group that has to file. The 2026 estimated-tax chart is graduated, and the top line is 4.7% of the excess over $9,436. Estimated tax is due when you expect to owe $100 or more, on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15²². The department’s 2026 tax calendar lists calendar-year Form MO-1040 on April 15, 2026, and an extended return on October 15, 2026⁹. For income tax, sales tax, and unemployment tax, an LLC is classified the same way it is classified for federal income tax²³.
6. File corporation income tax if you are a C corporation, and file the S corporation return if you elected S status. The rate is 4%. The return is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the taxable year ends⁷. The 2026 calendar lists calendar-year Forms MO-1120 and MO-1120S on April 15, 2026, and an extended return on October 15, 2026⁹. The franchise tax is not imposed for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2016⁸. An S corporation registers and files if it files a federal Form 1120-S and it has a Missouri resident shareholder or any Missouri-source income²⁴. The election is federal, on Form 2553²⁵.
7. File sales tax if you are registered to collect it. Monthly returns are due on or before the last day of the following month. Quarterly returns are due on or before the last day of the month after the quarter ends. Annual returns are due on or before January 31 of the following year. If the due date is a Saturday, Sunday, or Missouri holiday, the return is due the next business day. The state rate is 4.225%. Cities, counties, and certain districts add their own sales tax. The combined rate is the one in effect at the seller's location²⁶. A return filed and paid on time gets 2%¹⁰ off the tax due. File the return even when the tax is zero. Who registers with the state, and who uses the remote-seller rule, is on Get your tax IDs. Closing the account is a separate step if you stop selling. Do not leave a registration open and silent.
8. If you have employees, keep the unemployment account current. Reports are due the last day of the month after the quarter ends. The 2026 wage base is $9,000²⁷. The employee does not pay this tax. It cannot be taken out of wages¹². A new employer pays 2.376% for mining, construction, and all other new employers, and 1.00% for a 501(c)(3), in both 2026 and 2027. The table already includes the contribution rate adjustment. An experience rate comes generally after two full calendar years of liability²⁸. Report new hires within 20 days of hiring, by sending a copy of Form MO W-4 to the Department of Revenue¹⁸.
9. Carry workers’ compensation if you are over the threshold. Coverage is required at five or more employees, or one or more employees if the work is construction that erects, demolishes, alters, or repairs improvements. A family member within the third degree counts toward that number¹³. You can meet it with a workers' compensation policy, or permission from the Division of Workers' Compensation to self-insure²⁹. The chapter does not apply to farm labor, domestic servants in a private home, occasional household work, qualified real estate agents and direct sellers, certain confined workers, unpaid volunteers of a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19), or officials and contest workers for school and amateur youth programs who are not otherwise employed by the sponsor¹⁴. An exempt employer can elect coverage. The examples are not a blanket exemption for every owner of an LLC.
10. Pay at least the Missouri minimum wage if the state law covers the worker. The 2026 rate is $15 an hour. Tipped employees must receive at least $7.50 an hour in wages, plus enough in tips to reach the full minimum. A retail or service business with annual gross income under $500,000 does not have to pay the state minimum wage. An employer covered by the federal wage law who follows only a weaker Missouri rule breaks the federal law¹⁵. The minimum wage is no longer adjusted each year by the Consumer Price Index. Public employers that used to be outside the law are now covered³⁰. Post the 2026 summary. Missouri also has its own overtime rule. An employee who works more than 40 hours in a workweek is paid at least one and one-half times the regular rate for the extra hours. An amusement or recreation business that meets the test in 29 U.S.C. 213(a)(3) pays that rate after 52 hours in a week instead. The state rule does not apply to any other employee who is exempt from the federal minimum wage or overtime rules¹⁶. Missouri's wage law, overtime included, does not cover a worker at a retail or service business whose annual gross sales or business done is under $500,000¹⁷. Check the Wage and Hour page before you set a rate below the state wage for a worker the federal law covers.
11. Renew the other credentials on their own dates. A profession license, an alcohol license, and a city license do not renew on the corporation’s report month. Those rules are on Licenses and permits.

Employer rules

Unemployment, from the liability page and the employer guide: register within 30 days of the day you become liable. A general business employer is liable at $1,500 of wages in a calendar quarter, or a worker on some part of a day in each of 20 different weeks in a calendar year, or federal unemployment tax liability with a worker in Missouri¹¹. File quarterly, the last day of the month after the quarter ends¹². The 2026 wage base is $9,000²⁷. The tax is the employer’s.

New hires: within 20 days of hiring, by sending a copy of Form MO W-4 to the Department of Revenue¹⁸.

Workers’ compensation: five or more employees, or one or more employees if the work is construction that erects, demolishes, alters, or repairs improvements. A family member within the third degree counts toward that number¹³. The exemptions are farm labor, household domestic work, and the other groups in RSMo 287.090.

Minimum wage: $15 an hour in 2026. Tipped cash wages are at least $7.50¹⁵ an hour, and tips have to bring the worker to the full minimum.

What you get back

A filed corporation registration report if you have a corporation, an income-tax filing if you are in the group that has to file, sales-tax filings where you are registered, and current employer accounts. An LLC does not get an annual-report filing out of this step. If a corporation is administratively dissolved, reinstatement starts at $55³ plus the missing reports and a current tax clearance.