Missouri bookkeeping: two city earnings taxes, and one tax the employer pays itself.
Missouri’s two largest cities tax earnings: Kansas City and the City of St. Louis each levy 1%, and St. Louis adds a 0.5% payroll expense tax the employer pays. Remote and hybrid work makes both harder, because for non-residents the tax follows where the work was done. We keep it straight in your own QuickBooks file, remotely, on a written fixed-fee scope.
If your file needs our paid diagnostic first, its fee is credited in full against the cleanup. Either way, you get a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
Missouri rule: employers withholding $500 to $9,000 a month file and pay monthly (over $9,000, quarter-monthly; less, quarterly or annually), and every active account files Form MO-941 even with no tax to report; QuickBooks Payroll is set to the assigned frequency. Source: Missouri Department of Revenue, employer withholding.
Missouri bookkeeping: the state sales tax is 4.225%, with local rates on top. Kansas City and the City of St. Louis each levy a 1% earnings tax on residents and on non-residents who work in the city, and St. Louis adds a 0.5% payroll expense tax the employer pays. TechBrot keeps the books; your tax professional files.
They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.
What stood out the most was TechBrot Inc’s attention to detail.
What a Missouri business actually tracks.
A Kansas City, Missouri agency with staff who live in Kansas withholds the city’s 1% earnings tax only on the pay for days they worked in the city; the days they worked from home in Kansas are not the city’s. That is a record the books have to keep, pay period by pay period.
A downtown St. Louis firm has a second layer: the 0.5% payroll expense tax, paid by the firm itself, not withheld from anyone, and easy to miss because no paycheck shows it. Work done across the city line in St. Louis County carries no payroll expense tax, and no earnings tax for a non-resident.
Five Missouri facts your books have to reflect.
As verified from the Department of Revenue’s, Kansas City’s and the City of St. Louis’s pages for our Missouri page.
Sales tax: 4.225% state
The state rate, carried to three decimals, with local rates added on top.Kansas City earnings tax: 1%
Withheld from residents and from non-residents who work in the city.St. Louis earnings tax: 1%
The City of St. Louis levies its own 1% earnings tax on the same basis.St. Louis payroll expense tax: 0.5%
Paid by the employer, not withheld, and filed with the earnings tax quarterly on Forms W-10/P-10.Work location decides it
For non-residents, the taxable part is the pay for work physically performed inside the city; the City of St. Louis sits inside no county.Sources, read September 2026, for our Missouri page:Missouri DOR (cited on our Missouri page) · Missouri DOR: withholding tax (cited on our Missouri page) · Kansas City: earnings tax (cited on our Missouri page) · City of St. Louis: payroll tax information (cited on our Missouri page).
How a Missouri engagement runs.
- STEP 1
Discovery call
Free, 30 minutes: where your people live, where they work, and how remote days are recorded. - STEP 2
City taxes mapped
Earnings tax for residents and for in-city work by non-residents, and the St. Louis payroll expense tax as an employer cost. - STEP 3
Monthly close
Every account reconciled, each city liability tied to what was filed, the sales-tax liability tied to the return. - STEP 4
Work-location records
In-city and out-of-city days kept with payroll, so a non-resident’s taxable share can be shown. - STEP 5
Year-end handoff
The books and schedules your CPA needs, with the city taxes already reconciled.
A Missouri business’s books checklist.
- Kansas City or St. Louis earnings tax withheld from residents, and from non-residents for in-city work.
- In-city and remote days recorded for non-resident employees.
- The St. Louis payroll expense tax accrued as an employer expense, not withheld.
- A St. Louis County address never treated as the City of St. Louis.
- The 4.225% state rate plus the local rate on every sales-tax item.
What it costs, and where to go next.
Monthly bookkeeping is published at $500–$2,500+/mo and payroll management at $150–$800+/mo, each a fixed fee against a written scope; the national service is monthly bookkeeping. A business on both sides of the Kansas line can see multi-state bookkeeping.
Remote, with no Missouri office; the work happens in your own QuickBooks file, reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor before delivery. Your tax professional files.
Around Missouri.
Missouri QuickBooks ProAdvisor & bookkeeping
The state page: services, industries, cities and the Missouri tax terms in one place.Bookkeeping services, nationally
The national engagement this page is the Missouri version of — same scope, same written fixed fee.Not sure where your file stands? Start with the free QuickBooks file review · how Missouri compares: state-by-state tax quirks.
Missouri bookkeeping services questions.
Do I withhold the earnings tax for a remote employee?
For a non-resident, only on pay for work physically performed in the city, so remote days matter. Your payroll provider and the city confirm individual cases.
Is the payroll expense tax withheld from pay?
No. The employer pays it; it belongs in the books as an employer expense and liability.
Is St. Louis County part of the City of St. Louis?
No. The City of St. Louis sits inside no county. Work in St. Louis County carries no city payroll expense tax, and no city earnings tax for a non-resident.
How much does Missouri bookkeeping cost?
Monthly bookkeeping is published at $500–$2,500+/mo, fixed fee against a written scope.