State cannabis tax
Missouri imposes a 6% state tax on adult-use cannabis sales and a 4% tax on qualifying medical sales, administered through the Missouri Department of Revenue. The tax is collected from the customer and remitted; it is never the retailer's revenue.
Local cannabis tax
Missouri local jurisdictions may impose an additional cannabis tax where voters have approved one, and whether county and municipal levies can stack has been contested in the courts. Operators should confirm the current position for every jurisdiction they sell in rather than applying a statewide assumption.
This matters practically because point-of-sale systems must be mapped to the correct combined rate for each location, and rates differ between, for example, Kansas City, Springfield and unincorporated county sites.
Sales tax and other state obligations
Ordinary state and local sales tax applies alongside the cannabis tax, and operators also manage Missouri withholding, unemployment insurance and, where applicable, property tax on facilities and equipment.
Missouri income tax and the Article XIV deduction
Missouri permits licensed facilities to deduct on the state return expenses that Section 280E disallows federally. That decouples the federal and state expense bases and requires a maintained reconciliation, but it produces genuine savings that many operators never claim.
Federal income tax under 280E
Federal tax is the dominant number. The base is gross profit rather than net income, which means margin management is tax management and inventory accounting is the only lawful lever available.
- Fund a federal reserve as a percentage of rolling gross profit
- Hold collected cannabis tax in a separate liability account
- Model estimated payments against actual margin, not prior-year figures
- Maintain the federal-to-Missouri reconciliation continuously
Frequently asked questions
Is Missouri cannabis tax charged on top of sales tax?
Yes. The state cannabis tax, any applicable local cannabis tax and ordinary sales tax each apply, which is why total rates vary meaningfully by location.
Do medical patients pay the 6% rate?
Qualifying medical sales are subject to the lower 4% state cannabis tax, which is one reason medical and adult-use transactions must be configured separately in the point-of-sale system.
