Missouri temporarily kills sales tax to save environment
- Apr 17, 2017 | Gail Cole
Numerous energy efficient appliances are exempt from Missouri state sales tax for one week out of every year. In 2017, the annual Show-Me Green Sales Tax Holiday starts at 12:01 a.m. on April 19 and concludes at midnight, April 25. Local sales taxes may or may not apply.
Exempt items
To qualify for the exemption, products must be certified by Energy Star. This year, the list of eligible products includes the following:
- Air conditioners
- Clothes washers and dryers
- Conventional ovens, ranges, and stoves
- Dishwashers
- Freezers and refrigerators
- Furnaces
- Heat pumps
- Trash compactors
- Water heaters
Local tax may apply
To participate in the sales tax holiday at the local level, local tax jurisdictions (cities, counties, and special districts) must enact an ordinance. In those that do, qualifying products will be exempt from the local tax. However, additional local taxes may still apply. For example, city sales tax in the city of Lebanon, Lacieda County, won't apply during the April 2017 sales tax holiday because Lebanon has opted to participate; Laciede County taxes will still apply, because the county is not participating.
Businesses in non-participating jurisdictions should receive from the Missouri Department of Revenue a special long sales tax return (Form 53-1), which should be used in place of the normal sales tax return for this period only. Vendors in participating localities should use the regular sales tax return.
Instead of participating in the tax-free period, vendors selling very limited quantities of eligible goods (less than 2 percent of total sales) should offer a sales tax refund. Additional information for vendors is available from the department, which also provides a map of participating localities and FAQs.
Missouri will offer a second tax-free period in August, for a wide range of clothing and school supplies. Check out Missouri Sales Tax Holidays for more detailed information about both tax-free periods.
More than a dozen states are offering one or more sales tax holidays in 2017, which can complicate sales and use tax compliance for vendors selling qualifying items. Tax automation software facilitates compliance for vendors of all sizes in all states, making sales tax holidays less of a burden. Learn more.
