Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Missouri fully exempts public pensions, meaning pensions paid by any government including the federal government, with no dollar cap and no income limit since 2024, but private pensions and most other retirement account income only get a much smaller $6,000 deduction that is reduced once income passes set thresholds.
Confidence note: high. This page is scoped to pension, IRA and 401(k) taxation specifically. For the state’s full retirement-tax picture (Social Security, tax rates, estate and probate), see how Missouri taxes retirement income generally.
Pending, not current law: A 2025 Missouri bill, HB 426, would have removed the income limits and created a full exemption for private pension income starting in tax year 2026, but the bill died in the legislature that year and is not current law.
How pensions and retirement-account withdrawals are taxed
| Public (state/local government) pensions | Public retirement benefits, meaning any annuity, pension, or retirement allowance provided by the United States, the state of Missouri, another state, or a political subdivision, can be deducted up to the maximum Social Security benefit amount for the year, which the Missouri Department of Revenue lists as about $47,633 for 2025, and since January 1, 2024 this deduction is no longer reduced based on filing status or income level. |
|---|---|
| Private (employer) pensions | Retirement benefits from privately funded sources qualify for a smaller deduction of up to $6,000 per year. The full $6,000 is only available if Missouri adjusted gross income is below set thresholds, for example $25,000 for single filers according to the Department of Revenue, and the deduction is reduced dollar for dollar above that; income beyond the deduction is taxed at Missouri’s regular rates. |
| Federal government pensions (FERS/CSRS) | Missouri’s statute, RSMo 143.124, defines the public retirement benefit category to include annuities and pensions provided by the United States, which covers federal civil service annuities such as FERS and CSRS, so these should receive the same public pension deduction described above. The statute text located this session does not use the labels FERS or CSRS directly, so this is a reasonable reading of the general statutory language rather than an explicit named example, and it is noted here honestly. |
| Military retirement pay | For tax years 2021 and later, the taxable portion of military pension income is subtracted from federal adjusted gross income, which effectively exempts it from Missouri income tax. |
| IRA and 401(k)/403(b) distributions | RSMo 143.124 defines the retirement benefit deduction to include amounts from 401(k) plans, Keogh plans, and traditional IRAs, but not Roth IRAs, effective January 1, 1998. Whether a given IRA or 401(k) distribution falls into the public or private deduction category depends on whether the underlying plan was funded by a government employer or a private employer, so most private sector 401(k) and IRA withdrawals are limited to the $6,000 private deduction described above. |
| General retirement-income exclusion | There is no separate general retirement income exclusion beyond the public and private retirement benefit deductions described above. A 2025 bill, HB 426, would have created a full exemption for private retirement income starting in tax year 2026, but it died in the legislature and did not become law. |
Coordinate this with your overall retirement plan
An adviser can help weigh how much of a pension or IRA withdrawal to take this year, whether a Roth conversion makes sense before or after a move, and how state tax interacts with the rest of your plan, but that does not replace the numbers in your own return.
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Social Security
Missouri now exempts 100 percent of Social Security benefits for taxpayers 62 and older regardless of income, but a companion page on this site covers Social Security taxation in detail. Social Security has its own rules in every state; see the full breakdown in how Missouri taxes retirement income generally.
Statute and sources
Governing citation: RSMo 143.124 (public and private retirement benefit deduction); RSMo 143.125 (Social Security and disability benefit deduction).
Read September 5, 2026.
Related: how Missouri taxes retirement income generally · does Missouri tax Roth conversions? · Roth conversion taxes, all 51 jurisdictions.
General information drawn from each state’s own published statutes and revenue-department guidance, not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures and exemption amounts are current as of the date in the quick answer, are set by state law, and can change by future legislation; any pending bill named on this page is not yet law. This page cannot see your own return, which governs. We are not a law firm, a tax adviser, or a fiduciary, and this is not personalized advice.