Updated October 7, 2026. Quick answer: Only if you live there. Missouri’s statute taxes a nonresident only on income “derived from sources within this state” and a Missouri resident starts from total federal adjusted gross income, which includes a pension earned in another state, before claiming any Missouri pension exemption.
Federal civil service pensions in Missouri: does Missouri tax federal pensions.
State retirement-income forms, line by line: Missouri Form MO-A.
How Missouri treats a pension earned elsewhere
| Item | What the state documents say |
|---|---|
| Nonresidents | Missouri imposes its tax on the income of a nonresident individual that is derived from sources within the state. The nonresident adjusted gross income statute says income from intangible personal property, including annuities, counts as Missouri source income only to the extent it comes from property employed in a Missouri business, or from certain lottery and wagering winnings. The nonresident rule rests on RSMo 143.041 and 143.181. Neither statute names pensions, and the 2025 instructions say a nonresident with income from other states uses Form MO-NRI. |
| Residents with a pension earned elsewhere | A Missouri return begins with total federal adjusted gross income, and tax is computed on all income as for a full-year resident. Form MO-A Part 3 then allows a pension exemption: public pensions from any federal, state or local government are handled on one calculation, and the private pension calculation allows the lesser of the pension or $6,000 for each spouse, with income thresholds by filing status such as $32,000 for married filing combined. This rests on the resident line instructions for Line 8 and the Form MO-A Part 3 pension calculations in the 2025 MO-1040 booklet. |
| Part-year residents (year of a move) | All income earned while living in Missouri is taxable to Missouri for a part-year resident. The part-year resident may choose to be taxed as a resident for the entire year and claim a credit on Form MO-CR for tax paid to another state, or may use Form MO-NRI to find an income percentage based on income earned while living in Missouri. The source says: “All income earned while living in Missouri is taxable to Missouri”. This rests on the part-year resident definition and the Lines 31 and 32 instructions in the 2025 MO-1040 booklet. |
| Rate | Missouri’s 2025 tax rate chart is graduated: tax is zero up to the first bracket, then 2.0% of the excess over $1,313, rising by steps to a top rate of 4.7% on taxable income over $9,191. The source says: “$256 plus 4.7% of the excess over $9,191”. The chart appears in the 2025 MO-1040 booklet as Section A of the tax calculation. |
| Return to file | Residents file Form MO-1040. Part-year residents and nonresidents also file Form MO-1040 and complete Form MO-NRI or Form MO-CR to determine the Missouri share of tax. The source says: “must use the Missouri Income Percentage (Form MO-NRI)”. |
A $40,000 move-year example
A retiree receives $40,000 of pension in the year of a move: $20,000 before the move date, as a Missouri resident, and $20,000 after leaving.
The first $20,000 can be taxed by Missouri; the rest is outside its reach under the federal rule below. Taxed wholly at the lowest printed rate, 2.0%, the tax on it is computed as $20,000 x 0.02 = $400; taxed wholly at the highest, 4.7%, it is computed as $20,000 x 0.047 = $940. The real figure falls between these bounds before any exclusion or credit. Federal tax still applies.
The federal rule that protects a nonresident
4 U.S.C. 114(a) bars a state income tax on retirement income of an individual “who is not a resident or domiciliary of such State”. Retirement income means any income from a qualified retirement plan, a simplified employee pension, a 403(a) or 403(b) plan, an individual retirement plan, an eligible 457 plan or a governmental plan. Income from a nonqualified deferred compensation plan counts only if it is part of a “series of substantially equal periodic payments” made for life or for a period of at least 10 years, or is a payment after termination of employment from a plan that exists only to provide benefits above the Internal Revenue Code limits, so not every payment is covered. Retired pay of a member of a uniform service is also covered.
Related: how Missouri taxes retirement income, whether Missouri taxes pensions, out-of-state pension tax by state, and deferred compensation lump sums after a move.
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Answer againSources
- 2025 Form MO-1040 Individual Income Tax Long Form and Instructions (Missouri Department of Revenue): https://dor.mo.gov/forms/MO-1040 Instructions_2025.pdf
- RSMo Section 143.041, Nonresident individual (Missouri Revisor of Statutes): https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=143.041
- RSMo Section 143.181, Missouri nonresident adjusted gross income (Missouri Revisor of Statutes): https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=143.181
- 4 U.S.C. 114, Limitation on State income taxation of certain pension income (U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2023 edition): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title4/html/USCODE-2023-title4-chap4-sec114.htm
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 7, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the plan administrator or the agency itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.