Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 12, 2026. Quick answer: Yes, in practice. Missouri taxes a conversion at its regular rates (top 4.7% in 2026). The only exemption that nominally reaches traditional-IRA money is $6,000 of private pension income, and it phases out dollar for dollar above $25,000 of Missouri adjusted gross income single, $32,000 married — a threshold the conversion itself pushes you past, so virtually every converter gets none of it.
The same question for annuity payments: does Missouri tax annuity income.
The same question for military retired pay: does Missouri tax military retirement.
The same question for gains from selling investments: does Missouri tax capital gains.
The same question for ordinary 401(k) and IRA withdrawals: does Missouri tax 401(k) and IRA withdrawals.
Confidence note: high. The $6,000 exemption and its $25,000 / $32,000 income limits are in the statute; the point is that the conversion counts toward the same income that phases the exemption out.
Why a conversion is a different question from a withdrawal
Almost every state summary answers “how does Missouri tax retirement income?” That is a question about distributions. A Roth conversion is not a distribution in the ordinary sense — it is a voluntary election to recognise income now in exchange for tax-free growth later. Whether a state’s retirement exclusion reaches that election is a separate question, and it is the one that decides your bill.
The exemption here is a trap rather than a shelter. It is income-tested rather than age-tested, and the conversion is the income being tested — so the larger the conversion, the more certainly the $6,000 disappears.
Because the state cost is effectively certain, the lever that matters in Missouri is when and how much — splitting a conversion across tax years, or converting in a year of unusually low income, changes the bill in a way arguing about the $6,000 cannot.
What Missouri does with the converted amount
State income tax: graduated to 4.7% (top rate, after trigger reductions; 7 brackets from 2%)
How Missouri treats IRA and plan income: Public pension exemption: up to the maximum annual Social Security benefit per taxpayer (about $46,381 for TY2024 and $47,633 for TY2025, indexed annually), no income limits since TY2024; reduced by SS deductions claimed. Private pensions/401(k)/IRA: only up to $6,000 exemption, and only if MO AGI ≤ $25,000 single / $32,000 MFJ. HB 426 (2025), which would have made private retirement income fully exempt from 2026, did not become law. Capital gains exemption (HB 594, 2025) is separate.
What to ask a preparer about Missouri
Will this conversion put my Missouri adjusted gross income over $25,000 single / $32,000 married — and if it will, is there any year in which it would not?
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How our partner relationships workConverting around a move
Converting in the year you move into Missouri is the case that catches people. Residency at the moment of conversion is what generally determines which state gets to tax it, so a conversion executed a week before a move and one executed a week after can produce different bills.
Four separate taxes change when you move, not one: income tax on withdrawals, treatment of Social Security, estate tax, and inheritance tax. A state that looks good on conversions can be worse on the other three.
The state bill is the smaller half
Whatever Missouri does, the conversion is federal ordinary income first. The federal bracket you land in, and whether the conversion pushes you over an IRMAA threshold two years later, will usually move more money than the state line does. The state answer tells you whether to convert here; the federal answer tells you how much to convert at once.
Paying the tax from outside the account matters more than either. Using converted dollars to pay the bill shrinks the balance that was the entire point of converting.
Figures verified against RSMo §§ 143.011 and 143.124, Missouri Department of Revenue tax year 2024 and 2025 forms and 2026 change notices, and the Missouri House bill records on September 30, 2026; the 2026 maximum Social Security benefit figure was not re-checked.
Sources
Authority: RSMo § 143.125 (SS deduction); RSMo § 143.124 (pension exemptions); RSMo § 143.174 (military); MO DOR Pension FAQs.
Compiled from state statutes, session laws and revenue-department publications and adversarially verified in July 2026. Dataset confidence for Missouri: high.
This page states what the cited authority says. It is not tax advice, and a conversion large enough to matter is worth putting in front of a preparer who can see your whole return.