Does Missouri tax Social Security benefits?

No. Beginning with tax year 2024, Missouri allows a full deduction of Social Security benefits regardless of income.

Do Missouri’s old $85,000 / $100,000 income limits still apply?

No. Those limits were removed beginning tax year 2024. The deduction is now available at every income level.

Are my benefits still federally taxable in Missouri?

Yes. Missouri’s deduction is state-only. Up to 85% of benefits can still be federally taxable once provisional income exceeds $34,000 (single) or $44,000 (married filing jointly), with the lower tier beginning at $25,000 and $32,000.

Missouri (MO) • 2026 Tax Year

Does Missouri Tax Social Security?

Missouri stopped taxing Social Security beginning tax year 2024, when it removed the income limits from its benefit deduction.

State Tax Rate

No SS tax (ended 2024)

Status

100% deductible since tax year 2024

What Missouri's exemption does and doesn't cover

Scope of the exemption

Since tax year 2024, Missouri allows a 100% deduction of federally taxable Social Security benefits with no income limit and no age test.
The former AGI limits — $85,000 (single) and $100,000 (married filing jointly) — no longer apply to the benefit deduction.
The deduction is state-only. Up to 85% of benefits remain federally taxable once provisional income passes $25,000 (single) or $32,000 (married filing jointly).

Key facts about Missouri and Social Security

Beginning tax year 2024, Missouri allows a 100% deduction of taxable Social Security benefits with no income limit.

The old rule limited the full deduction to AGI of $85,000 (single) / $100,000 (joint).

Missouri’s change is structured as a deduction rather than an exclusion — the benefit still appears in federal AGI and is then deducted on the Missouri return.

Because the deduction tracks the federally taxable portion, retirees whose benefits are not federally taxable at all have nothing left to deduct — the state result is the same either way.

Expert Strategy

Tax-smart strategy for Missouri residents

Missouri’s deduction is now unlimited, which means the state has effectively removed itself from your claiming decision — but the mechanics still matter for how your return looks. Because the deduction applies to the federally taxable portion of benefits, your Missouri outcome moves with the federal calculation rather than independently of it. The practical consequence: nothing you do to manage provisional income changes your Missouri result, so the entire optimization collapses to the federal question and to longevity. For most Missouri retirees that argues for evaluating a later claim on its own merits, without the state-tax drag that used to complicate the comparison above $85,000 of AGI.

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