The Missouri Department of Revenue, in a letter ruling, found that a taxpayer’s sales of exercise products were subject to state and local sales taxes because the transactions were not in commerce, since the orders were fulfilled and shipped to Missouri customers by a third-party warehouse in Missouri. The Department of Revenue also found that
Missouri
Dance, Dance Fever: Missouri Supreme Court Holds Dance Lessons Are Fun…and Taxable
By Nick Kump and Scott Wright
The Missouri Supreme Court held that a dance school was subject to sales tax on its charges for dance lessons as fees paid to a place of amusement, entertainment or recreation. The court reasoned that even though the school had a primary purpose of teaching students how to dance…
“Show Me” Software Taxation: Missouri Department of Revenue Issues Letter Ruling on Various Software Transactions
By Robert Merten and Charlie Kearns
The Missouri Department of Revenue has issued a comprehensive letter ruling answering 12 software-related sales tax questions on issues concerning canned software, custom software, software licenses, software invoices, software installation and software maintenance agreements. Missouri Department of Revenue LR 7615, Aug. 21, 2015. In the letter ruling, the…
(Vision)Stream of Commerce: Supreme Court of Missouri Denies Sales Tax Refund on Sales of Goods Shipped Out of State
By Charles Capouet and Timothy Gustafson
The Supreme Court of Missouri denied a Missouri corporation’s sales tax refund claims on its sales of trade show displays shipped to out-of-state customers because it did not prove that the title to the goods transferred outside of Missouri. Missouri exempts from sales tax retail sales made in interstate…
Missouri DOR Gets Trained: Gym Rental Fees Not Subject to Sales Tax
By Jessie Eisenmenger and Timothy Gustafson
The Missouri Supreme Court held that charges paid by a personal training company to a gym for the rental of office space and limited use of the fitness equipment when conducting personal training sessions are not subject to sales tax. The personal training company paid the gym $6,000 per…
Buying a Bit – Purchases of Bitcoins Are Not Subject to Sales Tax in Missouri
By Mary Alexander and Charlie Kearns
The Missouri Department of Revenue determined in a letter ruling that Bitcoins are intangible property not subject to tax under Missouri’s Sales and Use Tax Law. As explained by the taxpayer, Bitcoins are “a form of digital currency that is created by software and stored electronically.” Here, the taxpayer…
Missouri Supreme Court Can’t Take a Joke: “Rabbi Trust” Gives Rise to Business Income
By Ted Friedman and Timothy Gustafson
The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed and remanded a decision of the Administrative Hearing Commission (see our coverage of the Commission’s January 28, 2013 decision here) and held that income from a “rabbi trust”—a trust established by a corporation to fund a nonqualified deferred compensation plan for company…
Don’t Pack the Sales Tax: Missouri Rules Moving Boxes Not Taxable
By Ted Friedman and Timothy Gustafson
The Missouri Department of Revenue determined that clients of a moving company were not subject to sales tax on boxes provided by the company and used to move the clients’ belongings. As part of the company’s moving services, it provided boxes for clients to pack their belongings. Any boxes…
Sales Tax on Out-of-State Deliveries? Misery Is Spelled M-i-s-s-o-u-r-i
By Mary Alexander and Andrew Appleby
The Missouri Department of Revenue determined that a Missouri-based seller was required to collect and remit sales tax on sales to a Missouri-headquartered customer despite the fact that the items were shipped to the customer’s out-of-state locations. The seller fulfilled the orders by delivering the purchased items to a…
Missouri Department of Revenue Concludes Sales or Rentals of Streaming Video Content Are Not Subject to Sales or Use Tax
By Zachary Atkins and Prentiss Willson
The Missouri Department of Revenue issued a letter ruling in which it determined that the sale or rental of streaming video content is not subject to Missouri sales or use tax. The service in question allowed customers to purchase or rent video content and to stream the content through…



