Payroll tools and source-backed guidance
Missouri Paycheck Calculator
Work out Missouri take-home pay from gross, pay frequency, filing status and pre-tax deductions. Federal and FICA are estimated for you; enter the MO...
Estimate pay before Missouri state and local withholding, then enter the amount from current official state guidance.
Missouri state withholding is not calculated automatically. Enter the amount for this pay period from an official worksheet or genuine payroll record to include it; leave it blank to see pay before state withholding. You can enter a known local withholding amount separately. Neither Missouri income tax withholding nor a Kansas City or St. Louis earnings tax is calculated here, so the estimate includes them only as amounts you supply for the same pay period. This calculator is an estimate workspace, not a payroll filing service. Verify every assumption with current official instructions.
What Missouri leaves to you to enter
Missouri withholding is not computed here; the state field takes a number you bring to it. One detail catches people out: allowances have gone from the Missouri withholding tables, so Form MO W-4 records a filing status, and the old habit of adding allowances to move the deduction has nothing left to attach to. The worker's current MO W-4 is what an official figure is built on. Work the amount out with the Department of Revenue's own withholding calculator, or lift it from a genuine pay record, and enter what covers the pay period you selected. Blank leaves the estimate at pay before Missouri withholding.
The earnings tax belongs in the local field
Two Missouri cities collect an earnings tax on wages, and it is the local field that holds it rather than the state one. Kansas City reaches its own residents wherever they work, and nonresidents on the portion attributable to work performed inside the city. St. Louis counts any part of a day worked in the city as a day worked there, and an employer based in the city withholds from employees regardless of where they work. Neither is inferred here: decide whether it applies, then take the amount from that city's collector or a real pay statement.
Frequently asked questions
What goes in the Missouri state withholding field?
The amount withheld for a single pay period at the frequency you selected, copied from a genuine pay statement for that same period or worked out with the Department of Revenue's withholding calculator. Not a year-to-date total. If the stub you are copying from is old, check it against the worker's current MO W-4, because a form replaced since then can change what payroll actually takes out.
Why is there a separate local field for Missouri?
Because a Kansas City or St. Louis earnings tax is a second deduction sitting alongside state withholding, and merging the two would make the state line wrong. Each field is subtracted exactly once, so put the earnings tax amount in the local field and the state withholding in the state field. Entering a combined state-and-local total in both places deducts the same money twice and the net pay shown will be too low.