Self-Employed Tax Calculator — Missouri (2026)
Self-employed in Missouri? Your tax bill has three layers that a W-2 employee never sees in full: 15.3% self-employment tax on 92.35% of net profit, federal income tax, and Missouri state income tax. This calculator applies all three to your 2026 net profit and shows the quarterly amount you should be setting aside. Missouri uses a progressive income tax with 8 brackets running from 0.00% up to 4.70%, applied after a state standard deduction of $16,100.
Missouri Self-Employed Tax Calculator
Gross 1099 income minus business expenses.
Self-employment tax vs Missouri income tax
Self-employment tax is federal and identical in all 50 states: 12.4% Social Security up to $184,500 of net earnings plus 2.9% Medicare with no cap. Half of it is deductible against income tax, which is why the calculator subtracts it before applying brackets.
Missouri then taxes essentially the same profit figure at 0.00%–4.70%. On $80,000 of net profit that adds roughly $2,567 to the bill.
Kansas City and St. Louis levy a 1% earnings tax on residents and on non-residents who work in the city.
Deductions that matter for Missouri freelancers
Net profit — not gross revenue — drives every number here. Ordinary and necessary business expenses reduce SE tax, federal tax, and Missouri tax simultaneously: the 2026 standard mileage rate of $0.67/mile, home-office square footage, software, equipment, professional insurance, and the self-employed health insurance deduction.
Retirement plans go further. A SEP-IRA or solo 401(k) reduces income tax (though not SE tax) and is often the largest single deduction available to a profitable logistics contractor in Kansas City.
Working for yourself in Missouri
Missouri's economy leans on logistics, agriculture, and finance, which shapes the contractor market around Kansas City — and your fixed costs. With one-bedroom rent near $1,200, a freelancer needs meaningfully more gross revenue than an employee to reach the same lifestyle, because there is no employer paying half of FICA.
Missouri's top rate of 4.7% has dropped from 6% in 2017 — and could fall to 4.5% as further triggers are met.
Local and payroll taxes Missouri adds on top
Kansas City and St. Louis each levy a 1% earnings tax on wages earned in the city. That deduction sits outside the federal and state income tax lines, so build it into your own budget on top of the numbers above.
Kansas City and St. Louis levy a 1% earnings tax on residents and on non-residents who work in the city.
Nobody withholds these for you when you are self-employed in Missouri. Local wage taxes, city business licences and gross-receipts style levies are yours to register for and remit alongside your quarterly federal and state estimates.
Working across a state line from Missouri
Missouri has no income-tax reciprocity agreements, so if you live here and work across a state line you generally file a nonresident return in the work state and claim a credit at home to avoid double taxation.
Remote and hybrid work complicates this further: most states tax income where the work is physically performed, so a Kansas City resident spending part of the year at a client site in Kansas may owe a nonresident return there. Keep a day-count log if you split time between states.
The rest of your Missouri tax bill
Missouri charges a 4.225% state sales tax, homeowners pay an average effective property tax of 0.98% of market value, and the minimum wage in force during 2026 is $15.00 an hour.
Local rates lift combined sales tax to about 8.4% on average.
Income tax is only one part of a state's take. Missouri recovers revenue through sales and property tax as well, which is why headline income tax rates alone are a poor guide to how far a salary really goes. Missouri exempts Social Security and offers public pension and private pension deductions subject to income limits.
Missouri vs Kansas on the same salary
On a $90,000 salary, a single filer keeps about $68,842 a year in Missouri against roughly $67,406 in Kansas — a difference of $1,437, or $120 a month.
Effective combined rates are 23.5% in Missouri and 25.1% in Kansas. Set that gap against living costs: index 88 here versus 87 there, with property tax at 0.98% and 1.34% respectively.
Missouri income tax brackets 2026 (single filer)
| Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
| $0 – $1,273 | 0.00% |
| $1,273 – $2,546 | 2.00% |
| $2,546 – $3,819 | 2.50% |
| $3,819 – $5,092 | 3.00% |
| $5,092 – $6,365 | 3.50% |
| $6,365 – $7,638 | 4.00% |
| $7,638 – $8,911 | 4.50% |
| $8,911 and up | 4.70% |