, you’ll be charged an annual excise tax to register your vehicle with the state. The amount of excise tax you might pay ranges from $18.25 to $51.25, depending on your vehicle’s horsepower.

What is an excise tax in Missouri?

Missouri residents pay their annual excise tax bill by paying the registration fee required to

with the state. This is a tax Missouri residents pay in addition to

Missouri car sales tax

, which is only paid once when you purchase your vehicle.

But what is an excise tax anyway? Excise taxes are levied on certain goods that may negatively impact environmental or personal health. For example, Missouri charges excise taxes on fuel, cigarettes, cell phones, vehicles, and alcohol.

Your Missouri car excise tax is based on your vehicle’s taxable horsepower, which is recorded on our vehicle title, so you’ll have an idea of what you should expect to pay before you begin your registration renewal.

MORE: Missouri gas tax

Calculating your excise tax payment

Your registration renewal notice should display your amount owed. This amount should include both your vehicle registration—which essentially is your excise tax—and processing fees for the renewal. To determine how much your registration fee should be, refer to the table below.

Taxable horsepower	1-year fee	2-year fee
Under 12 HP, or electric vehicle, or low-speed vehicle	$18.25	$36.50
12–23 HP	$21.25	$42.50
24–35 HP	$24.25	$48.50
36–47	$33.25	$66.50
48–59	$39.25	$78.50
60–71	$45.25	$90.50
72 HP +	$51.25	$102.50

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In addition to the registration fee, processing fees for your registration renewal are $6 for a one-year registration and $12 for a two-year registration. This means if you’re registering a

Tesla

for two years, you should expect to be billed $48.50—$36.50 for the registration/excise fee, plus $12 in processing fees.

Penalties for nonpayment

Here is another way that Missouri is a bit different from many other states. The only way to pay your Missouri excise tax is to pay to register your vehicle. That means that if you choose not to pay your excise tax, you’re also choosing not to pay to register your vehicle.

So while there’s no monetary penalty aside from the $5 late fee associated with registering a vehicle past the due date, there is the potential for legal and monetary penalties associated with driving with expired tags and failing to register your vehicle.

While fines and fees vary by county, most counties charge an average fine of $50 if you’re caught driving with expired tags. You’ll be charged another $50 for failure to register your vehicle, and each of these also comes with court costs of around $50 to $75. If you’ve failed to register your vehicle, that likely also means you didn’t bother to have it inspected, which will result in another $50 fine and more court costs.

If you’re pulled over with expired tags, your car may be impounded. Likewise, if your vehicle displays permanent tags that are expired by over 60 days or

temporary tags

expired by more than 45 days, and the car is parked in a public place, it’s a prime candidate for towing and impounding. Then you’ll not only face the fees associated with getting your car out of impound, but you’ll also face the tickets, fines, and fees discussed above.

MORE:

How to get a temporary license plate in Missouri

How to avoid excise tax in Missouri

No one in the state of Missouri is exempt from the fees required to register a vehicle, and that means no one is exempted from Missouri car excise taxes—unless, of course, you don’t own a car.

MORE:

Gifting a car in Missouri

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