A plethora of new Missouri laws went into effect on Thursday, including one addressing temporary tags in the state.
However, temporary tags aren't going away until at least next year.
Lawmakers passed a bill this past session dealing with several automotive policies. One of the new laws requires a car buyer to pay sales taxes at the dealership. Private sales will still pay taxes at revenue offices.
It's part of a larger effort from the Department of Revenue to eliminate temporary tags.
Trish Vincent, director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, says the new law, Senate Bill 28, allows the department to collect sales tax at the point of sale, rather than later.
"Temporary tags will be eliminated with this particular new system and our new process, which is very exciting, because I know you drive out there and you see temporary tags out there, and some of them are expired," Vincent said.
However, for this part of the law to be in effect, the department must finish setting up the next part of its motor vehicle system. Vincent says that's not likely to be ready until the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027.
"You won't have to pay your sales tax at an automobile dealer until we roll out this new system. So, nobody has to worry about going and buying a car and talking to the dealer about sales tax at this juncture," Vincent said.
The effort to eliminate temporary tags in the state has been in progress for several years. In 2023, the Missouri legislature passed a bill stating licensed motor dealers will collect and send sales taxes to the department. That was dependent on the establishment of the modernized system.
The bill that created the new system itself was passed back in 2021.
"What that did is allow the dealers to collect a registration fee. And the registration fee was set in statute…and so every year that registration fee, if the dealers collect it, it says in the law that the dealer may collect it, and then 10% of that fee is sent to us here at the Department of Revenue to give us a technology fund to build the system," Vincent said.
Vincent said they started developing the system a couple of years ago. They first started dealing with the driver's license side, which was completed last November.
She said the development of the titling portion of the system is more intricate.
"We have to build it so that both places can collect the sales tax that's required by law, and to be able to give them a license plate too when they leave," Vincent said.
While sales taxes would be collected both at new and used car dealerships, people who purchase a car privately would still have to go to a license office to get their plates.
In both scenarios, buyers initially will get a paper copy of their new license plate. The permanent metal plate, with the same number and letter configuration, will be mailed to the buyer.
Vincent emphasized that though the change is coming, the department will be raising awareness well before it happens.
"We'll be talking about when we're rolling that system out way in advance, so people do understand what's going to happen when they go in to buy a car from an automobile dealer, whether it's new or used."
Copyright 2025 St. Louis Public Radio
