Sales Tax Information

Retail Sales of Tangible Personal Property

Sales tax is imposed on retail sales of tangible personal property and certain services. All sales of tangible personal property and taxable services are generally presumed taxable unless specifically exempted by law. For example, food that is purchased at a grocery store that is to be prepared for a meal is exempt from all state sales tax, but is not exempt from county or local sales tax.

Persons making retail sales collect the sales tax from the purchaser and remit the tax to the Department of Revenue. The total base sales tax rate charged within St. Ann is 8.863%. Included in this amount are the following rates listed below.

Sales Tax Rate

The state sales tax rate is 4.225%.

The St. Louis County sales tax rate is 3.388% which is made up of a transportation sales tax (0.5%), a mass transit sales tax for Metrolink (0.25%), an additional mass transit sales tax (0.5%), a Regional Parks and Trails sales tax (0.288%), a children's trust fund sales tax (0.25%), an emergency communication sales tax (0.1%), a county law enforcement sales tax (0.5%) plus a 1% Countywide local sales tax that replaces the 1% city local option sales taxes in place before the year 1985.

The City of St. Ann local sales tax rate is 1.25%. This rate consists of the Economic Development Sales Tax (0.25%), the Parks Sales Tax (0.5%), the Capital Improvement Sales Tax (0.5%). 

Countywide Tax

The countywide tax (1%) is distributed between the county and municipalities in St. Louis County according to a complex formula that requires each entity to declare either as a point-of-sale or pool entity.

Pool Entities

Pool entities receive their sales tax based on population from a pool of sales tax dollars generated within the boundaries of the pooled cities, unincorporated county and annexation areas, and cities incorporated after the year 1985. For purposes of sales tax distribution, St. Louis County is considered a city based on its unincorporated population. In 2015, St. Ann, after careful consideration made the decision to become "Pool" City.  This decision was based on the fact that the pool sales tax distribution was growing at a far higher rate than what St. Ann could expect in the future.  

Additional Information

The St. Charles Rock Road Transportation Development District levies an additional .75% sales tax along the St. Charles Rock Rd. Corridor.  Additionally, the Crossings at Northwest levies an additional 1.0% Community Improvement District sales tax at the Crossings.  However, neither of these sales taxes is levied on sales made at Menard's.   

The state and local sales taxes are remitted together to the Department of Revenue. Once the seller remits sales tax to the department, the department then distributes the local sales taxes remitted by the sellers to the cities, counties and districts in accordance with the various formulas in the statutes.