Modifies the definition of food to authorize a reduced sales tax on the purchase of dietary and nutritional supplements

2026 Regular Session Introduced by Mike Jones

The bill expands taxable “food” to include dietary and nutritional supplements, unless a restaurant’s 80%+ prepared-food revenue excludes them, keeping 1% tax funding intact.

Referred: Emerging Issues(H)

#food #revenue #departmentof #taxationandrevenue-general #taxationandrevenue-salesanduse

Summary of HB 3247 (2026) – Missouri

Purpose and intent

The bill proposes to modify the state sales and use tax treatment of certain products by expanding the definition of “food” for tax purposes.

Specifically, it would include dietary and nutritional supplements within the scope of items taxed as “food” under current Missouri law.

Key provisions and changes

Repeals Missouri Revised Statutes Section 144.014 and enacts a new section with the same designation but revised language.

Current framework (as retained in structure) imposes a 1% sales tax on all retail sales of food, with revenue deposited into the school district trust fund and distributed per statute.

The critical change is in Section 144.014 (new language):

The term “food” would be expanded to include dietary and nutritional supplements, defined by federal law.
The definition continues to include food dispensed by vending machines.
The bill excludes from the “food” category those foods and drinks sold by establishments where the gross receipts from prepared food for immediate consumption (on or off premises) exceed 80% of total receipts, regardless of whether such items are consumed on the premises. This means most traditional “prepared foods” not meeting the 80% threshold would not be taxed as food under the new definition.

Affected parties and scope

Retail purchasers of dietary and nutritional supplements would be subject to the state sales tax as part of the broader “food” category, assuming the supplements meet the defined criteria.

Vendors and retailers would need to apply the 1% tax to dietary and nutritional supplements that fall within the redefined “food” category.

Restaurants and other establishments with high shares of prepared foods (over the 80% threshold) may be exempt from tax treatment as “food” for those prepared items, maintaining separate tax treatment for their non-supplement products.

Procedural and timeline aspects

Status: Introduced and referred to the Emerging Issues committee (as of May 15, 2026).

Prior actions include:

Read second time in the House (February 10, 2026)
Introduced and read first time (February 9, 2026)

Effective date: The bill text references a prior schedule related to October 1, 1997 for the 1% food tax, but the new text does not specify a separate effective date in the excerpt provided. If enacted, the bill would specify how and when the expanded scope takes effect.

Notes and context

The bill is described as similar to HB 3151 (2026) and HCS HB 1107 (2025), indicating it is part of a broader effort to broaden “food” tax applicability to supplements.

The mechanism preserves the current funding channel for the 1% food tax revenue (school district trust fund) via distribution under existing statute, subject to any changes in the definition’s scope.

If you’d like, I can provide a side-by-side comparison with the current statute and highlight the exact wording changes to 144.014 as proposed.