New Residents and Personal Property
• New residents to the State of Missouri must bring in their registration paper(s) or title(s) and establish an account with the Assessor's office for the upcoming tax year. New residents are exempted from personal property taxes for the first year they were not residents of Missouri January 1. The Assessor's office issues statements of no personal property tax due (waivers) to those individuals who qualify for them. 

Missouri Residents and Personal Property
• To license your vehicles with new tags you need proof that you paid personal property taxes for the prior year. This is done with either a paid tax receipt or a waiver (certificate of no tax due or a statement of non-assessment) stating the exemption. 
• The paid tax receipt indicates that you were assessed (RSMo137.075 and 137.080) in the County that you resided in January 1 of that year and that you paid on the vehicles that you owned January 1 of that year. Each county's receipts are valid at any licensing bureau or DMV agency throughout Missouri. 
• Every individual owning a vehicle on January 1 with Missouri license plates should see to it that they get assessed in their county (RSMo137.090 and 137.280) during January or February of each year. 
• If you have moved here from another county in the State of Missouri, you will need to obtain proper tax papers from THAT county for those years that you lived there January 1. 

Military and Personal Property
• Military personnel are provided Missouri personal property tax exemption papers ONLY if (1) they were in the military January 1 of the tax year in question, (2) claimed a state other than Missouri as their home of record (verified by seeing their Leave & Earnings Statement for the month of January), and (3) have Missouri license plates on their vehicles. We do this on the basis that by Federal law they are to pay personal property taxes to the state/county from which they entered the military. 
• Otherwise for a Missouri resident who is active duty (even if out of state or out of country) and resided in Phelps County when they entered the military, then in accordance with the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act, they are to be assessed for personal property taxes in Missouri county of residence (Phelps County) regardless of where they have titled and licensed their vehicles. Other states where they are stationed are supposed to be waiving personal property taxes on those vehicles.