St. Louis Earnings Tax Excludes Passive Income, Court Rules

St. Louis can’t impose earnings tax on income a resident received from four businesses she has a partnership stake in that operate outside the city, a Missouri appeals court ruled Tuesday.

City revenue collector Gregory Daly asked the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, to reverse a trial court ruling that absolved Mary Anne Helmsing of liability for about $4,000 in earnings taxes, interest, and penalties that the city assessed. Helmsing earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in distributive shares of partnership income from 2013-2015.

“Because Helmsing’s compensation from the companies she owned was not ‘earned’ income, the Collector was ...