Missouri has sent millions back in gas tax refunds, denied roughly $3 million in fraudulent claims last year
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
While the deadline for Missouri drivers to file for a refund on the state’s gas tax increase has come and gone, the Missouri Department of Revenue is still processing claims.
Since the program began, millions of dollars have been returned to drivers, but thousands of fraudulent claims have also been flagged by the state.
In 2021, the Missouri General Assembly approved Senate Bill 262, which began an incremental increase on the motor fuel tax. The rate increased by a total of 12.5 cents per gallon over five years, with the final 2.5-cent increase taking effect in July 2025. The current 29.5-cent-per-gallon rate is the final rate under the five-year increase.
Under the law, drivers can claim a refund for the increased portion of the tax by submitting receipts to the Missouri Department of Revenue. The program is available for gas purchased in Missouri, including purchases made by people who live outside the state. Qualifying fuel does not have to be purchased for a car; gas bought for other eligible uses including lawnmowers can qualify.
Since the first refunds were issued in 2022, the state has sent out roughly $4.8 million in refunds.
The number of refund requests has fluctuated from year-to-year. The state received 15,562 requests in 2022 before that number fell to 10,820 in 2023. Requests increased to 13,527 in 2024, then jumped to a program-high 17,119 in 2025.
Of the 17,119 that filed, more than 12,000 people received refunds last year, with the average refund totaling $162.74. That was up from an average of $132.42 the year before.
Trish Vincent, director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, said the number of people who take advantage of the program can be difficult to predict because drivers do not always keep their receipts.
“When you go in to get gas, a lot of people, they don’t hang on to the receipts. They don’t accumulate them, all those things,” Vincent said. “It’s hard to imagine what the numbers are going to be this year. But I bet we break the $2 million mark.”
In total, the Department of Revenue sent out about $2.057 million in refunds in 2025.
But not every request is approved.
In 2025, the Department of Revenue identified 4,149 fraudulent refund claims, resulting in roughly $3 million in claims being denied, according to the agency. That compares with about $3.3 million in denied claims in 2024.
Vincent said the department continually updates its fraud-detection systems as technology changes.
“I hate to say that, but there’s a lot of fraud in tax, not just this tax, but every tax,” Vincent said. “I mean, we’ve already stopped in the income tax for this year, about $47 million in fraud. So, unfortunately, people don’t do what they should do all the time and they’re not following the law.”
The DOR also relies on experienced employees to flag claims that do not appear legitimate.
“It’s a shame that we have to we just couldn’t say, ‘OK, everybody’s honest and they’re going to do what they’re supposed to do,’ but unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way,” Vincent told ABC 17 News. “We work with a company that works with other states. What’s happening here can be happening in another state, so we learn from everybody else and it is a moving target all the time. So we have to stay on our toes and our vendor helps us do that. Then, we have people down in tax that have been there for 30 years, so they know when they see something that doesn’t look quite right and we look into it, make sure that it’s legit.”
Where the money goesWhile some drivers are getting a portion of the increased tax back, the motor fuel tax remains one of Missouri’s largest sources of user-fee revenue for transportation, with most of the money going toward state-maintained roads and bridges.
According to MoDOT, Missouri has collected more than $2.5 billion in motor fuel tax revenue since the 2021 increase, including $786.5 million in 2025.
MoDOT is responsible for more than 33,000 lane miles of roadway and 10,400 bridges across Missouri. The agency said motor fuel tax revenue helps fund more than $720 million in maintenance work across the state, including pothole repairs, snow removal and road striping.
It also supports Missouri’s five-year transportation construction plan, which includes more than $9 billion in planned road and bridge projects. That includes $187 million in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program for the Rocheport-to-Columbia and Columbia-to-Kingdom City portions of the Improve I-70 project.
MoDOT said the state motor-fuel tax accounts for nearly half of all user-fee revenue used for transportation. Missouri has the seventh-largest highway system in the country, according to MoDOT. But when measured by revenue per mile, the state ranks 47th nationally.
For drivers who have used the refund program, Vincent said whether to claim the money ultimately comes down to the individual taxpayer.
“This is the eye of the beholder. If you want to get a refund, you can,” Vincent said. “I know of people that did it the first year, but they haven’t done it since. So why? I don’t know. It’s again, it’s up to the taxpayer if they want to take advantage of it.”
Missouri’s gas tax is scheduled to stop increasing after the 2026 increase.
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