St. Peters, MO Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Section 610.020 sets the City's cigarette occupation license tax at two dollars fifty cents per thousand cigarettes sold, offered, delivered or displayed for retail sale, and the Board of Aldermen intends the tax to remain in effect without expiration. Section 610.015 layers Article I of Chapter 605 on top of Chapter 610, so the general business license, suspension, revocation, denial, renewal and penalty-fee rules apply alongside the cigarette tax. Section 610.010 defines a vending machine as any mechanical, electric or electronic self-service device that dispenses tobacco products, alternative nicotine products or vapor products, and defines tobacco products broadly to include cigarettes, cigars, smokeless and smoking tobacco, and products made with a tobacco substitute containing nicotine.

Section 610.030 makes it unlawful to sell cigarettes through a vending machine, or otherwise, on which the tax has not been paid. Section 610.040 requires every retailer or wholesaler to remit a monthly cigarette tax reporting form and full payment by the fifteenth of the following month. Sections 610.060 and 610.070 require wholesale and retail dealers to keep delivery invoices for three years, open to inspection by the City Administrator to verify tax compliance. Section 610.080 lets a dealer claim a refund if taxed cigarettes are later shipped out of the City or State, spoiled, or destroyed. All revenue collected is credited to the General Fund under Section 610.110.