137.095. 1. The real and tangible personal property of all corporations operating in any county in the state of Missouri and in the city of St. Louis, and subject to assessment by county or township assessors, shall be assessed and taxed in the county in which the property is situated on the first day of January of the year for which the taxes are assessed, and every general or business corporation having or owning tangible personal property on the first day of January in each year, which is situated in any other county than the one in which the corporation is located, shall make return to the assessor of the county or township where the property is situated, in the same manner as other tangible personal property is required by law to be returned, except that all motor vehicles which are the property of the corporation and which are subject to regulation under chapter 390, RSMo, shall be assessed for tax purposes in the county in which the motor vehicles are based.
2. For the purposes of subsection 1 of this section, the term "based" means the place where the vehicle is most frequently dispatched, garaged, serviced, maintained, operated or otherwise controlled, except that leased passenger vehicles shall be assessed at the residence of the driver or, if the residence of the driver is unknown, at the location of the lessee.
(L. 1945 p. 1799 § 9, L. 1945 p. 1782 § 27, A.L. 1959 H.B. 108, A.L. 1965 p. 255, A.L. 1994 S.B. 652 merged with S.B. 662 & 459)(1966) The word "situated" as used in this section connotes a more or less permanent location or situs. Buchanan County v. State Tax Commission (Mo.), 407 S.W.2d 910.
(1987) The rolling stock of a transportation company has been held to be "based", as that term is used in this section, at the physical location from which the business is operated, rather than the physical location at which the stock is kept or the physical location from which the stock is dispatched. Be-Mac Transport Co., Inc., v. State Tax Commission, 725 S.W.2d 599 (Mo. banc)
Missouri General Assembly