Missouri's preceptor tax credit: who qualifies, and why NPs don't

What the credit is and who runs it

Missouri created the Community-Based Faculty Preceptor Tax Credit in RSMo 135.690. The credit runs from January 1, 2023, under the statute as effective August 28, 2022. The Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) administers it with the Division of Professional Registration, under the rule 20 CSR 2231-3.030, in effect since December 30, 2023.

It is a state income tax credit for a clinician who precepts a student without direct compensation. The number of credits each year is capped, and they go out first come, first served. DHSS's program page, seen through a search excerpt because it blocked direct reading, describes the credit as one for physicians and physician assistants.

The credit's value and yearly limits are set in the statute, and a clinician who might qualify should read them there or on the DHSS page, since those are the versions the state applies.

Who qualifies: every condition at once

Under the DHSS rule, a preceptorship earns the credit only when all of these are true:

• The preceptor is a physician or physician assistant licensed in Missouri.
• They precept without direct compensation.
• The student is a Missouri medical student at a Missouri medical or osteopathic college, or a PA student in a Missouri PA program.
• The rotation is a Missouri "core preceptorship" of at least 120 hours in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry or obstetrics and gynecology.
• The documentation reaches the state by January 31 for the previous tax year.

Two of those conditions close the door on nurse practitioner education by themselves. The preceptor list names no APRNs, and the student list names no nursing students of any kind. Nothing else about the rotation, such as its length, specialty or location, can make up for either gap.

Why Maryville NP students fall outside it

Maryville is a Missouri school, so some students assume its preceptors can claim the credit. They can't, because the rule asks what kind of student and what kind of preceptor, not only where the school is.

The fifth row is the one that catches people out. Maryville accepts board-certified MDs and DOs as NP preceptors, but a Missouri physician who takes you on is not running a core preceptorship under this rule, so the time they spend with you earns nothing under it.

Is anything changing?

Not in Missouri, as far as research could find. No 2025 or 2026 Missouri bill was found that would add APRN preceptors to the credit, and a third-party guide from April 2026 still describes it as physician and PA only.

At the federal level, the PRECEPT Nurses Act (H.R. 392 in the 119th Congress) would create a federal tax credit for nurse preceptors that covers APRN students. It is a pending bill, not law, so a preceptor can't claim anything under it today. If you mention it at all, call it a proposal.

State rules can change between the time this page was researched and your term. When a preceptor asks about incentives, point them to DHSS and the Revisor's copy of RSMo 135.690 rather than repeating what a classmate or a forum post said.

What this means when you ask a Missouri preceptor

Assume no state tax benefit is part of the ask, and don't suggest one. A Missouri NP or physician who has heard of the credit may ask whether you count. The accurate answer is no, and giving it up front costs you less than a preceptor finding out later and feeling misled.

Maryville doesn't add money to the ask either. In a 2023 webinar Maryville said it does not pay its clinical preceptors, and no public Maryville source names preceptor CE, library access or another perk. What you can offer is a rotation that is easy to host:

• dates that fit the preceptor's clinic days, set out before you ask;
• compliance already approved in Exxat, so the site isn't waiting on you;
• a clear picture of what Maryville will ask of them, which older Maryville guides describe as approving your time logs and completing the NP Student Evaluation;
• the name of someone at the site who can handle Maryville's MOU or the site's own agreement.

Our preceptor outreach guide covers what to send. If a clinician wants to understand the commitment before saying yes, precepting Maryville students is written for them. Missouri's rules on who may precept, which do apply, are on Missouri NP clinical rules.

Why students choose us to make the Missouri ask

A request to a Missouri clinician lands better when the pitch is accurate and easy to accept, and that is how our placement advisors make it. We describe the rotation on the terms Maryville actually sets, with dates, compliance status and the preceptor's role laid out, so no one signs on expecting a credit that doesn't apply. The search itself targets board-certified NPs, MDs and DOs in the setting your track needs, with the health-system routes on St. Louis and Kansas City clinical sites in view.

Maryville reviews and approves every preceptor and site, and the preceptors we bring you have heard the same accurate picture you have, so the commitment they make is one they understand. If one steps away mid-term, we're on call to find the next. Send us your track and term.