<PAGE> PAGE 1
000 B000000 08/31/94
000 C000000 877463
000 D000000 N
000 E000000 NF
000 F000000 Y
000 G000000 N
000 H000000 N
000 I000000 3.0
000 J000000 U
001 A000000 VAN KAMPEN MERRITT MUNICIPAL TRUST
001 B000000 811-6362
001 C000000 7086846000
002 A000000 ONE PARKVIEW PLAZA
002 B000000 OAKBROOK TERRACE
002 C000000 IL
002 D010000 60181
003 000000 N
004 000000 N
005 000000 N
006 000000 N
007 A000000 N
007 B000000 0
007 C010100 1
007 C010200 2
007 C010300 3
007 C010400 4
007 C010500 5
007 C010600 6
007 C010700 7
007 C010800 8
007 C010900 9
007 C011000 10
008 A000001 VAN KAMPEN MERRITT INVESTMENT ADVISORY CORP
008 B000001 A
008 C000001 801-18161
008 D010001 OAKBROOK TERRACE
008 D020001 IL
008 D030001 60181
010 A000001 VAN KAMPEN MERRITT INC
010 B000001 8-19412
010 C010001 OAKBROOK TERRACE
010 C020001 IL
010 C030001 60181
013 A000001 KPMG PEAT MARIWICK LLP
013 B010001 CHICAGO
013 B020001 IL
013 B030001 60601
015 A000001 STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST COMPANY
015 B000001 C
015 C010001 BOSTON
015 C020001 MA
<PAGE> PAGE 2
015 C030001 02105
015 E010001 X
015 A000002 BANKERS TRUST COMPANY
015 B000002 S
015 C010002 NEW YORK
015 C020002 NY
015 C030002 10015
015 E010002 X
015 A000003 CHEMICAL BANK
015 B000003 S
015 C010003 NEW YORK
015 C020003 NY
015 C030003 10172
015 E010003 X
015 A000004 THE BANK OF NEW YORK
015 B000004 S
015 C010004 NEW YORK
015 C020004 NY
015 C030004 10286
015 E010004 X
015 A000005 MORGAN GUARANTY TRUST CO
015 B000005 S
015 C010005 NEW YORK
015 C020005 NY
015 C030005 10015
015 E010005 X
018 000000 Y
019 A000000 Y
019 B000000 59
019 C000000 VANKAMPENM
020 C000001 0
020 C000002 0
020 C000003 0
020 C000004 0
020 C000005 0
020 C000006 0
020 C000007 0
020 C000008 0
020 C000009 0
020 C000010 0
021 000000 0
022 A000001 MERRILL LYNCH
022 B000001 13-5674085
022 C000001 83710
022 D000001 95175
022 A000002 PAINEWEBBER
022 B000002 13-2638166
022 C000002 85560
022 D000002 57489
022 A000003 GOLDMAN SACHS
022 B000003 13-5108880
<PAGE> PAGE 3
022 C000003 59253
022 D000003 76195
022 A000004 FIRST BOSTON
022 B000004 13-5659485
022 C000004 71992
022 D000004 56088
022 A000005 SMITH BARNEY
022 B000005 13-1912900
022 C000005 58708
022 D000005 34724
022 A000006 MORGAN STANLEY
022 B000006 13-2655998
022 C000006 52727
022 D000006 29488
022 A000007 KIDDER PEABODY
022 B000007 13-5650440
022 C000007 38059
022 D000007 38092
022 A000008 LEHMAN BROTHERS
022 B000008 13-2518466
022 C000008 39977
022 D000008 27100
022 A000009 BEAR STEARNS
022 B000009 13-3299429
022 C000009 29899
022 D000009 37025
022 A000010 J.P. MORGAN
022 B000010 13-3224016
022 C000010 22805
022 D000010 41877
023 C000000 674550
023 D000000 696833
024 000000 N
062 A000000 Y
062 B000000 0.0
062 C000000 0.0
062 D000000 0.0
062 E000000 3.5
062 F000000 0.0
062 G000000 0.0
062 H000000 0.0
062 I000000 0.0
062 J000000 0.0
062 K000000 0.0
062 L000000 0.0
062 M000000 0.0
062 N000000 0.0
062 O000000 94.7
062 P000000 0.0
062 Q000000 0.0
062 R000000 0.0
<PAGE> PAGE 4
063 A000000 0
063 B000000 21.7
064 A000000 Y
064 B000000 N
066 A000000 N
067 000000 N
068 A000000 N
068 B000000 N
069 000000 N
070 A010000 N
070 A020000 N
070 B010000 N
070 B020000 N
070 C010000 Y
070 C020000 Y
070 D010000 N
070 D020000 N
070 E010000 Y
070 E020000 Y
070 F010000 N
070 F020000 N
070 G010000 Y
070 G020000 Y
070 H010000 N
070 H020000 N
070 I010000 N
070 I020000 N
070 J010000 Y
070 J020000 N
070 K010000 Y
070 K020000 Y
070 L010000 N
070 L020000 N
070 M010000 N
070 M020000 N
070 N010000 Y
070 N020000 N
070 O010000 Y
070 O020000 Y
070 P010000 N
070 P020000 N
070 Q010000 N
070 Q020000 N
070 R010000 N
070 R020000 N
071 A000000 412115
071 B000000 453434
071 C000000 879564
071 D000000 47
072 A000000 12
072 B000000 59202
<PAGE> PAGE 5
072 C000000 0
072 D000000 0
072 E000000 -614
072 F000000 6250
072 G000000 1786
072 H000000 0
072 I000000 285
072 J000000 223
072 K000000 0
072 L000000 59
072 M000000 25
072 N000000 0
072 O000000 0
072 P000000 0
072 Q000000 0
072 R000000 47
072 S000000 130
072 T000000 0
072 U000000 10
072 V000000 0
072 W000000 899
072 X000000 9714
072 Y000000 0
072 Z000000 48874
072AA000000 2250
072BB000000 0
072CC010000 0
072CC020000 53913
072DD010000 50649
072DD020000 0
072EE000000 0
073 A010000 1.3960
073 A020000 0.0000
073 B000000 0.0000
073 C000000 0.0000
074 A000000 129
074 B000000 0
074 C000000 30000
074 D000000 818835
074 E000000 0
074 F000000 0
074 G000000 0
074 H000000 825
074 I000000 0
074 J000000 3394
074 K000000 0
074 L000000 13872
074 M000000 218
074 N000000 867273
074 O000000 553
074 P000000 658
<PAGE> PAGE 6
074 Q000000 0
074 R010000 0
074 R020000 0
074 R030000 0
074 R040000 1619
074 S000000 300000
074 T000000 564443
074 U010000 36270
074 U020000 0
074 V010000 15.56
074 V020000 0.00
074 W000000 0.0000
074 X000000 7652
074 Y000000 54418
075 A000000 0
075 B000000 893711
076 000000 15.00
077 A000000 Y
077 B000000 Y
078 000000 N
080 A000000 ICI MUTUAL INSURANCE CO.
080 C000000 36475
081 A000000 Y
081 B000000 58
082 A000000 Y
082 B000000 150
083 A000000 N
083 B000000 0
084 A000000 N
084 B000000 0
085 A000000 Y
085 B000000 N
086 A010000 0
086 A020000 0
086 B010000 0
086 B020000 0
086 C010000 0
086 C020000 0
086 D010000 0
086 D020000 0
086 E010000 0
086 E020000 0
086 F010000 0
086 F020000 0
087 A010000 COMMON
087 A020000 920919-107
087 A030000 VKQ
087 B010000 AUCTION PREFERRED SHARES SERIES A AND B
087 C010000 AUCTION PREFERRED SHARES SERIES C AND D
088 A000000 N
088 B000000 N
<PAGE> PAGE 7
088 C000000 N
088 D000000 Y
SIGNATURE DENNIS J MCDONNELL
TITLE PRES, CEO & TRUSTEE
KPMG Peat Marwick
Certified Public Accountants
Peat Marwick Plaza
303 East Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60601-9973
The Board of Trustees and Shareholders of
Van Kampen Merritt Municipal Trust:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of Van Kampen
Merritt Municipal Trust (the "Fund") for the year ended August 31, 1994,
we considered its internal control structure, including procedures for
safeguarding securities, in order to determine our auditing procedures for the
purpose of expressing our opinion on the financial statements and to comply
with the requirements of Form N-SAR, not to provide assurance on the internal
control structure.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and maintaining an
internal control structure. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and
judgments by management are required to assess the expected benefits and
related costs of internal control structure policies and procedures. Two of
the objectives of an internal control structure are to provide management with
reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets are safeguarded against
loss from unauthorized use or disposition and that transactions are executed
in accordance with management's authorization and recorded properly to permit
the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles.
Because of inherent limitations in any system of internal control structure,
errors or irregularities may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of
any evaluation of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk that
it may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the
effectiveness of the design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the internal control structure would not necessarily
disclose all matters in the internal control structure that might be material
weaknesses under standards established by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in which the design or
operation of the specific internal control structure elements does not reduce
to a relatively low level the risk that errors or irregularities in amounts
that would be material in relation to the financial statements being audited
may occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the
normal course of performing their assigned functions. However, we noted no
matters involving the internal control structure, including procedures for
safeguarding securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined
above as of August 31, 1994.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management and
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
___________________________________________
KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
October 10, 1994
<TABLE> <S> <C>
<ARTICLE> 6
<CAPTION>
<S> <C>
<PERIOD-TYPE> YEAR
<FISCAL-YEAR-END> AUG-31-1994
<PERIOD-START> SEP-01-1993
<PERIOD-END> AUG-31-1994
<INVESTMENTS-AT-COST> 797117888
<INVESTMENTS-AT-VALUE> 818835032
<RECEIVABLES> 17265621
<ASSETS-OTHER> 219104
<OTHER-ITEMS-ASSETS> 30953550
<TOTAL-ASSETS> 867273307
<PAYABLE-FOR-SECURITIES> 552997
<SENIOR-LONG-TERM-DEBT> 0
<OTHER-ITEMS-LIABILITIES> 2276837
<TOTAL-LIABILITIES> 2829834
<SENIOR-EQUITY> 300000000
<PAID-IN-CAPITAL-COMMON> 537223277
<SHARES-COMMON-STOCK> 36270469
<SHARES-COMMON-PRIOR> 36270469
<ACCUMULATED-NII-CURRENT> 5986254
<OVERDISTRIBUTION-NII> 0
<ACCUMULATED-NET-GAINS> (893311)
<OVERDISTRIBUTION-GAINS> 0
<ACCUM-APPREC-OR-DEPREC> 22127253
<NET-ASSETS> 864443473
<DIVIDEND-INCOME> 0
<INTEREST-INCOME> 59202055
<OTHER-INCOME> (613705)
<EXPENSES-NET> 9714566
<NET-INVESTMENT-INCOME> 48873784
<REALIZED-GAINS-CURRENT> 2250416
<APPREC-INCREASE-CURRENT> (53912962)
<NET-CHANGE-FROM-OPS> (2788762)
<EQUALIZATION> 0
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OF-INCOME> 50649082
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OF-GAINS> 0
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OTHER> 0
<NUMBER-OF-SHARES-SOLD> 0
<NUMBER-OF-SHARES-REDEEMED> 0
<SHARES-REINVESTED> 0
<NET-CHANGE-IN-ASSETS> (53437844)
<ACCUMULATED-NII-PRIOR> 7761552
<ACCUMULATED-GAINS-PRIOR> 0
<OVERDISTRIB-NII-PRIOR> 0
<OVERDIST-NET-GAINS-PRIOR> 0
<GROSS-ADVISORY-FEES> 6250308
<INTEREST-EXPENSE> 0
<GROSS-EXPENSE> 9714566
<AVERAGE-NET-ASSETS> 593710621
<PER-SHARE-NAV-BEGIN> 17.035
<PER-SHARE-NII> 1.347
<PER-SHARE-GAIN-APPREC> (1.424)
<PER-SHARE-DIVIDEND> 1.396
<PER-SHARE-DISTRIBUTIONS> 0
<RETURNS-OF-CAPITAL> 0
<PER-SHARE-NAV-END> 15.562
<EXPENSE-RATIO> 2
<AVG-DEBT-OUTSTANDING> 0
<AVG-DEBT-PER-SHARE> 0
</TABLE>
