Kansas Homestead Act for Veterans: K-40SVR, K-40H, and Exemptions

The Kansas Homestead Act gives veterans three possible property tax relief claims, and the right one depends on your service-connected disability rating, your age, and your household income. Veterans with a 50% or higher service-connected rating should look first at the K-40SVR, which refunds the full difference between your current property taxes and what you paid in a base year, with a 2025 household income ceiling of $58,041. Veterans below that rating can still file the standard K-40H homestead refund, which caps at $700 but opens eligibility to a broader group. A separate property tax exemption tied to your disability rating runs alongside these refund claims and, at some tiers, can be combined with one.

Which Program Fits Your Situation

Kansas runs three homestead-related property tax relief programs, and you can only claim one per tax year. Each uses a different form, has different income limits, and calculates your refund differently. Filing for one disqualifies you from the other two for that year, so compare before you submit.¹

K-40H (Homestead Refund): open to disabled veterans, people age 55 and older, people with disabilities, surviving spouses of service members killed on active duty, and homeowners with a dependent child under 18. Household income limit of $43,389. Maximum refund of $700.
K-40SVR (Property Tax Relief for Seniors and Disabled Veterans): open to veterans with a 50% or greater service-connected disability rating and to homeowners age 65 and older. Household income limit of $58,041. No dollar cap — you get back the amount your property taxes have grown since your base year.
K-40PT (SAFESR): open to homeowners age 65 and older with household income of $25,380 or less. Not veteran-specific, but some veterans qualify by age.

All three require you to have been a Kansas resident for the entire previous calendar year, to own and occupy the home as your primary residence, and to have a home appraised at no more than $350,000.²

K-40SVR: The Disabled Veteran Program

This program is built for veterans with significant service-connected disabilities, and it is far more valuable than the standard homestead refund when your property taxes have climbed over the years. To qualify as a disabled veteran, you must have served in the active military, naval, air, or space service and received an honorable or general discharge under honorable conditions; have a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty; and hold a service-connected disability evaluation of 50% or greater.³

You must also have owned and occupied the same homestead during both the current year and your base year. The base year is the first year you met all the requirements: 50% or greater disability rating, Kansas residency for the full year, and ownership and occupancy of the homestead. If you would have qualified before 2021, your base year is treated as 2021. The home’s appraised value in the base year cannot exceed $350,000, and household income cannot exceed $58,041.³

How the Refund Is Calculated

Instead of capping the refund at a fixed dollar amount, the K-40SVR refunds the difference between your current year’s general property taxes and your base year’s general property taxes. If your taxes were $1,800 in your base year and $2,400 this year, you get $600 back. In parts of Kansas with rapid appraisal growth, that number can run well above the $700 K-40H cap.¹

When the K-40H Beats the K-40SVR

If your property taxes haven’t increased much since your base year, the K-40SVR refund could be small — possibly less than the percentage-based refund you’d see under the K-40H. Because you can only file one claim per year, run the math on both. The Kansas WebFile system automatically calculates which program produces the larger refund if you file electronically.⁴

K-40H for Veterans Below 50%

The standard homestead refund is the broadest program and often the starting point for veterans without a 50% rating. Under K.S.A. 79-4502, you qualify as a claimant if you lived in Kansas the entire previous calendar year and fit into at least one of these categories: you have a disability, you are 55 or older, you are a disabled veteran, you are the surviving spouse of a service member killed in the line of duty, or you have at least one dependent child under 18 living in your home.⁵

Total household income for 2025 cannot exceed $43,389. Everyone living in the home counts toward that number, not just the person filing. The maximum refund is $700, and the actual amount scales down as household income rises; veterans with lower incomes get back a higher percentage of their property taxes.²

The Separate Property Tax Exemption by Disability Rating

Beyond the refund claims, Kansas provides a direct property tax exemption on a veteran’s homestead based on disability rating. This exemption reduces your assessed value before your tax bill is calculated, and it operates independently from the refund claims above.

30% to 39% disability: exemption of at least $3,000 of assessed value.
40% to 49% disability: exemption of up to $3,500 of assessed value.
50% to 59% disability: exemption of up to $4,000 of assessed value.
60% to 69% disability: exemption of up to $4,500 of assessed value.
70% or higher, or permanently wheelchair-bound: full exemption from property taxes.
Disabled veteran age 65 or older: exemption equal to the percentage of the disability rating.

Veterans in the lower exemption tiers (below 70%) can stack this exemption with a K-40H homestead refund claim. Veterans who receive the full exemption at 70% or higher cannot also claim a homestead refund on the same property.⁶

What Counts as Household Income

Kansas defines household income more broadly than federal adjusted gross income, which catches many veterans off guard. The total includes wages, business income, interest, dividends, pensions, annuities, railroad retirement benefits, workers’ compensation, welfare payments, unemployment benefits, gambling winnings, foster care payments, and most other money received during the year.⁷

The detail that changes everything for veterans: VA disability compensation is completely excluded from household income. Social Security disability payments and SSI disability payments are also excluded.⁵ A veteran whose primary income is VA disability could show a household income of zero for these programs, even if the actual payments are substantial.

Non-disability Social Security benefits get partial treatment on the K-40H: only 50% of those payments count toward household income. If you were receiving Social Security disability benefits and then transitioned to regular retirement benefits at full retirement age, those payments remain excluded as long as they do not exceed your former disability amount.⁷

Household income also includes money received by everyone living in your home during the months they lived there. If an adult child moved in for six months, their earnings during those six months count.

How to File

Documents to Gather

Your 2025 property tax statement showing general property tax, excluding special assessments. This comes from your county treasurer.
Income records for everyone in the household: Social Security benefit statements, pension and annuity records, wage statements, and any other income received during 2025.
For K-40SVR filers: your VA Disability Determination letter showing your disability date and a service-connected rating of 50% or greater. You can download it from the VA.gov benefit letters portal.⁸
For K-40H filers claiming on a general (non-veteran) disability basis: a Social Security Benefit Verification Statement or a completed Schedule DIS.⁹

Deadline and Filing Options

Claims for the 2025 tax year are due by April 15, 2026. Kansas will accept late claims whenever good cause exists, as long as you file within four years of the original deadline.⁴

Kansas offers free electronic filing through its Homestead WebFile system, which supports direct deposit and typically processes faster than paper returns. First-time filers can use third-party tax software or submit a paper form; after that first filing, you gain access to the free WebFile portal using your prior year’s refund amount or an eight-digit access code.² Paper forms are available for download from the Kansas Department of Revenue website or by mail request.¹⁰

Setoff Against State Debts

Before issuing your refund, Kansas runs it through the state Setoff Program. Under K.S.A. 75-6201, the Department of Revenue collects debts owed to state agencies, municipalities, and district courts by reducing your refund. Delinquent taxes, court-ordered obligations, and other state debts come off the top before any payment reaches you.¹¹

Surviving Spouses

Kansas extends property tax relief to surviving spouses of disabled veterans and service members killed in the line of duty. A surviving spouse can file the K-40SVR claim under the same terms the veteran would have, and remains eligible until remarrying.¹

The direct property tax exemption tied to disability rating also transfers to a surviving spouse. The same tier that applied to the veteran continues to apply, again forfeited upon remarriage. Surviving spouses in the lower tiers can still combine the exemption with a K-40H refund claim.⁶

For the K-40H specifically, surviving spouses of service members who died in the line of duty during active service qualify as claimants in their own right, even without meeting the age or disability requirements that apply to other filers.⁵

Active-Duty Protection Under the SCRA

Service members still on active duty have a separate layer of protection under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. If military service makes it difficult to keep up with property tax payments, a court can stay any foreclosure or seizure of property for nonpayment. Service members are automatically entitled to an initial 90-day stay if they follow all procedural requirements, and a judge can grant an additional 90-day extension beyond that.¹²

If you are deployed and worried about missing the April 15 filing deadline, contact the Kansas Department of Revenue at 785-368-8222 to discuss your options before the deadline passes.

1
Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions About Property Tax Relief for Seniors and Disabled Veterans
2
Kansas Department of Revenue. Kansas Homestead Refund Programs
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Kansas Department of Revenue. 2025 K-40SVR Property Tax Relief Claim for Seniors and Disabled Veterans
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions About Homestead
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Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Kansas Code 79-4502 – Homestead Property Tax Refund Act Definitions
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Kansas Legislature. House Bill No. 2200
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Kansas Department of Revenue. 2025 Homestead or Property Tax Refund for Homeowners
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Veterans Affairs. Download VA Benefit Letters
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Kansas Homestead Claim Form K-40H
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Forms and Publications – Homestead
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Kansas Setoff Program. Kansas Setoff Program Debtor Web Inquiry
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Military OneSource. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act