Kansas Homestead Refund: Eligibility, Amount, and SAFESR

The Kansas Homestead Refund returns up to $700 of the general property tax paid on your home if you owned and lived in it all year, were a Kansas resident the entire year, and fit one of the state’s qualifying categories. For tax year 2025, household income must be $43,389 or less, and the refund percentage shrinks as income rises.¹ Renters have not been eligible since tax year 2013.²

Who Qualifies

Three things have to be true. You were a Kansas resident for the whole calendar year, you owned and occupied a home in Kansas during that year, and you fit at least one of the personal categories below.¹

Age 55 or older for the entire calendar year. For tax year 2025, that means born before January 1, 1970.
Blind or totally and permanently disabled for the entire year, regardless of age.
Disabled veteran with a service-connected disability qualifying under 38 C.F.R. 3.7.
Had a dependent child under 18 living with you for the entire year.
Surviving spouse of a military member who died in the line of duty during active service.

The renter question comes up often. The program did cover renters until 2013, but the legislature ended renter eligibility starting with tax year 2014.² If you rent, you cannot claim this refund.

What Counts as Household Income

The 2025 income ceiling is $43,389.³ The figure moves over time, so confirm it for the year you’re actually filing.

Household income here is wider than what shows up on a federal return. It counts the income of every person living in the home, even if they file their own separate taxes. That includes:

Wages, salaries, self-employment, interest, dividends, and gambling winnings.
Social Security, SSI, pensions, disability payments, and unemployment compensation.
Child support, alimony, foster care payments, welfare, food stamps, and general assistance.
The prior year’s earned income credit.

The most common filing mistake is leaving someone out. If an adult child, relative, or roommate lives in the home and has income, that income counts toward the household total. Add up every person’s earnings and every nontaxable source before you decide whether you’re under the cap.

How Much You Get Back

The program treats $700 as the maximum property tax it will look at, so $700 is the ceiling on any refund.² Within that ceiling, you get a percentage of the general property tax you actually paid, and the percentage falls as income climbs. The 2025 schedule:⁴

$0 to $6,000: 100% of property tax (up to $700).
$6,001 to $10,000: 96% down to 84%, dropping 4 points per $1,000.
$10,001 to $16,000: 80% down to 60%.
$16,001 to $18,000: 55% down to 50%.
$18,001 to $26,000: 45% down to 10%, dropping 5 points per $1,000.
$26,001 to $43,389: 5%.
$43,390 and above: not eligible.

Here’s how it plays out. If your household income is $15,000 and you paid $900 in general property tax, the program caps the tax at $700 and applies your 64% rate, giving a refund of $448. Someone earning $30,000 with the same $900 tax bill gets 5% of $700, or $35. The minimum refund the state pays out is $30.

How to File

File on Form K-40H, available from the Kansas Department of Revenue.⁵ The form asks for your personal information, household income from every source, and the general property tax from your real estate tax statement.

Pull these together before you start:

Your county real estate tax statement showing general property tax paid for the claim year.
Income records for every household member — W-2s, 1099s, Social Security statements, and any records of nontaxable income.
If you’re claiming as disabled, a Certificate of Disability (DIS form) signed by a licensed physician, or a Social Security certification letter showing total and permanent disability.⁶
If you’re claiming as a disabled veteran, the original VA Disability Statement or letter showing when the disability began and your service-connected evaluation percentage.

One warning on the property tax figure: use only general property tax. Do not include special assessments for streets, sewers, or utilities. First-time filers often pull the total from a mortgage escrow statement, which mixes those in. Use the county tax statement instead.

Deadlines and Late Claims

The 2025 claim is due April 15, 2026.⁷ If you have a federal extension on your income tax return, you can use it for the homestead claim too; just attach a copy of the federal extension to your K-40H.

Missing April 15 does not automatically kill the refund. The Department of Revenue will accept a late claim for “good cause” if you file within four years of the original due date. Good cause includes being out of state or out of the country, or a temporary illness at the time the claim was due.⁷ Include a written explanation and supporting documentation with the late filing. The four-year window is discretionary, not automatic, so filing on time is the safer path.

When a Different Program Pays More

Kansas has two other property tax refund programs, and for some homeowners either one is worth more than the standard homestead refund. You can only claim one program per year — filing under one disqualifies you from the others for that same year.⁸ Run the numbers before you pick.

SAFESR for Low-Income Seniors

SAFESR (Form K-40PT) refunds 75% of the general property tax on your home, with no $700 cap. Eligibility is tighter: you must be 65 or older the entire year, have household income of $25,380 or less, and your home’s appraised value cannot exceed $350,000.⁹ On a $2,000 property tax bill, SAFESR returns $1,500 compared with $700 under the standard homestead refund. For seniors who clear its thresholds, it is usually the better deal.

Property Tax Freeze for Seniors and Disabled Veterans

The K-40SVR program works differently again. It freezes your property tax at the level of a “base year” — the first year you became eligible — and refunds the difference between that frozen amount and your current tax. You qualify if you are 65 or older, or a disabled veteran with a service-connected evaluation of 50% or greater, with household income of $58,041 or less and a home value at or below $350,000.⁸ If home values in your area have climbed sharply since the year you first qualified, the refund can be substantial.

If Your Claim Is Denied

Start with the Department of Revenue. Send corrected income records, an updated tax statement, or whatever document addresses the reason for the denial.

If the Department’s final determination still isn’t right, you can appeal to the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals within 30 days of receiving that determination.¹⁰ Use the Division of Taxation Appeal form, attach the Department’s final determination, and include any filing fee. The 30-day deadline is strict; miss it and the Department’s decision stands.

1
Kansas Department of Revenue. Kansas Homestead Refund Programs
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Kansas Legislative Research Department. Homestead Program
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Kansas Department of Revenue. 2025 Homestead or Property Tax Refund for Homeowners Instruction Booklet
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Homestead or Property Tax Refund for Homeowners – 2025
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Forms and Publications – Homestead
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Kansas Certificate of Disability – DIS
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Frequently Asked Questions About Homestead
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Kansas Department of Revenue. 2025 K-40SVR Kansas Property Tax Relief Claim for Seniors and Disabled Veterans
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Kansas Department of Revenue. Kansas Property Tax Relief for Low Income Seniors
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Kansas Board of Tax Appeals. Division of Taxation Appeal Instructions and Form