Kansas payroll tax requirements for employers involve two state-level obligations — income tax withholding and unemployment insurance — layered on top of federal Social Security, Medicare, and federal unemployment tax. Kansas withholds state income tax at 5.2% and 5.58%, and employers pay unemployment insurance on the first $15,100 of each employee’s wages in 2026. Registration, filing, and payment run through two separate state agencies with separate deadlines, and getting any piece wrong can expose owners and officers to personal liability.
Kansas Income Tax Withholding
If you have employees in Kansas, you withhold state income tax from their paychecks. The rule covers Kansas residents wherever they perform work, and non-residents performing work inside Kansas.1Kansas Department of Revenue. Withholding An out-of-state company with a single employee working in Kansas has a withholding obligation, and a Kansas-based company must withhold for its residents even when they work in other states.
Kansas uses two brackets. After the 2024 Special Legislative Session, the state moved to 5.2% on the lower portion of taxable income and 5.58% on income above the threshold.2Kansas Department of Revenue. KW-100 Kansas Withholding Tax Guide The Kansas Department of Revenue publishes wage bracket tables and percentage method tables that translate those rates into specific withholding amounts by pay frequency and filing status. Withholding applies to virtually all compensation, including bonuses, commissions, and vacation pay.
Each employee completes Kansas Form K-4, the state withholding allowance certificate, when they start.3Kansas Department of Revenue. Kansas Withholding Form K-4 If an employee never returns a K-4, you must withhold at single filing status with zero allowances.4Kansas Department of Revenue. Kansas Employees Withholding Allowance Certificate That produces more tax per paycheck than most employees would choose, which is why the state defaults to it.
Kansas views withheld funds as state property from the moment of the deduction. An employer that fails to withhold can be held personally liable for the unpaid tax plus interest and penalties.5Kansas Department of Revenue. KW-100 Kansas Withholding Tax Guide
Withholding Filing Frequency and Due Dates
Kansas assigns your filing frequency based on total annual withholding. The bigger the payroll, the more often you file.6Kansas Department of Revenue. Filing Frequency FAQ
- Annual, $0 to $200 withheld per year: one filing, due January 25 of the following year.
- Quarterly, $200.01 to $1,200: due the 25th of the month after each quarter.
- Monthly, $1,200.01 to $8,000: due the 15th of the following month.
- Semi-monthly, $8,000.01 to $100,000: first half of the month due the 25th, second half due the 10th of the next month.
- Quad-monthly, over $100,000: due within three banking days of the 7th, 15th, 21st, and last day of the month. Electronic funds transfer is required.
Withholding deposits are reported on Form KW-5. Every employer, regardless of frequency, also files an annual reconciliation on Form KW-3 by January 31 of the following year.7Kansas Department of Revenue. Tax Calendar of Due Dates The KW-3 reconciles your total annual withholding against the KW-5 deposits already remitted, so clean records throughout the year matter.
Kansas Unemployment Insurance Tax
Kansas unemployment insurance is paid entirely by the employer. Employees never see a deduction for it. The Kansas Department of Labor administers the program under the Employment Security Law, K.S.A. 44-701 et seq.8Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Kansas Code 44-701 – Short Title
For 2026, the taxable wage base is $15,100 per employee, up from $14,000 in prior years. Once you pay an individual more than $15,100 in a calendar year, you stop owing UI tax on that person’s wages for the rest of the year. New employers without a claims history pay a standard entry rate of 1.75%.9State of Kansas Department of Labor. Unemployment Tax
After enough history builds in the system, Kansas assigns an experience-rated tax rate based on how many of your former employees have filed claims. Low turnover and few claims mean a lower rate; frequent layoffs mean more. The experience rate can fluctuate each year with the balance in your individual employer account within the state trust fund.
Quarterly wage reports and UI tax payments are due:9State of Kansas Department of Labor. Unemployment Tax
- January through March: April 30
- April through June: July 31
- July through September: October 31
- October through December: January 31
Federal Payroll Taxes on Top
Federal payroll taxes apply on top of everything the state collects. Paying state tax does not reduce or replace the federal obligation.
Social Security and Medicare
Employer and employee each pay 7.65% of gross wages toward FICA: 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare.10Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds. Social Security Wage Base Set to Increase You withhold the employee’s half and match it. For 2026, Social Security tax applies only to wages up to $184,500 per employee.11Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base There is no wage cap for the Medicare portion. Employees earning more than $200,000 individually, or $250,000 for married couples filing jointly, owe an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax. You withhold it but do not match it.
Federal Unemployment Tax
FUTA is an employer-only tax. The gross rate is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages.12Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 759, Form 940, Employers Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) Tax Return Employers who pay their state unemployment taxes on time receive a credit of up to 5.4%, cutting the effective FUTA rate to 0.6%. For most Kansas employers in good standing, that comes to a maximum of $42 per employee per year, reported annually on IRS Form 940.
Registering for Kansas Payroll Taxes
Before you can withhold or remit any Kansas payroll tax, you register with the state. The Kansas Department of Revenue handles withholding tax registration through Form CR-16, the Kansas Business Tax Application.13Kansas Department of Revenue. Business Tax Registration and Business Closure You can complete the CR-16 online through the Kansas Customer Service Center or file the PDF.14Kansas Department of Revenue. CR-16 Kansas Business Tax Application
The application asks for your Federal Employer Identification Number, the legal name and physical address of the business, the date you first paid wages in Kansas, and personal identifiers for officers or owners. Industry codes matter because the state uses them to categorize the business, which can affect initial unemployment insurance rates.
Unemployment insurance registration is separate, handled through the Kansas Department of Labor’s Employer Self Service Portal.15State of Kansas Department of Labor. Employer Services Register there as a new employer to receive your UI account number and assigned tax rate. Both agencies issue account numbers that must appear on all future filings. Start this process before your first payroll. Filing late because your accounts were not active does not excuse penalties.
Filing and Paying
Kansas requires electronic filing for withholding taxes through the Kansas Customer Service Center. You enter total compensation and withholding amounts for the period, then authorize an ACH debit from the business bank account.16Kansas Department of Revenue. Customer Service Center Save the confirmation receipt as proof of timely filing. The Customer Service Center is currently the only electronic option for withholding returns.17Kansas Department of Revenue. Make a Tax Payment
Unemployment insurance filings go through a different system, the Kansas Department of Labor’s Employer Self Service Portal. You enter total and taxable wages for each employee, and the system calculates the amount due based on your rate.15State of Kansas Department of Labor. Employer Services Employers with 25 or fewer employees can also file by mailing Form K-CNS-100.9State of Kansas Department of Labor. Unemployment Tax The two systems are separate agencies with separate logins, deadlines, and penalty structures.
Penalties for Late Withholding Payments
Kansas penalties escalate quickly. The penalty on the underpayment works as follows:5Kansas Department of Revenue. KW-100 Kansas Withholding Tax Guide
- 1 to 5 days late: 2% of the underpayment
- 6 to 15 days late: 5%
- More than 15 days late: 10%
- More than 15 days late with a Department notice: 15% if the balance is not paid within 10 days of the notice
On top of the initial penalty, the state adds 1% per month on the unpaid balance, up to a maximum of 24%. If an employer ignores a written demand to file a delinquent return for more than 20 days, an additional 50% penalty can be assessed on the tax due, stacking on everything else.5Kansas Department of Revenue. KW-100 Kansas Withholding Tax Guide
Interest is charged on any withholding tax still unpaid as of February 1 of the year following the tax year. The Kansas interest rate is tied to the federal underpayment rate in effect on July 1 of the prior year, so it changes annually.
Personal Liability for Unpaid Payroll Taxes
Kansas treats withheld income taxes as state property from the moment they are deducted from a paycheck. Spending those funds on other business expenses instead of remitting them can make individual owners, officers, and anyone with authority over the company’s finances personally liable for the full amount.
The federal government uses an identical approach through the trust fund recovery penalty. The IRS can assess the full amount of unpaid employment taxes, plus interest, against any responsible person who willfully failed to pay them over. A responsible person includes officers, partners, sole proprietors, and any employee with authority over business finances.18Internal Revenue Service. Trust Fund Recovery Penalty The IRS defines “willfully” broadly: paying rent or suppliers instead of remitting payroll taxes counts. This penalty survives business closures, bankruptcies, and corporate dissolution. It follows the individual, not the entity.
Worker Classification
Every payroll tax obligation above assumes your workers are properly classified as employees. If you treat someone as an independent contractor who should legally be an employee, you skip withholding, skip FICA matching, and skip unemployment contributions, and the state and federal governments will eventually want all of it back with penalties.
The IRS evaluates worker status by looking at three areas of control: behavioral control over how the work gets done, financial control over how the worker is paid and reimbursed, and the type of relationship, including contracts, benefits, and expectations of ongoing work. No single factor decides it. The IRS can assess up to 100% of the FICA taxes you should have paid as the employer, plus up to 40% of the FICA taxes you failed to withhold from the worker, along with $50 per missing W-2 and potential Department of Labor penalties of up to $1,000 per misclassified worker. If you are unsure how a worker should be classified, the IRS offers Form SS-8 for a formal determination. Filing before a problem develops is cheaper than filing after.
New Hire Reporting
Kansas employers must report every new hire and rehire to the Kansas New Hire Directory within 20 days of the employee’s start date. The report includes the employee’s name, Social Security number, mailing address, and date of hire, along with the employer’s name, address, and federal EIN. The requirement exists under federal law and is used primarily to enforce child support orders and detect benefit fraud.
You can submit reports online through the Kansas Department of Labor’s new hire reporting system or by mail. Late reporting does not carry heavy penalties on its own, but it does put you on the agency’s radar.