"Buying a Home in Kansas: Can a Family With a Young Child Get Part of the Property Tax Back?"

There is a form in Kansas that puts a thirty-year-old with a toddler in the same line as a seventy-year-old widow, and it sends each of them back part of the property tax they paid on their home. It is called the Homestead Refund, Form K-40H. Two of its rules get settled long before you file, one of them by the home you decide to buy.

Yes. Kansas refunds part of the general property tax on your home through the Homestead Refund, Form K-40H. A dependent child under 18 who lived with you all year is one of the ways to qualify. The home has to be under the state's appraised value cap, your household income has to fall under the year's limit, and you have to have been a Kansas resident for the whole year.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, licensed in fifteen states, including Kansas.

What is the Kansas Homestead Refund, and who can claim it?

It is a refund of part of the general property tax you paid on the home you own and live in, claimed from the state after the year ends. General property tax means the county's ordinary property tax on the home, the main line on your tax statement. The program comes from the Homestead Property Tax Refund Act, K.S.A. 79-4501 and the sections that follow it. The statute says who it is for: people of qualifying age, people with disabilities, and certain people with low incomes and dependent children, each owning the home they live in. That last group is where a young family comes in.

For the 2025 claim year, the Department of Revenue's Homestead Refund Programs page lays out the basic qualifications. You must have been a Kansas resident for all of 2025. You must have owned and occupied a home in Kansas during 2025. Your household income must have been $43,389 or less, and the home cannot be valued at more than $350,000. On top of those, you need one more thing, and any one of these will do:

• You were 55 or older for the entire calendar year, which for 2025 means born before January 1, 1970.
• You were blind or totally and permanently disabled for all of 2025, at any age.
• You had a dependent child who lived with you the entire year, born before January 1, 2025, and under 18 for all of 2025.
• You are a disabled veteran.
• You are the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran, or of a member of the armed forces who died in the line of duty.

Those dollar figures are the ones the Department printed for the 2025 claim year, and it updates them every year, so please check the current K-40H instruction book for the year you are claiming.

A household can file only one of Kansas's three homeowner refund claims in a year, so this is never a second refund on top of one you already receive. The three are the Homestead Refund on Form K-40H, the SAFESR refund for low-income seniors on Form K-40PT, and the Property Tax Relief Claim for Seniors and Disabled Veterans on Form K-40SVR. The instruction book puts it as only one refund claim, K-40H, K-40PT or K-40SVR, may be filed for each household. The Kansas VA loans page covers the K-40SVR claim, which refunds an eligible veteran the amount their property tax has risen since a base year. If you are a young family without a service record, the Homestead Refund on K-40H is the one to read on for.

How does a child at home put a young family in the program?

The K-40H instruction book describes the qualifying child as one who lived with you the entire year, was born before January 1, 2025, and was under the age of 18 for all of 2025. The instructions for that line add that the child lived only with you for the whole calendar year, and that the child is, or could be, claimed as your dependent for income tax purposes.

The dates cut both ways. A baby born in February of the claim year does not count for that year, and neither does a teenager who turned 18 in November. A four-year-old who has lived with you the entire year is exactly who this bullet describes.

Why does the home I choose decide whether I can claim it?

Because the value cap is written into the statute, and the county measures it on its own scale.

K.S.A. 79-4501 says that a person owning or occupying a homestead that is not rental property is not entitled to claim a refund for any year in which the appraised valuation for property tax purposes exceeds $350,000. The Department's homestead FAQ repeats it.

The appraised valuation for property tax purposes is the value the county appraiser puts on the home, and it is the number on the valuation notice the county sends each year. Your purchase contract does not set it, and neither does the appraisal your lender orders.

So the question to ask about a home you are considering is what the county currently values it at, and how close that figure is to the cap. A home the county carries at $345,000 is close enough that one revaluation could carry it across. Once the appraised valuation is above the cap in a given year, the refund is closed for that year, whatever your income is.

What does the full-year residency test mean if I am moving to Kansas?

It means the year you arrive is a year you cannot claim.

The first qualification on the Department's list is that you were a Kansas resident for all of the claim year. A family who closes on a home in Overland Park in June, coming from another state, was not a Kansas resident in January. That family does not file a K-40H for the year of the move. Their first claim year is the first full calendar year they live in Kansas.

There is a softer version of the rule for people who were already Kansas residents and moved within the state. The K-40H instruction book says that if you moved during 2025, you may claim the general property tax paid for the period of time you lived in each residence. So a Wichita renter who buys a home in Derby in August, having lived in Kansas all year, can claim the general property tax for the months in the new home. Your purchase and your loan work the same either way, and the residency rule only decides which year your first claim can be filed for.

How much comes back, and when do I file?

The refund is a percentage of the general property tax you paid on the home, and the percentage is set by your household income on a table printed in the instruction book each year. For the 2025 claim year the Department's program page sets the maximum refund at $700. I am not printing the table, because it belongs to one claim year.

Household income is broader than what is on your W-2. The instruction book describes it as generally all taxable and nontaxable income received by all household members during the year, so please work from the book's definition rather than your adjusted gross income.

For the 2025 claim year, the Department says to file after December 31, 2025 and no later than April 15, 2026. The refund comes from the state after you file. It does not reduce the bill the county treasurer sends, and it does not lower what your escrow account collects each month. It is money that comes back to you in the spring. Sedgwick County's clerk says that the office will prepare and file these forms for residents.

What would I do before writing the offer in Kansas?

This is the order I would work it, and none of it takes more than a phone call or a look at a public record.

1. The county's current value for the home. You'll want to look at the valuation notice or the county appraiser's parcel record, because that is the figure the cap is measured against, and it shows how much room there is under the current year's cap.
2. Your qualifying path. For a young family, that means a dependent child who will have lived with you the entire claim year and been under 18 all year, so a birthday near either end of the year is worth checking against the dates.
3. Your household income, figured the way the book does. It counts every household member and both taxable and nontaxable income, which is why adjusted gross income alone can land you on the wrong side of the limit.
4. Where you fall on the residency calendar. If you already live in Kansas, the year you buy can be a claim year. If you are moving in, your first claim year is your first full calendar year here.
5. Where the refund goes in your budget. Your monthly escrow still carries the full tax bill, and what your lender is already required to project for property taxes on a purchase is the number the payment is built on.

Where this goes wrong

Reading the value cap as a price cap. The statute measures the county's appraised valuation for property tax purposes, so the county's number is the one to check.

Expecting a smaller monthly payment. The county still bills the full general property tax, and escrow still collects it. In Kansas the same tax statement can also carry special assessment installments that land inside the escrowed payment.

An illustration, so the shape is clear

Numbers below are made up to show the mechanism. They are not a quote and not a Kansas average, and the refund percentage is invented because the real table changes every year. Two families, each with a six-year-old at home all year, each with household income under the limit, each already living in Kansas.

Family A
  County appraised valuation of the home     $338,000
  Under the cap for the claim year               yes
  General property tax paid for the year      $4,100
  Refund percentage from the table (invented)     35%
                                              -------
  Refund before the maximum                   $1,435
  Maximum refund for the claim year             $700
  Refund claimed                                $700

Family B
  County appraised valuation of the home     $362,000
  Under the cap for the claim year                no
  Refund claimed                                  $0

Family A and Family B might have paid nearly the same price, and the county's valuations fell on either side of the cap. If Family A had moved to Kansas from Missouri in March of that year, the same home, child and income would have produced no claim for that year, and a $700 claim the year after.

What to do now

If you are shopping in Kansas, the county's valuation of the home and your place on the residency calendar are worth having in front of you before the offer. Run your numbers and you will see rates for your scenario, your debt ratio and closing costs priced for Kansas rather than a national average. No credit pull, no account, nobody calls you.

When you want a letter a seller will take seriously, get pre-approved for a Kansas mortgage and the income, debts and credit get reviewed properly rather than estimated. The Kansas mortgage page covers what is unusual about a closing here, and how the Kansas recording fee is capped on a smaller loan is the companion piece.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or tax advice. The Kansas Department of Revenue determines Homestead Refund eligibility and the refund amount.

Common questions

Who qualifies for the Kansas Homestead Refund on Form K-40H?

For the 2025 claim year, the Kansas Department of Revenue requires a Kansas resident for all of 2025 who owned and occupied a home in Kansas during 2025. Household income has to be at or under the Department's income limit for that year, and the home valued at or under its value cap. You also need one of five things. Those are age 55 or older all year, blindness or total and permanent disability all year, a dependent child under 18 who lived with you all year, disabled veteran status, or surviving spouse status. The Department updates both limits each year.

Can a young family with a child claim the Kansas Homestead Refund?

Yes, if the other tests are met. The K-40H instruction book lists a dependent child who lived with you the entire year as one of the qualifying paths, alongside age, disability and veteran status. The child has to have been born before January 1 of the claim year, under 18 for the whole year, and one you claim, or could claim, as a dependent for income tax. The income limit, the residency test and the value cap on the home still apply.

Is the home value limit on the Kansas Homestead Refund based on the purchase price?

No. K.S.A. 79-4501 measures the appraised valuation for property tax purposes, which is the county appraiser's value for the home in that year. A home whose appraised valuation is over the cap in a year is not eligible for that year. The county's figure can differ from the purchase price and from the lender's appraisal, so the number to check is the one on the county valuation notice.

Can I claim the Kansas Homestead Refund the year I move to Kansas?

Not for the year you arrive. The Department requires that you were a Kansas resident for the entire claim year, so a household moving in from another state files its first K-40H for its first full calendar year in Kansas. A household that already lived in Kansas and moved within the state may claim the general property tax paid for the period it lived in each residence, according to the K-40H instruction book.

Can I file a Kansas Homestead Refund and a SAFESR or K-40SVR claim in the same year?

No. The K-40H instruction book states that only one refund claim, K-40H, K-40PT or K-40SVR, may be filed for each household. The Department encourages a homeowner who fits more than one program to work through the alternatives and file the single claim that produces the largest refund.

When is the Kansas Homestead Refund filed, and does it lower my mortgage payment?

For the 2025 claim year, the claim is filed after December 31, 2025 and no later than April 15, 2026, and the state pays the refund after you file. It does not reduce the property tax bill the county treasurer sends or change what your escrow account collects each month, so it is best budgeted as a refund that comes back in the spring.