Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption in Kansas (2026)

Last reviewed August 26, 2026. Every figure, form and deadline on this page is re-checked against the state’s own government sources once a quarter, and the date above is updated when we do it.

Kansas does not exempt any part of a disabled veteran’s home value from property tax. Instead it runs two income tax refund programs a disabled veteran can use: the Homestead refund (Form K-40H), capped at $700 a year, and the Property Tax Relief Claim for Seniors and Disabled Veterans (Form K-40SVR), which is uncapped but only refunds the increase in your tax bill since a fixed base year. Both require a service-connected disability rating of 50 percent or greater, not the 100 percent that other states require, and both are income tested.

If you have seen Kansas described as having a veteran property tax “exemption,” that is the wrong word for what the state actually does, and it matters for how your loan file gets built. I explain why further down.

How much is the Kansas benefit worth?

Program	Who it is for	How much	Income limit (2025)
K-40H, Homestead refund	Age 55+, blind or totally and permanently disabled, a disabled veteran, or a parent with a dependent child under 18	A percentage of your general property tax, based on a sliding income table. Maximum $700 a year	$43,389
K-40SVR, Property Tax Relief for Seniors and Disabled Veterans	Age 65+, a disabled veteran, or the surviving spouse of either who was already receiving K-40SVR	The dollar increase in your tax bill since your base year. No cap, but $0 in the first eligible year	$58,041
K-40PT, SAFESR (low-income seniors)	Age 65+ only, not for veterans under 65 on disability alone	75 percent of property tax paid	$25,380

There is no true exemption in Kansas: nothing is removed from your home’s assessed value, and your county tax bill is calculated the same way it is for every other homeowner. What Kansas gives a disabled veteran is money back after the fact, filed on your state income tax return, not a lower bill up front. Both programs cap the home’s appraised value at $350,000; a more valuable home does not qualify for either one.

Why “exemption” is the wrong word, and where the confusion comes from

National veteran-benefit round-ups frequently list Kansas alongside states like Texas and Florida that run real assessed-value exemptions, and describe a single “100 percent disabled veteran property tax exemption.” Kansas has neither piece of that claim right. There is no exemption, and the rating threshold in Kansas’s own statute is 50 percent, not 100. The state’s own K-40H and K-40SVR instructions spell out the 50 percent bar directly, citing 38 U.S.C. Section 1101 and 10 U.S.C. Section 1201.

K-40H, the capped refund

Your refund percentage comes off a table tied to total household income, applied to the lesser of your general property tax or $700. Lower income gets a higher percentage; the refund shrinks as income approaches the $43,389 ceiling, and above it you get nothing. A veteran with a modest tax bill and low income can see most of that bill refunded. A veteran with a $4,000 tax bill will never see more than $700 back through K-40H no matter how low their income is.

K-40SVR, the uncapped freeze-and-refund

K-40SVR works differently. It locks in a base year, defined as the first full calendar year you are both a qualifying disabled veteran and an owner-occupant of the home. Every year after that, your refund is your current year’s tax bill minus your base-year tax bill. If your county keeps raising valuations, the refund grows every year. If your bill has not moved yet, K-40SVR pays $0 the first year you can claim it, because there is no increase yet to hand back.

Who qualifies in Kansas?

To claim either program as a disabled veteran in Kansas you need all of these:

• Be a Kansas resident for the entire tax year.
• Own and occupy the home as your homestead. Your name has to be on the deed. Contract-for-deed counts as ownership; a rent-to-own contract does not.
• Have a service-connected disability evaluation of 50 percent or greater from the VA, with a discharge that was honorable or general under honorable conditions, and the disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty. Those covered under 38 C.F.R. Section 3.7 also qualify.
• Fall under the household income limit for the program you file: $43,389 for K-40H, $58,041 for K-40SVR, both for the 2025 tax year.
• Own a home appraised at $350,000 or less (in the base year, for K-40SVR).

You enclose your VA award or disability determination letter showing the rating and the date the disability began. The department needs the disability to have started before the tax year you are claiming.

Only one claim per household, and you cannot double dip

A married couple, or any group who occupies the same household, files one claim total. If you filed K-40PT or K-40SVR, you cannot also file K-40H for the same year, and vice versa. Kansas’s free Homestead WebFile software checks all three programs and files whichever produces the larger refund automatically.

Surviving spouses

K-40H covers the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran or of a service member who died in the line of duty, until remarriage. K-40SVR continues for the surviving spouse of a claimant who was already receiving K-40SVR benefits as a senior or disabled veteran at the time of death, also until remarriage. The spouse still has to meet the residency, ownership and income tests on their own.

Can the benefit be used before closing?

It depends which program. K-40H can be prorated. If you buy and move into a Kansas home partway through the year, you claim the general property tax you actually paid for the months you owned and occupied it, so a purchase in 2026 can still produce a K-40H refund filed in early 2027.

K-40SVR is the one that punishes a fresh purchase. It requires a full calendar year of ownership and occupancy, as a qualifying disabled veteran, before a base year is even set. Buy in 2026 and your earliest possible base year is 2027, the first calendar year you owned and occupied the home the entire year. The first year you can actually file a K-40SVR claim is 2028, using that 2027 base year, and because base-year tax and claim-year tax are close together at that point, the first check is often close to zero. The payoff shows up in later years, as your tax bill climbs above the frozen base.

Ask the lender question anyway, because it is worth asking. A handful of states do force the taxing authority to give a qualifying veteran a written determination before they own the home, and lenders differ widely on how they treat any veteran tax benefit in a file. Kansas’s program does not lower the assessed value, so there is no reduced bill to project here, but the escrow and documentation questions below still decide how your file gets built.

Where an escrow waiver fits

Because this benefit never lowers the bill your servicer pays, an escrow waiver does not solve the same problem it solves in a state with a true assessed-value exemption. There is no shrinking future bill to work around. VA does not require escrows, so waiving one is a lender and investor decision, and it can still be worth asking about on a tight file. Just understand the tradeoff: with no escrow account, you pay the taxing authority directly and on time yourself, and the credit or reimbursement still arrives later, separately, on the state’s own schedule.

One more VA rule to know, because it runs the other way. On estimating taxes, Chapter 4 says “If taxes are expected to increase, use the increased amount.” There is no matching VA instruction that lets an underwriter write down your taxes, which is why the reduction is always a lender option and never a VA entitlement. The Chapter 4 text is here if you want to read it.

Plan for the gap between closing and approval

These programs run on a yearly cycle, and the taxing authority bills on its own calendar. You are the owner from the day you close, so those bills are yours, in full, including any portion attributable to the period the prior owner held the home. The credit or reimbursement shows up afterward, sometimes a year later, and it does not reach back to pay a bill you let go delinquent. One lender’s VA guide makes the responsibility explicit and requires a signed letter of explanation from the veteran borrower stating they are solely responsible for the property taxes owed for the prior owner. Keep the money set aside and pay the bill when it comes.

How to apply in Kansas, step by step

1. Pick the right form. Get Form K-40H (PDF download) for the capped Homestead refund, or Form K-40SVR (PDF download) for the uncapped seniors-and-disabled-veterans claim, from the Kansas Department of Revenue homestead programs page. The full instruction booklet is the 2025 Homestead or Property Tax Refund for Homeowners booklet (PDF download), which covers all three programs side by side.
2. Enclose your VA documentation. A copy of your Veterans Disability Determination Letter, or a letter from your regional VA office, showing the disability date and a service-connected rating of 50 percent or greater.
3. Report your household income for the qualifying year, following the line-by-line worksheet in the booklet. K-40SVR uses Kansas adjusted gross income; K-40H and K-40PT use a broader household-income definition that half-counts Social Security.
4. File after December 31 of the tax year and no later than April 15 of the following year. Late claims can still be accepted for up to four years for documented good cause, such as absence from the state or a temporary illness.
5. Mail it in, or file electronically. First-time filers can use approved third-party software or paper forms; after your first year, the state’s free Homestead WebFile tool handles all three programs and picks your best refund. Paper claims mail to the address printed on the form.

Expect roughly 20 to 24 weeks for the Department of Revenue to process a paper claim.

Can you get a refund of prior year taxes?

The programs pay one tax year at a time; there is no multi-year lump sum. Two features act like a partial “refund” for prior amounts:

• Late claims, up to four years back. If you had good cause for missing the April 15 deadline, such as being out of state or temporarily ill, you can still file within four years of the original due date. Enclose a written explanation and any supporting documentation.
• The Refund Advancement Program. If you check the box on your K-40H, K-40PT or K-40SVR form, the department applies part of your anticipated next-year refund directly to your county treasurer to help pay the first half of next year’s property tax. You true up the difference, plus or minus, when you file the following year’s claim.

K-40SVR has its own version of a delayed payoff, described above: because the first claim year after your base year is set usually refunds close to nothing, the meaningful money on that program comes in later years as your bill rises above the frozen base, not as a retroactive lump sum.

Other Kansas programs for disabled veterans

Property tax relief is not the only Kansas benefit worth knowing about if you have a service-connected disability. All of these are Kansas state programs unless labeled otherwise.

• Kansas income tax exclusion for military retirement pay. Kansas fully excludes military retirement pay from state taxable income, and VA disability compensation was never taxable to begin with, federal or state.
• Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs Office (state). Kansas runs a statewide veteran service office network that helps file VA disability claims, appeals and increases at no cost. If your rating has not been reviewed in a while, that is the first call to make before you rely on a stale percentage for either K-40H or K-40SVR.
• County appraiser contact for value disputes (county). Both Kansas refund programs cap out at a $350,000 appraised value. If your county’s valuation looks wrong, you can appeal it with your county appraiser separately from either refund claim.
• Federal Specially Adapted Housing and HISA grants (federal). For veterans adapting a home to a service-connected disability, these are VA benefits, not Kansas programs, and they work alongside a VA loan.

Kansas disabled veteran property tax FAQs

Does Kansas exempt disabled veterans from property tax?

No. Kansas has no statute that removes any part of a veteran’s home value from the tax roll. What it has is a state income tax refund program. You pay your full county tax bill, then file a claim with the Kansas Department of Revenue and get part of it back the following spring.

What VA rating do you need in Kansas?

A service-connected evaluation of 50 percent or greater, under K.S.A. 79-4508a and the matching definition used on Form K-40H. You do not need a 100 percent or permanent and total rating. Individuals covered under 38 C.F.R. Section 3.7 also qualify.

How much is the Kansas disabled veteran refund worth?

It depends which of two programs you use. The Homestead refund (K-40H) is capped at $700 a year and phases down as income rises. The Property Tax Relief claim for Seniors and Disabled Veterans (K-40SVR) has no dollar cap. It refunds the difference between your tax bill in a fixed base year and your current bill, so it grows as your taxes rise, but it pays nothing the first year.

Is the Kansas refund based on income?

Yes, both programs are. K-40H requires 2025 household income of $43,389 or less. K-40SVR requires $58,041 or less. There is no income-exempt disabled veteran track in Kansas the way some states run one.

Can you use the exemption on a house you are about to close on?

K-40H, yes, prorated for the months you owned and occupied the home. K-40SVR, no, not right away. It needs a full calendar year of ownership and occupancy to set your base year, and the first claim year after that pays $0 because there is no tax increase yet to refund.

Does this lower my property tax bill?

No. Kansas relief is a state income tax refund, not a reduction to the assessed value or to the tax bill itself, so your county bill stays the same. The money comes back to you as a refund check or as a credit toward next year’s first-half bill.

Can a surviving spouse keep receiving the Kansas benefit?

Yes, on K-40SVR, if the veteran or senior was already receiving K-40SVR benefits at the time of death, until the surviving spouse remarries. Surviving spouses of a service member who died in the line of duty can also claim K-40H.

Which form should a disabled veteran file, K-40H or K-40SVR?

Whichever pays more, and you cannot file both in the same year. A veteran early in ownership with a low tax bill often does better on K-40H’s percentage-of-tax refund. A veteran who has owned the same home for years, with taxes that have climbed since the base year, often does better on K-40SVR. Kansas offers free software at kansas.gov that calculates both and picks the larger one for you.

Where to go next

• Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption Guide, every state’s exemption, form and deadline in one directory
• The complete guide to VA home loans
• Property tax discounts for veterans on VA disability, the national overview
• Bad credit VA loans in Kansas
• Funding Fee Waivers and Refunds Guide, the fee is waived outright at a 10 percent rating or higher, and can be refunded if you already paid it
• Kansas Department of Revenue, Homestead Refund Programs, current income limits and forms for K-40H, K-40PT and K-40SVR
• Kansas Statutes, Chapter 79, Article 45, the Homestead Property Tax Refund Act, including 79-4508a which sets the K-40SVR disabled-veteran rules
• Kansas County Appraisers Association directory of all 105 county appraisers