Kansas Property Tax Relief: The Homestead Refund, SAFESR's 75% Refund for Seniors, and the Senior and Disabled Veteran Freeze

Kansas doesn’t cut your property tax bill up front. Instead, the Kansas Department of Revenue pays refunds to homeowners who qualify, through three programs: the Homestead refund, SAFESR for low-income seniors, and a refund for seniors and disabled veterans that works like a tax freeze [1]. A household can claim only one of them each year [2].

Who can claim any of them

All three programs share a few basics [1][2]:

• You were a Kansas resident for the whole year.
• You own and live in the home. A homestead can be a house, a mobile or manufactured home, or another dwelling subject to property tax [2].
• The home isn’t valued at more than $350,000 [1].
• You file one claim per household. A married couple, or two or more people sharing a home, file a single claim [2].

Renters can’t use these programs. The department says plainly that homestead refunds aren’t available to renters, and that your name has to be on the deed [2].

The Homestead refund (K-40H)

The Homestead refund gives back a percentage of the general property tax on your home, based on your household income. The most it can be is $700 [1][2].

For the 2025 claim year, your household income had to be $43,389 or less, and you had to meet one of these [1]:

• you were born before January 1, 1970 (55 or older all year),
• you were blind or totally and permanently disabled all year,
• you had a dependent child who lived with you all year, was born before January 1, 2025, and was under 18 all year,
• you’re a disabled veteran, or
• you’re the unremarried surviving spouse of a disabled veteran or of a service member who died in the line of duty.

For this program, a disabled veteran is a Kansas resident with an honorable discharge (or a general discharge under honorable conditions) and a service-connected disability rating of 50% or more [2].

How big the refund is

The department’s table gives 100% of the allowed tax (up to $700) for household income of $6,000 or less. The percentage steps down as income rises, to 5% for income from $26,001 to $43,389 [2]. Household income for this claim counts most income of everyone in the household, including 50% of Social Security and SSI benefits; Social Security disability payments aren’t counted [2].

If you owe delinquent property tax on the home, the department sends your whole Homestead refund to the county treasurer to pay it [2].

SAFESR: 75% back for low-income seniors (K-40PT)

SAFESR refunds 75% of the general property tax on your home [3]. For the 2025 claim year you had to [3]:

• be 65 or older all of 2025 (born before January 1, 1960),
• be a Kansas resident all year,
• have household income of $25,380 or less, and
• own and live in a home valued at no more than $350,000.

Unlike the Homestead refund, SAFESR has no $700 cap. The department’s own example: a senior whose 2025 property tax was $936 or more gets a refund above $700 ($936 × 0.75 = $702) [3].

Two rules trip people up. Household income for SAFESR includes 100% of Social Security and SSI (disability payments excluded), not 50% [3]. And you can’t file a SAFESR claim if you have delinquent property tax; the first half of the year’s tax must be paid on time [3].

The senior and disabled veteran refund: a tax freeze (K-40SVR)

The K-40SVR refund pays back the difference between your home’s property tax in a base year and the tax this year [1]. If your tax goes up, the increase comes back to you as a refund.

You qualify if you were a Kansas resident all year, owned and lived in the home, had household income of $58,041 or less for 2025, and the home was valued at no more than $350,000 in the base year [1]. You also have to be one of these [1]:

• 65 or older for the entire base year,
• a disabled veteran for the entire base year, or
• the surviving spouse of someone who was receiving K-40SVR benefits as a senior or disabled veteran when they died.

Household income for this program is the total Kansas adjusted gross income of everyone in the household, so some households need to fill out a practice Kansas income tax return to check eligibility [2].

How the base year works

You must have owned and lived in the same home in both the base year and the claim year [2]. For anyone who would otherwise have a base year before 2021, the base year is 2021 [1][2].

The department gives an example: someone who turned 65 on May 21, 2024 and has owned a Kansas home since 2023 has a base year of 2025, the first full year at 65. Their first K-40SVR claim is for the 2026 claim year, filed between January 1 and April 15, 2027 [1].

Deadlines and how to file

Claims for a tax year are filed after December 31 and by April 15 of the following year. Claims for 2025 were due April 15, 2026 [2]. A late claim can still be accepted if there’s good cause, as long as it’s filed within four years of the original due date [2].

You can file through the department’s free WebFile, through approved tax software or on paper [1][2]. To check a refund, call 785-368-8222 [2].

The $75,000 school levy exemption

Every Kansas home also gets a break on one piece of the bill. Since tax year 2024, residential property is exempt from the statewide 20-mill school levy on the first $75,000 of its appraised value [4][5]. The exemption applies only to that statewide levy, not to the other taxes on your bill [5].

Where to get help

• Kansas Department of Revenue: 785-368-8222 for homestead, SAFESR and K-40SVR questions and refund status [2].
• Your county treasurer: for your tax statement and the amounts you paid.
• Your county appraiser: for your home’s appraised value.