State playbook - Kansas

Matchbook, tuned for Kansas payroll, programs, and tornado alley.

Kansas layers a modestly progressive income tax (5.20% and 5.58% in 2025; scheduled 3.10% and 5.70% in 2026) on top of federal, adds a $14,000 SUI wage base that keeps the employer Section 125 win meaningful past the Florida ceiling, and brings state-specific levers - HPIP, ROZ, CSP, Learning Quest, KanCare, and IRC 139 tornado relief - that most broker ROI decks miss.

What Matchbook ships for Kansas Tax profile
Tax mechanics

Payroll tax in Kansas

State income tax

Applies

Kansas taxes individual income in two brackets through tax year 2025: 5.20% on taxable income up to $23,000 single / $46,000 MFJ, and 5.58% above. Legislation changes the 2026 schedule to 3.10% up to $30,000 single / $60,000 MFJ and 5.70% above. The employee pre-tax savings stack is federal marginal plus 5.58%-5.70% Kansas plus 7.65% FICA. A $3,300 healthcare FSA election saves about $1,235 for a 22% federal bracket Kansas employee in 2025 (22% + 5.58% + 7.65% = 35.23%) - materially more than the Florida equivalent.

Kansas Unemployment Insurance

Wage base $14,000 (2026)

Rate range: 0.20%-7.60% experience rated; new employer rate 2.70%

Kansas doubles the Florida SUI wage base, so Section 125 salary reductions produce meaningful employer UI savings past the first quarter for lower-paid employees. Matchbook keeps the UI savings line active in the Kansas employer ROI report through $14,000 of YTD wages per employee and suppresses it above the base. For new employers at 2.70% the combined FICA plus SUI employer match on the first $14K of a pre-tax election is about 10.35%.

Employer FICA

7.65% / 1.45% split

Employer FICA is 7.65% on wages up to the Social Security wage base ($176,100 in 2025; projected about $183,600 in 2026) and 1.45% above it. Matchbook models this per employee rather than quoting a flat rate.

Employer credits and levers

State and federal credits worth stacking

Credits that most broker ROI decks omit. Matchbook surfaces these in the employer report.

Kansas High Performance Incentive Program (HPIP)

10% Kansas income tax credit on eligible capital investment for qualified firms that pay above-average wages and invest in training. Investment threshold is $50,000 statewide, $1M in Douglas, Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, and Wyandotte counties. Sales tax exemption on qualified project purchases. 16-year carryforward; up to 50% of the credit is transferable for projects placed in service on or after January 1, 2021.

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Rural Opportunity Zones (ROZ) employer sponsorship

95 designated rural counties offer a 50/50 state-employer match for up to $15,000 of student loan repayment over 5 years ($3,000 per year per participant) to qualified new residents. Employers can sponsor directly as a hiring-and-retention incentive; Commerce lists 147 employer sponsors. The paired 100% Kansas income tax credit for new ROZ residents is an employee-side lever to surface at onboarding.

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Community Service Tax Credit Program (CSP)

70% Kansas income, premium, or privilege tax credit for contributions to approved rural non-profit projects (population under 15,000) and 50% for urban projects. $4.13M statewide annual cap; up to $200,000 credit per project. Application window March 1 to April 30, 2026, for projects starting after July 1, 2026. A philanthropy-aligned CIT-offset lever worth pairing with HPIP for Kansas employers with state tax liability.

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Federal IRC Section 45F (stacks with Kansas employer options)

Federal employer-provided childcare credit. 25% credit with $150K cap in 2025; rises to 40% with $500K cap in 2026, and 50% with $600K cap for small employers. Kansas does not currently offer a parallel state employer childcare credit, so Matchbook surfaces the federal-only modeled benefit for Kansas employers evaluating on-site or contracted care.

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Household programs

State programs that change what your employees should elect

Matchbook coordinates these against DCFSA, FSA, and HSA elections at the household level.

Childcare subsidy

Kansas Child Care Subsidy (DCF Child Care Assistance)

DCF pays a portion of childcare cost for TANF, low-income working families, families in qualifying education or training, and teen parents. Initial eligibility income raised to 250% FPL in 2024 (about $70,000 for a family of four). Child must be under age 13.

Matchbook: DCF Child Care Assistance reduces out-of-pocket dependent-care cost and therefore reduces the right DCFSA election. Matchbook asks Kansas employees whether they qualify before recommending DCFSA contribution levels.

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Preschool

Kansas Preschool Pilot and Preschool-Aged At-Risk Program

State-funded 3- and 4-year-old preschool delivered through USDs and community partners. Requires at least 50% of children served to be at risk (free/reduced lunch eligibility, single-parent, foster care, DCF referral, dual language learners, migrant, homeless). Half-day or school-day slots - wrap-around care remains DCFSA-eligible.

Matchbook: The correct DCFSA election for a KPP or At-Risk family is the full-day center cost minus the state-funded hours, not zero. Matchbook models this split explicitly.

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Health programs

Coverage coordination checkpoints

KanCare (Medicaid and CHIP)

Kansas is a non-expansion state - able-bodied adults without dependent children generally do not qualify regardless of income. Children, pregnant women, caretaker adults, seniors, and people with disabilities qualify on standard MAGI or ABD rules. CHIP serves children in households above Medicaid but under the CHIP income threshold; about 61,100 CHIP beneficiaries in April 2025.

Matchbook: Because Kansas has not expanded Medicaid, Matchbook flags the coverage-gap population (below 100% FPL, above KanCare caretaker limits) that neither qualifies for KanCare nor for Marketplace subsidies - these employees should be steered to employer coverage or dependent CHIP where applicable.

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ACA Marketplace (Federally Facilitated Marketplace)

Kansas uses HealthCare.gov. Six insurers offer 2026 individual/family plans (down from seven). Benchmark silver for a family of four rose about 28.9% before APTC for 2026 - the largest jump since 2019 - because the enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025 and the ARPA 400% FPL cliff returned. 2026 employer-affordability threshold is 9.96% of household income.

Matchbook: If employer family coverage exceeds 9.96% of household income, Matchbook surfaces the Marketplace dependent subsidy path - but recalibrates for the enhanced-PTC expiration and the 400% FPL cliff, which Kansas households crossing $100K-$130K hit hard in 2026.

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No Kansas state PFML

Kansas does not operate a state-funded paid family and medical leave program for private-sector workers. 2025 bills for paid prenatal leave (SB 153) and paid sick time (SB 216) did not advance. Private employees rely on federal FMLA and employer-provided paid leave policies.

Matchbook: Matchbook does not deduct a state PFML payroll contribution from the Kansas employee savings stack and treats employer-sponsored short-term disability and paid parental leave as the primary paid-leave signal in benefits counseling.

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Retirement and wealth

State-level retirement and wealth context

Kansas ABLE Savings Plan

Kansas's Section 529A program for beneficiaries whose disability began before age 26 (before age 46 starting January 2026). 2026 contribution limit $20,000; employed beneficiaries may add more under ABLE to Work. $501,000 aggregate cap; $100,000 SSI asset exclusion.

Matchbook: FSA or HSA dollars reimburse medical expenses; ABLE covers broader qualified disability expenses. When SSI asset limits are in play, Matchbook routes disability-related spend to Kansas ABLE first.

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Learning Quest 529 Education Savings Program

Kansas's direct-sold 529. Kansas residents may deduct up to $3,000 per beneficiary per year ($6,000 MFJ) from Kansas adjusted gross income for contributions to any state's 529 plan, not only Learning Quest. Contributions between January 1 and the tax filing deadline can be applied to the current or prior tax year. K-12 tuition up to $10,000 per beneficiary per year is a qualified expense.

Matchbook: Because Kansas grants the deduction for any state's plan, Matchbook does not over-weight Learning Quest for Kansas employees - the engine selects the best-fit plan by fee and investment lineup and applies the Kansas $3,000/$6,000 deduction cap per beneficiary to whichever plan is chosen.

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Section 132(f) commuter

Pre-tax commuter reality in Kansas

2026 IRC Section 132(f) cap is $340 per month for transit/vanpool and $340 per month for qualified parking (up from $325 in 2025).

Parking and state credits

Parking: Downtown Kansas City and the Country Club Plaza parking frequently approaches the $340 monthly cap; Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence, and Manhattan parking generally sits well below the cap. RideKC fixed-route fares are zero through mid-2026, with paid fares planned to return in June 2026 - Matchbook flags Kansas City employees to avoid over-electing Section 132(f) transit dollars during the zero-fare window.

State credit: None - Kansas has no state-level commuter tax credit. The federal Section 132(f) exclusion is the only pre-tax commuter lever.

Disaster readiness

Kansas disaster-relief playbook

IRC Section 139 qualified disaster relief payments are not W-2 wages: no FICA, no FUTA, no federal income tax withholding, and the employer gets a full deduction. Triggered by a federal disaster declaration. FEMA-4883-DR (severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding, June 3-7, 2025, declared July 22, 2025) is the most recent Kansas declaration and covered Bourbon, Cheyenne, Edwards, Gove, Kiowa, Logan, Pratt, Reno, Scott, Sheridan, and Stafford Counties.

  • Pre-drafted Section 139 policy template so Kansas employers can disburse tax-free tornado, straight-line wind, flood, or winter-storm relief within 48 hours of a federal declaration.
  • Post-storm Section 125 election-change guidance: a tornado alone is not a listed change-in-status event under Treas. Reg. 1.125-4 - it qualifies only when it triggers a change in residence, employment, or cost-of-coverage.
  • FEMA Individual Assistance interaction: IRS Section 139 payments generally stack with FEMA IA, but Matchbook flags duplication risks in the disbursement log.
  • Kansas-specific employer disaster leave review (Kansas has no statutory paid disaster leave, so employer policy is the governing rule).
Matchbook for Kansas

What we ship specifically for Kansas employers

  • Two-bracket Kansas income-tax calibration in the employee savings engine - recompute marginal stacks at 5.20% / 5.58% for 2025 and 3.10% / 5.70% for 2026, and widen DCFSA and FSA under-election guardrails using the higher combined federal-plus-Kansas-plus-FICA savings rate.
  • Kansas UI savings line active through $14,000 of YTD wages per employee in the employer FICA and SUI report, then suppressed - double the Florida active window.
  • HPIP plus CSP stacking calculator in the employer ROI report for manufacturers and above-average-wage Kansas employers with state income or privilege tax liability.
  • ROZ employer-sponsorship module at onboarding - surfaces the $15,000 student loan repayment match for new hires relocating into a ROZ county, plus the 100% Kansas income tax credit for eligible new residents.
  • DCF Child Care Assistance and KPP or At-Risk Preschool wrap-around logic in the DCFSA recommender, ingesting DCF eligibility (250% FPL) and KSDE preschool hours.
  • KanCare coverage-gap screener - Kansas is non-expansion, so Matchbook routes adults between KanCare caretaker limits and 100% FPL to employer coverage rather than Marketplace.
  • IRC Section 139 tornado playbook template with pre-drafted employer policy and post-storm Section 125 election-change guidance, keyed to FEMA DR numbers.
  • Any-state 529 deduction handling for Learning Quest - Matchbook applies the Kansas $3,000/$6,000 per-beneficiary deduction to the best-fit 529 rather than defaulting to Learning Quest.
  • Benefits graph ingests: Kansas DOR rate schedules, Kansas Department of Labor UI rate notices, KSDE preschool grant rosters, DCF child-care assistance caseload, FEMA DR numbers for Kansas, and FFM 2026 rate filings for Kansas.
Sources

Primary sources for this playbook

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