Credits and breaks for Kansas families: the $2,320 exemption, 17% EITC, half the child care credit

The federal child tax credit does not reach Kansas, and Kansas has not built one of its own. What a child does on Form K-40 is add a $2,320 personal exemption, worth about $121 at 5.2% or $129 at 5.58%, plus a second $2,320 in the year the child is born. Working families get two credits that ride on the federal return: a Kansas earned income credit of 17% of the federal EITC, refundable, and a Kansas child and dependent care credit of 50% of the federal Form 2441 credit. A head of household filer gets a $6,180 standard deduction instead of $3,605 and an extra $2,320 exemption on top of the one for the child. And money put into a 529 plan, Kansas’s Learning Quest or any other state’s, comes off Kansas income up to $3,000 per child a year, $6,000 on a joint return. None of these figures is indexed; they are the same for 2026 as for 2025.

Two of those items depend on getting the federal return right first. The Kansas EITC and the Kansas child care credit are both a percentage of the federal credit, so a federal mistake, a missed Form 2441 or an EITC left off, is a Kansas mistake too. The other items are Kansas’s own and the federal return never asks about them, which is why the 529 subtraction and the newborn exemption are the ones most often missed.

What each child is worth

The food sales tax credit, once paid per person to low-income households, ended with the 2024 return after the state sales tax on groceries fell to zero. It cannot be claimed for 2025 or 2026.

The exemptions

Kansas uses the federal dependents. Every dependent claimed on the 1040, a child, a parent you support, a disabled adult sibling, adds $2,320 to line 5 of the K-40 with no age limit and no income phase-out. Two more exemptions were added for 2025 and later. A child born during the year earns a second $2,320 that year only, and a certified stillbirth earns the same. A head of household filer gets $2,320 on top of the $9,160 personal exemption and the dependents. A single parent with two children therefore claims $9,160 + $2,320 + $4,640, or $16,120, against a $6,180 standard deduction, so the first $22,300 of Kansas income is tax-free before any credit.

The Kansas earned income credit

The Kansas EITC is 17% of the federal earned income credit, for Kansas residents, claimed on line 17 of the K-40 with no separate schedule; the software carries it over. Because it follows the federal rules exactly, whoever qualifies federally qualifies in Kansas, and whoever is shut out federally, a childless worker under 25 or over 64, an ITIN filer, is shut out here. A $4,000 federal credit becomes $680 in Kansas; a $7,000 federal credit becomes $1,190. The credit is refundable, so a family that owes no Kansas tax still receives it. Part-year residents claim it in proportion to the Kansas share of the year; nonresidents cannot claim it at all. The federal side is in The earned income credit.

The child and dependent care credit

Kansas allows 50% of the federal Form 2441 credit, for residents, on line 14. The federal credit grew for 2026, so the Kansas credit grows with it: a federal credit of $2,000 is $1,000 off Kansas tax. The credit is nonrefundable, so it helps only as far as there is Kansas tax to absorb; a low-income parent whose Kansas tax is already small loses the rest. Child care paid through a dependent care FSA at work takes a different route: the FSA money comes out of Box 1 wages before AGI, which is where the K-40 starts, so it escapes Kansas tax at 5.2% or 5.58% as well as federal tax, and it does not depend on having tax to absorb a credit. Which route wins depends on the family; the worked example below is a case where the credit does.

529 plans and K-12

Contributions to Learning Quest, Quest529, the Schwab 529 Education Savings Plan or a 529 plan sponsored by any other state are subtracted on Schedule S line A16, up to $3,000 per beneficiary a year, or $6,000 per beneficiary on a joint return, worth $156 to $335 per child. The contributor gets the subtraction, so grandparents who contribute take it on their own K-40. Contributions made from January 1 to the filing deadline can be elected for the prior year, but no dollar can be used in two years. ABLE accounts for a disabled child get the same subtraction on line A21.

Kansas has no credit for private school tuition and no deduction for school expenses. Its scholarship program works from the donor side: the Low Income Student Scholarship credit on Schedule K-70 goes to people who give to scholarship-granting organizations, not to the parents whose children receive the scholarships, and from 2027 Kansas has opted into the parallel federal credit. Whether a 529 withdrawal used for K-12 tuition under the expanded federal rules is a qualified withdrawal for Kansas, so that no earlier A16 subtraction is recaptured, is a question for the Department (verify).

Head of household

Kansas follows the federal filing status, and head of household carries more weight here than the federal rules suggest. The Kansas standard deduction rises from $3,605 to $6,180, the extra $2,320 exemption applies, and the Form K-4 withholding certificate gives head of household filers two allowances instead of one. A parent who qualifies federally but files as single by mistake gives up $4,895 of deduction and exemption, about $255 to $273 of Kansas tax, before counting the child. The federal tests are in Head of household.

What does not reach Kansas

Because the K-40 starts from federal AGI, the federal child tax credit, the additional child tax credit, the education credits and the new federal deductions for tips, overtime and car-loan interest change nothing in Kansas. Nor does the federal standard deduction. A family that owes no federal tax because of the child tax credit can still owe Kansas, since the credit never touches AGI. The reverse is also true: above-the-line items help twice. A deductible IRA contribution, an HSA deposit or a student loan interest deduction lowers Kansas tax at 5.2% or 5.58% on top of the federal saving.

Kansas has not said how it will treat the new federal Trump accounts for children. Because the state follows the Internal Revenue Code as amended, the likely answer is that it follows the federal treatment of contributions and withdrawals unless the Legislature acts (verify).

Smaller items worth knowing

• Gun and ammunition storage credit. New for 2026 through 2028: 25% of the cost of a lockable gun safe or ammunition storage, up to $250 a year, nonrefundable with carryforward. A $600 safe earns $150.
• Adoption. A Kansas adoption credit on Schedule K-47 equals 100% of the federal adoption credit for 2024 and later, with any excess carried forward, and contributions to a Kansas adoption savings account are subtracted on Schedule S line A24, with unqualified withdrawals added back on A7.
• First-time home buyer savings account. Contributions are subtracted on line A23; the account must be used for a Kansas home, and unqualified withdrawals are added back on A6.
• Homestead refund for younger families. The K-40H homestead refund of up to $700 is not only for seniors: a homeowner with a dependent child under 18 at home qualifies if household income is $43,389 or less (2025 claim year; 2026 to come) and the home is appraised at $350,000 or less. It is a separate claim, free through Homestead WebFile, due April 15.
• Divorced parents. Kansas follows the federal return on who claims the child, so the $2,320 exemption, the Kansas EITC and the Kansas child care credit all go wherever the federal credits go.