Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: Tied to federal. Kansas’s withholding guide says “Kansas withholding is required only when federal withholding is required”, and that when federal withholding on the payment is voluntary, Kansas withholding is also voluntary.
More on public pension systems, topic by topic: Kansas KPERS partial lump-sum option and Kansas KPERS return to work after retirement.
Kansas pension withholding at a glance
| Item | What the documents say |
|---|---|
| Is state withholding required on regular pension payments? | Only when federal withholding is required; voluntary when federal withholding is voluntary |
| Default rate if you give the payer no form | The guide gives no pension-specific rate. For a payment subject to Kansas withholding that it does not otherwise discuss, where federal withholding is a percentage such as 20%, it sets the Kansas rate at 5% of the payment |
| Lump sum or one-time payment | Nonperiodic distributions and eligible rollover distributions of pensions are covered when taxable, following the federal rules |
| Form to start, change or stop it | The guide says it uses “employee” to mean either an employee or payee, and that Form K-4 is how a person furnishes the information for Kansas tax to be withheld; it names no separate pension form |
| Changed for 2026? | No change stated; the guide read is the October 2024 revision |
What the Kansas documents say
The Kansas Department of Revenue’s Withholding Tax Guide, KW-100, says withholding may apply to pensions, annuities and deferred income paid to a Kansas resident. The payment must be taxable in Kansas and be a periodic pension payment, a nonperiodic distribution, or an eligible rollover distribution.
The guide ties the state rule to the federal one: it says “Kansas withholding is required only when federal withholding is required”. Its example is a payer of a taxable pension on which federal withholding is not required, where the Kansas resident chooses to have federal tax withheld: because that federal withholding is voluntary, Kansas withholding is also voluntary.
For lump sums, the guide lists “nonperiodic distributions of pensions, annuities and other deferred income” among the payments covered, and says Kansas withholding on deferred compensation plans follows the federal rules.
What a mover should know
This page is about Kansas as a state of residence. An instruction line written for a nonresident or part-year filer is not the rule for a resident, and none of the documents read settles a part-year or two-state case, so check each state’s own rule. The federal side is the same everywhere; CMG’s federal 20% withholding on a pension lump sum page covers it, state tax withholding on IRA and 401(k) withdrawals in Kansas covers the account side, and state withholding on retirement withdrawals lists the other states checked.
What the documents do not say
- The guide gives no pension-specific rate; for a payment subject to Kansas withholding that it does not otherwise discuss, where federal withholding is a percentage such as 20%, it sets the Kansas rate at 5% of the payment. It uses “employee” to mean either an employee or payee and lists Kansas form K-4 among the records kept for each employee/payee, so a retiree who wants a particular Kansas amount withheld should ask the payer whether it uses Form K-4 for pension payments. The guide read is the October 2024 revision and describes no 2026 change.
Common mistakes
- Choosing no federal withholding and expecting state tax to be withheld anyway; in a state tied to federal withholding the two usually move together.
- Assuming the answer for one state applies to another, or that state withholding settles the state tax owed at filing.
Related: state tax withholding on IRA and 401(k) withdrawals in Kansas, Kansas retirement taxes, whether Kansas taxes pensions, state withholding on retirement withdrawals, and retirement withholding calculator.
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Answer againSources
- Withholding Tax Guide KW-100: https://www.ksrevenue.gov/pdf/kw100.pdf
- IRS Tax Topic 413, Rollovers from retirement plans: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc413
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a tax professional or the state agency itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.