Updated October 5, 2026. Quick answer: Yes. Kansas taxes trust income through Form K-41, and the 2025 instructions define a resident trust as “any trust which is administered by the trustee in Kansas.” Rates on the 2025 schedule are 5.2% and 5.58%.
How Kansas treats trust income
| Item | What the documents say |
|---|---|
| Treatment | Kansas taxes resident and nonresident estates and trusts on a Fiduciary Income Tax return, Form K-41. In the source’s words, “must file a Kansas Fiduciary Income Tax return” if the estate or trust had any taxable income, according to the instructions for residents. |
| Who counts as a resident trust | The instructions use a trustee administration test, and a trust administered outside Kansas is not a resident trust merely because Kansas law governs it. For trusts, the instructions add a beneficiary condition effective July 1, 2023. In the source’s words, “the trust must have at least one income beneficiary” who was a Kansas resident on the last day of the taxable year. |
| Rate on trust income | The tax computation schedule has two steps, 5.2% of Kansas taxable income up to $23,000, then $1,196 plus 5.58% of the excess over $23,000. The source says: “$1,196 plus 5.58% of excess over $23,000”. The schedule applies to line 3 of Form K-41. |
| Distribution deduction | The instructions start from federal taxable income on Form 1041 and do not describe a separate Kansas distribution deduction by name. Kansas allocates a fiduciary modification among the fiduciary and the beneficiaries. In the source’s words, “Enter on line 1 the federal taxable income shown on page 1” of the federal fiduciary return, so any federal deduction is carried through that starting figure. |
| Nonresident trusts | A nonresident trust files only if it has income or gain from Kansas sources, such as Kansas real or tangible property, a Kansas business, or services performed in Kansas. The source says: “had taxable income or gain derived from Kansas sources.” Interest, dividends and gains on intangibles are generally not Kansas source unless part of a Kansas business. |
| Return to file | Resident and nonresident trusts file Form K-41 after completing the federal fiduciary return, and a calendar year return is generally due April 15. |
| Withholding for nonresident beneficiaries | A fiduciary must withhold 2.5% of the amount distributable to each nonresident beneficiary and report it on Form K-18. |
A $10,000 example
The tax on $10,000 of taxable income a trust keeps depends on the bracket it lands in. Taxed wholly at the lowest printed rate, 5.2%, the tax is computed as $10,000 x 5.2% = $520; taxed wholly at the highest, 5.58%, it is computed as $10,000 x 5.58% = $558. The state’s own schedule decides which applies. Federal tax on the trust’s income still applies.
Income the trust passes out to a beneficiary is handled as the distribution deduction row above describes.
What changes in 2026
The latest documents read print no 2026 change to how trust income is taxed.
Federal rules
The state’s treatment sits on top of the federal one. The federal brackets a trust faces are laid out in trust tax brackets versus individual brackets, and capital gains that a trust keeps are covered in capital gains stay in the trust. The IRS explains the federal return in the About Form 1041 page.
Related: how Kansas taxes retirement income, whether Kansas taxes pensions, what a living trust costs in Kansas, federal trust tax brackets, and trust income tax by state.
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Answer againSources
- Kansas Fiduciary Income Tax Booklet and K-41 Instructions, 2025 (Kansas Department of Revenue): https://www.ksrevenue.gov/pdf/k-41inst25.pdf
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 5, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the plan administrator or the agency itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.