Updated October 22, 2026. Quick answer: The KPERS retirement application booklet (6/26) says a retiree who returns to work for a KPERS employer faces a 60-day waiting period (180-day if retiring before age 62), and KP&F members have a 30-day waiting period. The member certifies there is no prearranged job, and the booklet says a violation suspends the benefit and requires repayment. The statute lets the executive director waive those penalties, for reemployment on or after July 1, 2019, in three cases: the total length of reemployment was less than 21 calendar days; the total compensation was less than 10% of the retirement benefit that would be suspended; or the retirant would not have been reemployed but for an error by the participating employer or the retirement system and immediately terminated employment on being notified (K.S.A. 74-4914(7)(b)).
What this covers
The booklet’s Part E is headed “Member Certification”. This page quotes the return-to-work items in it and the retirement date rule in Part A. For the wider choices, see KPERS retirement decisions and public pension retirement decisions.
What the booklet says
Each row is the booklet’s own wording, the member’s certification when signing the application.
| Topic | What the booklet says |
|---|---|
| The waiting period | “By signing below, I understand Kansas law requires a 60-day waiting period (180-day if retiring before age 62) for KPERS members who return to work for any KPERS employer.” |
| KP&F members | “KP&F members have a 30-day waiting period.” |
| When it starts | “This waiting period begins the day after my retirement date.” |
| No prearrangement | “I understand Kansas law requires me to verify that I have no prearrangement to return to work for any KPERS employer, including Board of Regents institutions.” |
| Part-time work | “I understand this includes part-time and non-KPERS positions with any KPERS employer.” |
| If the rule is broken | “I understand that if I am found to have made a prearrangement to return to work or have violated the waiting period agreement for returning to work, my retirement benefit will be suspended starting the month I return to work until six months after I end employment.” |
| Repayment | “I further understand I will be required to repay to the Retirement System all monthly retirement benefits received after I began employment.” |
When retirement can start
The booklet’s instruction for the retirement date says “KPERS and KP&F members can retire on the first day of any month following the last day on the payroll.” “Judges and special KP&F members can retire any day of the month following the last day on the payroll.” “The Retirement System must receive this application before your selected retirement date.”
What the booklet does not say
It does not give examples of a prearranged job and does not say how KPERS decides whether one existed. Ask KPERS about a specific job before you accept it. The waiting period also has a statutory carve-out for elected office. K.S.A. 74-4914(6)(b)(viii) lists state or local elected officials among the retirants outside the general return-to-work rule and says “A retirant shall not be employed in an elected office within 30 days of such retirant’s retirement, except that if a retirant is filling a vacant elected office, no waiting period shall be required”. Kansas’s tax rules on pension income are on how Kansas taxes retirement income.
Edition
This page reads the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS), Retirement Application booklet (6/26), the 6/26 edition of the application booklet. It is one booklet for three systems: the form’s own Part A offers the boxes KPERS, KP&F and Judges. Where a rule is limited to one of them the page says so. The booklet points to a separate Retirement Options publication for each option’s details, which this page does not read, and Kansas law and your own KPERS account control over this summary.
Common mistakes
- Applying the KPERS wait to a KP&F member. The booklet says “KP&F members have a 30-day waiting period.”
- Lining up a job before retiring. The booklet says “I have not made and will not make any prearrangement before retirement or during my waiting period”
- Assuming part-time work is exempt. The booklet says “this includes part-time and non-KPERS positions with any KPERS employer.”
Related: KPERS retirement decisions, and public pension retirement decisions.
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Answer againSources
- Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS), Retirement Application booklet (6/26): www.kpers.org
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Topic no. 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions: www.irs.gov
Read from the pension system handbooks linked above on October 22, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a pension system or a qualified professional is the right place to confirm anything consequential.