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Two months after the 2026 income tax filing deadline, more than 100,000 Kansans are still waiting to receive their state tax refunds, the Kansas Department of Revenue has told the Journal-World.

A spokesperson with the department told the Journal-World that the number of people still waiting for a refund is “slightly higher than previous years.” The spokesperson said the department had processed approximately 16% of all expected tax refunds as of June 10, and that approximately 892,000 of the total refunds expected to be issued have been processed since January, which means over 100,000 Kansans are still waiting for their refunds to be processed.

The spokesperson told the Journal-World that budget constraints have affected the department’s processing speed. The department was unable to authorize overtime or hire the same number of temporary employees to assist with reviewing returns this year, and those staffing issues have “contributed to additional delays,” the spokesperson said.

Typically, the department processes electronically filed returns with a direct deposit within three to five business days and paper returns within 10 to 14 business days, the spokesperson said. But if issues are identified with a return, it may be placed on a “work list” for further review to make sure it is legitimate. Returns could be flagged and put on the work list for a variety of reasons, including if the direct deposit would go to a bank account in another state or if the bank account is newly established; staff would then “take a closer look and verify (the return’s) legitimacy before issuing a refund, the spokesperson said.

Most returns that end up on that list would be processed within 60 days, the spokesperson said.

The Journal-World looked into the issue after multiple readers reported delays in receiving their state tax refunds. One person said they filed electronically their state and federal tax returns electronically on the same day. Though they received the federal refund within nine days, they have yet to receive the state refund.

The Department of Revenue has a page on its website where users can check the status of their tax refunds. The link to that website is https://www.kdor.ks.gov/Apps/kcsc/increfundstatus.aspx.