Kansas Workers’ Comp Exemption
We file workers’ compensation exemptions for Kansas sole proprietors, LLC members, and corporate officers. Send us your details and we’ll confirm whether you qualify and handle the filing.
When coverage is required in Kansas
Kansas does NOT use a headcount threshold. Under K.S.A. 44-505, the Workers Compensation Act does not apply to an employer whose total gross annual payroll for the preceding calendar year was $20,000 or less (or, for an employer with no prior-year payroll, whose reasonably estimated current-year payroll will not exceed $20,000). Wages paid to an employee who is a member of the employer's family by marriage or consanguinity are excluded from that $20,000 computation. An exempt employer may voluntarily elect coverage by written statement filed with the Director. Agriculture, certain firefighters with a valid election statement, and qualified real-estate agents operating as independent contractors are separately exempt (not independently verified in depth here).
Who can be excluded in Kansas
Sole proprietors
A sole proprietor is not an 'employee' of their own business, so there is no state exemption certificate for them to file. Their own compensation is not 'payroll' for purposes of the $20,000 threshold computation; only wages paid to actual employees count. They must still cover any employees once the $20,000 threshold is exceeded.
Partners
Same structural treatment as a sole proprietor: a general partner is not an employee of the partnership, so partner compensation is not counted toward the $20,000 payroll threshold and no filing applies to the partner personally.
LLC members
Same structural treatment: an LLC member's compensation is not counted toward the $20,000 payroll threshold and no state filing applies to the member personally. (This LLC-member and partner treatment is inferred from the general 'not an employee of one's own unincorporated business' principle plus a secondary-source summary of the state's employer guide; it was not read verbatim in fetched statute text, so treat with medium confidence.)
Corporate officers
Corporate officers ARE employees by default, and corporate payroll (including any wages paid to an officer who has elected out) is fully counted toward the $20,000 threshold for the corporation. Under K.S.A. 44-543, any employee of a corporate employer who owns 10% or more of the outstanding stock of that employer may file, prior to any injury, a written declaration with the Director electing NOT to accept the Workers Compensation Act, with a duplicate filed with the employer. The election is valid only during that employee's employment with that specific employer and can be changed by filing a new written declaration with the Director and the employer. No cap on the number of officers who may elect out was found in the statute text retrieved. A contract that makes such an election a condition of employment is void.
How the exemption is filed
For the sub-10%-payroll-threshold exemption, no filing is needed at all — an employer under the $20,000 gross annual payroll threshold is simply outside the Act (though it may elect coverage in by written statement to the Director). For the corporate-officer election, there IS a true state filing: a written declaration filed with the Director of the Kansas Division of Workers Compensation (Kansas Department of Labor), with a duplicate given to the employer, per K.S.A. 44-543. No fee or specific form number could be verified from an official source; an insurer site referenced a form sometimes called 'KWC-50' but that page returned a 404 during this research and the form number is NOT independently confirmed.
- Form
- No state exemption form — see above
- Statute
- K.S.A. 44-505 (payroll threshold); K.S.A. 44-543 (corporate officer election)
- Market
- Competitive — coverage is bought from a private carrier.
Notes and open questions
dol.ks.gov blocked automated fetch (HTTP 403); statute text was instead confirmed directly on the official Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes site (ksrevisor.gov), which is the authoritative statute source and is what's cited in 'sources' below. The $20,000 figure and the corporate-officer 10%-stock/director-filing mechanism are both confirmed on ksrevisor.gov. The sole-proprietor/partner/LLC-member 'excluded from the computation' framing is a reasonable secondary-source characterization, not verbatim statute language — flagged medium confidence. No construction-specific carve-out was researched. No fee or form number could be verified for the officer election; do not publish a form number or fee for Kansas.
Sources
- https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch44/044_005_0005.html
- https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch44/044_005_0043.html
Source material dated Retrieved 2026-08-30 from the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes (current codified statute text). Compiled from official Kansas sources as a starting point, not legal advice — rules change, and your situation may turn on facts this page cannot see. Confirm with Kansas Department of Labor, Division of Workers Compensation or ask us and we’ll check it for you.
Workers' comp exemption filing in Kansas
Tell us about your Kansas business and we'll confirm whether you qualify for an exemption.