Mission, KS
Retirement Planning in Mission
Your last working years are probably uneven: a partial year, a business sale, a consulting stretch. That's exactly the window where conversion planning does its work, and Mission households rarely use it. It also creates confusion at tax time: Kansas runs three separate senior property-tax programs, and you can file only one. Picking the wrong one costs you money you didn't have to lose.
Why Mission
Planning built for Mission retirees
Johnson County · about 15 minutes northeast · Johnson Drive at Metcalf
Mission is small enough that its whole employment base fits on one page of its audit: 6,392 jobs, of which the twelve largest employers hold 2,487. VinSolutions and Cox Automotive lead at 501, ScriptPro follows at 428, and the City of Mission counts 228 including part-time staff. Two of the top five are software and pharmacy-automation firms rather than retailers.
Uneven income in the final working years is a Kansas opportunity with a narrow shape. Because the joint top bracket begins at $46,000 of Kansas taxable income, there is no meaningful state bracket to fill: the Kansas cost of a conversion is a flat 5.58% whenever you do it. The timing decision is federal, plus one Kansas AGI test.
Mission publishes its principal employers in the statistical section of its audit for the year ended December 31, 2024. Read the schedule's own asterisks before quoting it: most rows carry 2022 headcounts the city could not re-confirm.
VinSolutions / Cox Automotive
Mission's largest employer at 501 people, 7.84% of city employment on the December 31, 2024 schedule. The schedule marks this as a figure the city could not confirm for 2024 and carried forward from 2022.
ScriptPro
428 employees, 6.70%, second on the schedule, and second nine years earlier at 500. Privately held, so its retirement plan design isn't public record. A Form 5500 request is the only way to see it.
City of Mission
228 employees including part-time staff, fourth on the schedule and up from 162 in 2015. City staff are KPERS members, so a Mission municipal career ends in a pension Kansas does not tax.
Kansas Taxes
Kansas tax planning in an uneven Mission year
Kansas income tax law as of tax year 2026 · verified August 2026
Kansas gives an uneven-income household less room than federal law does. For tax year 2024 and after, joint filers pay 5.2% to $46,000 of Kansas taxable income, then 5.58%. A low year doesn't buy you a low rate on a conversion. The top bracket starts almost immediately.
One Kansas rule does reward the low year: the senior property tax freeze. From claim year 2025, its income test is Kansas AGI, the figure after Social Security and public pensions come out. The 2025 limit is $58,041. Withdraw too much in the wrong year and you lose that refund entirely.
- Kansas top rate, TY2024+
- 5.58%
- Social Security, TY2024+
- Fully exempt
- 401(k) & IRA income, TY2024+
- Fully taxable
Sources: KDOR Notice 24-08 · K.S.A. 79-32,117 · KDOR homestead programs
Tax figures on this page are current as of the dates shown and are provided for general education only. Kansas and Missouri retirement tax rules changed in 2024 and 2025, and several of these figures are adjusted annually for inflation or depend on future revenue triggers. Nothing here is tax, legal, or investment advice. Confirm your own situation with your tax professional before acting.
Who We Help
Is this you?
01
Age 50+ and within 10 years of retirement
02
$2M or more saved, mostly in 401(k)s and IRAs
03
Ready for a tax-first approach to retirement planning
How it works
Your Tax-First Retirement Plan is built in 4 weeks
Two phases over ten weeks. Phase one builds the plan in four weeks. Phase two determines who handles the ongoing monitoring and optimization.
Phase 1
Three sessions. Four weeks.
Week 1 · No Cost
Strategy
A 30 to 45 minute conversation about your goals and concerns, including a walkthrough of your Nine Tax Surprises Analysis. You'll leave knowing whether it's the right fit, whether the Retire Ready Roadmap™ makes sense for your next steps, and what tax surprises Uncle Sam has waiting for you.
Week 3
$4,500
Your Roadmap Review
Nine tax surprises sit inside a traditional retirement that almost nobody warns you about. Your Retire Ready Roadmap™ answers 25 questions with your specific numbers, across all five areas.
Best for couples already working with an advisor or looking to partner with one.
Week 4
Alignment
A 7 to 10 day refining period lets your plan settle in. Follow-up questions get answered, and sometimes components of your plan need to be analyzed or strategized. This wraps up the initial plan set-up and sets the stage for what happens next.
Three Paths Forward
The plan is done. Here's what happens next.
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01
Do It Yourself
The plan is yours. You manage the ongoing execution.
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02
Take It to Your Advisor
Take the plan to your advisor. Hopefully they follow through.
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03
Done For You
Continue with MOKAN.
Phase 2
Ongoing relationship
Done For You
1.0–1.5%
Wealth Management
The Retire Ready Roadmap™ is a living plan. It needs ongoing attention to maximize your retirement. Tax planning, investment management, Roth conversions, and IRMAA monitoring are handled for you. You focus on living the retirement you built.
Client Reviews
What Couples Say After Switching to Tax-First Planning
MOKAN Wealth Management has not offered compensation for the testimonials featured. The displayed testimonials have been chosen from a spectrum of client feedback. To the best of our understanding, there are no other conflicts of interest associated with these testimonials.
Nearby
Retirement planning nearby
Prairie Village, Shawnee, and Overland Park share Mission's school district, its inner-ring housing stock, and its county assessment cycle.
Common Questions
Retiring in Mission: common questions
Which Kansas property tax program should you file? There are three.
Three, and you file only one, with the Department of Revenue, not the county. For claim year 2025 (filed January 1 through April 15, 2026): the Homestead Refund (K-40H), income $43,389 or less, up to $700; SAFESR (K-40PT), age 65, income $25,380 or less, 75% of taxes paid, no cap; and the senior freeze (K-40SVR).
Your income is uneven before retirement. Does Kansas care which year you convert?
Barely, at the income tax level. The joint top bracket starts at $46,000 of Kansas taxable income, so any real conversion gets taxed at 5.58% no matter which year you pick. Kansas does care about the senior property tax freeze, though: its income test is now Kansas AGI, $58,041 for claim year 2025.
Is a federal or military pension taxed in Kansas?
No. K.S.A. 79-32,117(c)(vii) exempts civil service annuities and other retirement benefits earned for federal employment or armed forces service, in any form. Railroad Retirement is exempt too, by a longer route: federal law exempts it, and subsection (c)(ii) carries that through. Private pensions get nothing.
Next Step
Ready to Keep More of What You've Built?
If you and your spouse have $2M or more in investable assets, a tax-first retirement plan helps you keep more of it, year after year.