KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kim Huebert — the in-home nurse from Bates County who took on City Hall and won — has gained a measure of renown since KSHB 41 first profiled her successful earnings tax fight in May.
“We were at a doctor’s appointment one day and I had somebody recognize me in the office,” she said with a laugh.
When Kansas City, Missouri, changed the process for filing for a refund of its 1% earnings tax in March, Huebert fought back — but now she has an urgent message for any procrastinating taxpayers: Time’s running out.
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Workers who were taxed by KCMO for work performed outside city limits during the 2018 to 2022 tax years have until Dec. 31, 2023, to file for a refund — and Huebert hopes you will reclaim what you’re owed.
She’s heard from several people who heard her story and got money back from KCMO, stories that never fail to delight.
“They’ve all been ecstatic that they’ve been able to get the refund and make a difference,” Huebert said.
Huebert, a home health care nurse from Amoret, Missouri, who works in Overland Park, found herself in the spotlight after she sued KCMO, where the City Council passed an ordinance in March 2023 that altered the requirements for how it processes its tax refunds.
Rather than a five-year window to seek a refund, KCMO now requires refund requests be filed by the federal tax-filing deadline — usually April 15 — but that left Huebert and other taxpayers with only six weeks to file after the law changed in 2022.
Thomas West didn’t think that was fair.
Huebert provides in-home care for West’s wife. He’s a programmer and analyst for the state of Kansas by day, but he’s also an attorney and wanted to help after learning that KCMO had denied Huebert’s refund request.
“It’s important for governments to do the right thing and to be seen doing the right thing,” West said. “Everyone’s going to make mistakes, but if they’ll own up to the mistakes, that would be a great thing.”
Initially, the case was tossed, but it was revived on appeal and Huebert eventually won, winning a $565 refund from KCMO and forcing the city to give taxpayers more time to adjust to the new law — hence, the Dec. 31 deadline.
“I feel like to the city’s credit, they may not like the outcome, but they’re actually doing an amnesty program to pay it as opposed to trying to fight this tooth-and-nail before the Missouri Supreme Court,” West said.
But refund-seeking taxpayers have less than three weeks left to take advantage of that amnesty.
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“I still am the little guy, but there were a lot of people it impacted,” Huebert said. “I think the original report was that there were around 1,400 people it was going to impact at least, and maybe even more that they don’t know about.”
If you’re one of them, the window to act — a window Huebert and West flung after refusing KCMO’s windfall settlement agreement because it included a non-disclosure agreement — is closing.
“I wasn’t willing to agree to that,” West said of the settlement, which Huebert agreed to turn down. “I chose to forego that possibility, whatever it may have been, because I wanted as many people as possible to be able to take advantage of this opportunity. I took a risk that the Court of Appeals would affirm and we’d be out of luck, but I figured they’d reverse and they did.”
HIs message is simple: If you think you may be owed money, especially from 2020 and 2021 when many workers had to adapt to remote situations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, apply for a refund and find out.
“The worst they (KCMO) will do is say, ‘No, you don’t qualify,’” West said. “But they may also say, ‘OK, you got it done in time and you’re ready to go.’ But if you don’t do it by Dec. 31, 2023, for previous years, you will likely be out of luck.”
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