This month, we continue our blog series with a look across the Great Rolling Plains, comparing Nebraska and Kansas and exploring how each state approaches the ever-evolving world of technology for sales tax purposes.

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Software as a Service (SaaS) in Nebraska vs. SaaS in Kansas

Software as a Service (SaaS) is subject to sales tax in several jurisdictions across the country.  Approximately half of states do tax the SaaS revenue stream. As you’ll see below, both states differ regarding their treatment of sales tax.

Cloud Computing Services are not taxable in Nebraska.

Nebraska generally doesn’t charge sales tax on cloud services, so if customers are simply logging in online to use software or computing resources, that charge is typically not taxed. Nebraska still expects the company providing the cloud service to pay sales or use tax on the software and related tools it buys and uses in Nebraska to run the service, meaning the provider pays tax on its behind-the-scenes purchases.

SaaS is not taxable in Kansas.

A bill was introduced in early 2024 that would have imposed sales and use tax on digital property and subscription services (which could have encompassed SaaS and other digital goods), but it failed in committee.

Software in Nebraska vs. Software in Kansas

  • Nebraska does impose sales and use tax on prewritten computer software, whether delivered on a physical medium or electronically
  • Prewritten computer software delivered electronically or on a tangible medium is also subject to tax in Kansas.
  • The sale of custom computer software delivered electronically is subject to tax in Nebraska.
  • The sale of custom computer software delivered electronically is not subject to tax in Kansas.

Digital Goods

States vary in their treatment of electronically delivered goods including e-books, music, and streaming video.  Some states consider all these types of products to be taxable or not, while others call out specific taxability depending upon the product.

In Nebraska, digital products are taxable. This includes items like downloaded audio, videos, and e-books, and it also applies to streaming services, such as video content streamed over the internet.

In Kansas, most digital products are not taxable. Streaming services, however, are generally taxable depending on whether they are purchased from a provider of subscription television services.

Practical “What to Ask” Checklist

When you’re looking at a tech product or subscription in Nebraska or Kansas, it can help to ask:

  1. Is the customer receiving a digital product (digital book/audio/audiovisual work or a code to obtain it), versus paying for a service?
    • Nebraska is explicit that specified digital products/digital codes are taxable.
  2. Is it prewritten software vs. custom software (Kansas)?
    • If it’s prewritten, Kansas will often tax it even if delivered electronically.
  3. Is it a streaming/subscriber media package (Kansas)?
    • Kansas taxes subscriber radio/TV-type services—often the closest category for many streaming subscriptions.
  4. If it’s “cloud,” who owes tax on what (Nebraska)?
    • Nebraska may treat certain cloud access charges differently than software sales, but the provider can still owe tax on taxable items purchased/used to deliver the service.

Sales Tax Holidays

States often offer sales tax holidays during specific times of the year, during which certain items are sold tax free. These holidays vary greatly by state. Here’s how Nebraska and Kansas shake out.

  • Nebraska does not have any sales tax holidays in 2026.
  • Kansas does not have any sales tax holidays in 2026.

For more information on sales tax holidays, click here.

Economy

Nebraska has a large agricultural sector, and is a major producer of beef, pork, corn (maze) soybeans, and sorghum. Other important economic sectors include freight transport (by rail and truck), manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, and insurance.

Omaha is home to Berkshire Hathaway, whose chief executive officer (CEO), Warren Buffet, was ranked in March 2026 by Forbes Magazine as the 9th richest person in the world. The city is also home to Mutual of Omaha, InfoUSA, TD Ameritrade, West Corporation, Valmont industries, Woodmen of the World, Kiewit Corporation, Union Pacific Railroad, and Gallup.

The Union Pacific Railroad, headquartered in Omaha, was incorporated on July 1, 1862, in the wake of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. The route of the original transcontinental railroad runs through the state.

Lincoln’s Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing is the only Kawasaki plant in the world that produces the Jet Ski, All-terrain vehicle (ATV), and Mule lines of product. The Spade Ranch, in the Sandhills, is one of Nebraska’s oldest and largest beef cattle operations.

Nearly 90% of Kansas’ land is devoted to agriculture. The state’s agricultural outputs are cattle, sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, hogs, corn, and salt. By far, the most agricultural crop in the state is wheat. Eastern Kansas is part of the grain belt, an area of the major grain production in the central United States.

The state’s industrial outputs are transportation equipment, commercial and private aircraft, food processing, publishing, chemical products, machinery, apparel, petroleum, and mining. Kansas is ranked eighth in the nation for petroleum production. It is also ranked eighth in natural gas production.

The state’s economy is also heavily influenced by the aerospace industry. Several large aircraft corporations have manufacturing facilities in Wichita and Kansas City, including Spirit Aerosystems, Bombardier Aerospace (LearJet), and Textron Aviation (a merger of the former Cessna, Hawker, and Beechcraft brands). Boeing ended a decades-long history of manufacturing in Kansas in 2013.

Major companies headquartered in Kansas include the Spirit Corporation (with world headquarters in Overland Park), YRC Worldwide (Overland Park), Garmin (Olathe), Payless Shoes (national headquarters and major distribution facilities in Topeka), and Koch Industries (with national headquarters in Wichita), and Coleman (headquarters in Wichita).

Kansas is also home to three major military installations. Fort Leavenworth (Army), Fort Riley (Army), and McConnell Air Force Base (Air Force). The Kansas National Guard has units at Forbes Field in Topeka and operates the Great Plains Joint Training center (formerly the Smokey Hill Bomb Range) which is one of the largest and busiest bombing ranges in the country. During World War II, Kansas was home to numerous Army Air Corps training fields for training new pilots and aircrew. Many of those airfields live on today as municipal airports.

Nebraska Fun Facts:

  • Kool-Aid was created in 1927 by Edwin Perkins in the city of Hastings, which celebrates the event the second weekend of every August with Kool-Aid days and Kool-Aid is the official soft drink of Nebraska.
  • CliffsNotes were developed by Clifton Hughes of Rising City.
  • The world’s largest train yard, Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard, is in North Platte.
  • Nebraska’s Chimney Rock was the most often mentioned landmark in journal entries by travelers on the Oregon Trail.
  • The Naval Ammunition Depot located in Hastings was the largest U.S. ammunition plant providing 40% of WWII’s ammunition.
  • The University of Nebraska Cornhusker football team has produced more Academic All-Americans than any other Division I school.
  • A unique car sculpture, called Carhenge, which replicates the large stone structure in Stonehenge, England exists in Alliance, Nebraska off of highway 59.
  • The Nebraska Legislature is unlike any American legislature in that it is unicameral, meaning that its members are elected without any party affiliation and has only one legislative chamber.

Kansas Fun Facts:

  • The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states in in Smith County, near Lebanon.
  • The first woman mayor in the U.S. was Susan Madora Salter. She was elected to office in Argonia in 1887.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower from Abilene was the 34th president of the U.S.
  • Amelia Earhart, first woman granted a pilot’s license by the National Aeronautics Association and first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, was from Atchison.
  • Barton County is the only county in Kansas that is named for a woman, the famous volunteer civil war nurse Clara Barton.
  • The world famous fast food chain of Pizza Hut restaurants opened its first store in Wichita on June 15, 1958.

We invite you to further explore Nebraska and Kansas in these earlier blogs we crafted over the years. Our team at Miles Consulting Group is always available to discuss the specifics of your situation, whether in Nebraska, Kansas, or other U.S. States, and help you navigate the complex tax structures arising from multistate operations. Call us to help you achieve the best tax efficiencies.

https://milesconsultinggroup.com/blog/2021/05/12/focus-on-nebraska-2/

https://milesconsultinggroup.com/blog/2021/08/10/focus-on-kansas-2/