diff --git a/R/spending.R b/R/spending.R
index bb4f641..f662e68 100644
--- a/R/spending.R
+++ b/R/spending.R
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ cog_spending <- function(govid, years, category = NULL,
     verb          = "cog_spending",
     view_base     = "spending_annotated",
     subtype_col   = "spend_subtype",
-    flow_prefixes = c("E", "F", "G", "K"),
+    flow_prefixes = c("E", "F", "G"),
     call          = match.call(),
     govid         = govid,
     years         = years,
diff --git a/inst/sql/20-spending_long.sql b/inst/sql/20-spending_long.sql
index 71eeec2..23c4d82 100644
--- a/inst/sql/20-spending_long.sql
+++ b/inst/sql/20-spending_long.sql
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW spending_long AS
 SELECT *
 FROM long
-WHERE LEFT(item_code, 1) IN ('E', 'F', 'G', 'K')
+WHERE LEFT(item_code, 1) IN ('E', 'F', 'G')
   AND NOT is_aggregate;
diff --git a/inst/sql/22-spending_long_harmonized.sql b/inst/sql/22-spending_long_harmonized.sql
index ef70ac8..96baa58 100644
--- a/inst/sql/22-spending_long_harmonized.sql
+++ b/inst/sql/22-spending_long_harmonized.sql
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ SELECT * REPLACE (harmonized_code AS item_code)
 FROM long
 WHERE NOT is_aggregate
   AND harmonized_code IS NOT NULL
-  AND LEFT(harmonized_code, 1) IN ('E', 'F', 'G', 'K');
+  AND LEFT(harmonized_code, 1) IN ('E', 'F', 'G');
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-expenditure-concept.R b/tests/testthat/test-expenditure-concept.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ae87c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-expenditure-concept.R
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+test_that("the corpus contains no K-prefix rows, so the Direct leg omits K", {
+  con <- .ensure_session()
+  n <- DBI::dbGetQuery(con,
+    "SELECT COUNT(*) AS n FROM long WHERE LEFT(item_code, 1) = 'K'")$n
+  expect_equal(n, 0)
+
+  sql_files <- c("20-spending_long.sql", "22-spending_long_harmonized.sql")
+  for (f in sql_files) {
+    txt <- paste(readLines(system.file("sql", f, package = "uscogdata")),
+                 collapse = " ")
+    expect_false(grepl("'K'", txt, fixed = TRUE),
+                 label = paste(f, "must not reference the inert K prefix"))
+  }
+})