Businesses that sell taxable goods in Colorado need a Colorado sales tax license from the Colorado Department of Revenue, which you can apply for online through MyBizColorado or, for out-of-state retailers, Revenue Online. A new license costs up to $16 per location plus a $50 refundable deposit. Sellers located in or selling into Colorado's self-collecting home-rule cities may also owe city sales tax under each city's own rules.
You need a Colorado sales tax license if you're doing business in Colorado and you sell, rent, or lease tangible personal property at retail there. You must have the license before you make any sales.
Colorado generally doesn't tax services. SaaS in Colorado isn’t currently taxed at the state level.
That changes on Jan. 1, 2027, when software accessed over the internet becomes generally taxable. The exceptions are software covered by a negotiated license agreement and software developed for a particular user.
If you have no physical location in Colorado, you need a license once you cross the Colorado economic nexus threshold: more than $100,000 in retail sales into Colorado in the previous or current calendar year. Colorado has no transaction-count threshold.
Sales for resale are wholesale sales, not retail sales, so they don't count. If you're a marketplace seller, sales made through a marketplace facilitator don't count either.
If you passed $100,000 last year, you need a license and must collect tax for the whole current year.
If you pass it during the current year, you must have a license and be collecting by the first day of the month after the 90th day after you crossed. For example, if you cross it on June 15, you need to be collecting by Oct. 1. If you cross it in mid-November, you don't have to collect that year, but you need a license before Jan. 1.
If you crossed the threshold in the past and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement may reduce the penalties on back taxes.
Any place of business in Colorado creates physical nexus, so you need a license regardless of sales volume, unless you sell only through a marketplace or sell only tax-exempt goods. Colorado law lists offices, distribution facilities, salesrooms, warehouses, storage places, and a Colorado-resident employee's home office, whether you maintain them directly, indirectly, or through a subsidiary.
Selling or taking orders at a Colorado special event, such as a craft fair, also counts as a place of business for the length of the event.
Colorado's marketplace facilitator law requires marketplaces to collect state and state-collected local sales tax on sales they facilitate. Colorado applies this the same way to in-state and out-of-state sellers:
Self-collecting home-rule cities apply their own marketplace rules, so check with any such city you're based in. Numeral's Colorado sales tax nexus page covers the threshold rules in more detail.
If your business is anything other than an individual or sole proprietor, you need a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) before you apply. Register your entity with the Colorado Secretary of State first if it's a Colorado business entity.
The application asks whether you:
Married couples who both own the business must register as a general partnership. If you sell both medical and recreational marijuana, you need a separate application for each.
MyBizColorado only handles applications for one business location. If you'll open two or more Colorado locations at once, use the paper Form CR 0100, covered in step 1.
The Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) offers several ways to apply. Start on the DOR's How to Apply for a Colorado Sales Tax License page.
You can also apply while you register for the Sales & Use Tax System (SUTS), the DOR's optional filing portal.
Mail a paper Form CR 0100, Colorado Sales Tax and Withholding Account Application, with a photo ID and a check or money order to the Colorado Department of Revenue, PO Box 17087, Denver, CO 80217-0087.
In-state businesses go to MyBizColorado and select START. MyBizColorado asks a few questions about your business and then shows which state registrations you need, including the sales tax license and a wage withholding account.
You can create a profile and come back later. MyBizColorado saves your information for 60 days, and I Need a Break returns you to where you left off.
Out-of-state retailers go to Revenue Online. Under Sales Tax License, select Out-of-State Retailer/Employer Registration. You don't need a login to start.
The Instructions screen lists what you need: your retailer name, FEIN, type of organization, mailing address, NAICS code, first day of sales, and business locations. You also need a valid email address.
On the next screen, follow the prompts to register as an out-of-state retailer for a sales tax account.
Don't mail a paper application after you finish. Revenue Online gives you a confirmation instead.
If you already have a Colorado Retailer’s Use Tax account, log in to Revenue Online and add a sales tax account instead. Your sales tax account uses the same Colorado Account Number, and you’ll get an email confirming the registration.
Follow the prompts and provide everything the application asks for. The items are listed above under What you need before registering. The application asks for:
Tip: You can use an earlier start date so you can buy inventory tax-free for resale. Returns are due for every period after the date you enter, so don’t pick a date earlier than you need.
Then pay the fee. MyBizColorado accepts a credit card or e-check. Paper applications need a check or money order payable to the Colorado Department of Revenue. The amounts are in the cost section below.
If you apply through MyBizColorado, you get your Colorado Account Number (CAN) the same day, and you can print a temporary license. The DOR mails the paper license after your fees post. Allow 2 to 3 weeks for it to arrive.
Post the license where customers can see it at that location. If you have more than one Colorado location, each one gets its own license.
You file, renew, and manage your account in Revenue Online. Create a login for your business, then go to Account Access and select Add Access to Your Accounts to link your sales tax account using the Letter ID number from your license.
A new Colorado sales tax account costs up to $16 per location plus a one-time $50 deposit, so a business with one location pays at most $66. The $16 fee is prorated depending on when your license starts:
The deposit applies to retail licenses only, and only to your first location. The DOR refunds it automatically once you've collected and paid $50 in state sales tax. Don't deduct it on your sales tax return.
A seller whose products are exempt from state tax but subject to state-collected local tax can ask the DOR to waive the deposit.
Through MyBizColorado, you get your Colorado Account Number the same day and the paper license in 2 to 3 weeks. A paper CR 0100 sent by mail takes 4 to 6 weeks.
At a Taxpayer Service Center, you get your license during your visit. The DOR doesn't publish a processing time for Revenue Online's out-of-state registration.
Your state license covers state sales tax and every local tax the DOR collects for cities, counties, and special districts. Some home-rule cities run their own sales tax instead, with their own licenses, tax base, and returns.
More than 60 home-rule cities collect their own sales tax, including the City and County of Denver and the City and County of Broomfield. Other home-rule cities have the DOR collect their tax, so they work like any other state-collected city.
The DOR doesn't require any local registration for state-collected jurisdictions. The self-collecting cities, with contact details, are listed in the DOR's Colorado Sales/Use Tax Rates publication (DR 1002).
Special district taxes in self-collecting cities can still be state-collected. Denver's Regional Transportation District (RTD) and Scientific & Cultural Facilities District taxes, for example, go on your state return.
Contact the city for its sales tax license before you start selling there. Each city sets its own application, fee, and rules, including which goods and services it taxes. Home-rule sales tax differs from state rules in several ways, so don't assume the state's exemptions apply.
Each self-collecting city decides whether and when a seller without a location there must collect its tax. Aurora, for example, applies its tax to sellers with more than $100,000 in sales into Colorado, statewide, who make sales into the city.
State law limits what a city can require of these sellers if they hold a state sales tax license and have no physical presence in the city, or only incidental presence. Since July 1, 2022, the city can't charge them for a local license, and since July 1, 2023, it can't make them apply separately for one.
If the city requires a license, it must issue one automatically at no charge. The exception is a seller whose license the city previously revoked for violating its local code.
You're still responsible for determining whether your activity in a city requires its license or registration, and for filing and paying its tax.
The Sales & Use Tax System (SUTS) is an optional filing portal. It lets you file one return and payment for state, state-collected, and participating self-collecting jurisdictions. Most self-collecting cities participate, but not all, and the DOR lists them on its SUTS Participating Jurisdictions page.
SUTS doesn't require local licenses before you file, and it doesn't issue them. You don't need a local account number for your first SUTS filing to a self-collecting city. The city assigns one after it receives that filing.
SUTS also can't file special event returns or sales in a city's special-rate categories, such as food or marijuana. File special event returns in Revenue Online and special-rate sales directly with the city.
Warning: For self-collecting cities that don't participate in SUTS, you must file and pay directly with the city. Revenue Online can't file self-collected city taxes.
Colorado sales tax licenses run on a shared two-year cycle. A standard license expires on Dec. 31 of an odd-numbered year, and renewal costs $16 for each physical location.
The DOR sends a reminder by mail and email before your renewal is due. The fastest way to renew is through Revenue Online:
You can also renew by Electronic Funds Transfer, or by mailing Form DR 0594 with a check or money order.
Warning: Making a payment in Revenue Online doesn't renew your license. You have to complete the renewal itself, or your license expires after Dec. 31.
Under Colorado law, a license with no retail sales activity for 12 consecutive months won't be renewed unless you show you're still in business. Before you renew, close any locations you no longer use.
Charge Colorado sales tax from your license start date: the 2.9% state rate plus every state-collected local tax at the delivery address.
If you ship to state-collected jurisdictions where you don't have a location, add them as non-physical locations in Revenue Online before you file. Select Add or Close Sales Tax Locations, then Add Non-Physical Locations.
If you had $500,000 or more in retail sales last year, you must also collect Colorado's retail delivery fee on taxable deliveries by motor vehicle. It needs a separate Retail Delivery Fee account.
Your filing frequency depends on how much state and state-collected local tax you collect each month:
Wholesale-only accounts file once a year. The DOR reviews your collections each year and can move you to a more frequent schedule starting Jan. 1.
You file Colorado sales tax returns by the 20th of the month after each period, even when you made no sales. If you don't file, the DOR estimates your tax and bills you for it.
Colorado is phasing in mandatory electronic filing. Retailers with $500,000 or more in prior-year gross sales must file electronically from January 2026, those with $50,000 or more from January 2027, and every retailer from January 2028.
Your license expires on Dec. 31 of the next odd-numbered year, and you renew it every two years as described above. Registration rules in other states differ, and many states' permits never expire.
No. The sales tax license from the DOR authorizes you to collect state and state-collected local sales tax.
Registering your entity with the Colorado Secretary of State is a separate step. Some cities and counties also require their own business license, which has no effect on your state sales tax account.
It depends on your business type. Sole proprietors can apply with a Social Security number or ITIN. Every other type of organization needs a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
Revenue Online's out-of-state registration lists an FEIN among the information you need. An out-of-state sole proprietor without one may need to apply with the paper Form CR 0100.
Yes, for each physical location in Colorado. Each one costs $16, but you only pay the $50 deposit once.
If you're opening two or more locations at once, apply with Form CR 0100 instead of MyBizColorado. Later locations can be added in Revenue Online.
Yes, but which one depends on the event. A special event, with more than three sellers and held no more than three times a year at that location, needs a special event license unless the organizer holds one and you pay the tax through the organizer.
Events held more often at the same location, such as a regular flea market or farmers market, need a standard sales tax license.
Special event licenses are free if you already hold a standard sales tax license. You file a separate special event return by the 20th of the month after the event starts.
No, not from the state, as long as Amazon collects the tax for you. That includes Amazon FBA sellers.
If you also sell directly, such as through your own website or a store, you need a license once you have a Colorado place of business or more than $100,000 in direct Colorado sales. If you're based in a self-collecting home-rule city, check whether the city requires its own license.
Yes. Colorado sales tax licenses can't be transferred, so you need your own.
You also become liable for any sales tax the seller didn't pay. Withhold enough of the purchase price to cover it until the seller gives you a tax status letter from the DOR (Form DR 0096).
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