On this page we are describing the sales taxes in the State of Colorado, we aim to educate you on the differences that occur throughout the state so you get a better understanding of it in regards to whether you may have:

  • Have taken a new job in the are
  • Applied for a new school
  • Opened a new bank account in the state of Colorado
  • People who may be unable to find their Social Security Card or have lost it.

What is the lowest and highest sales tax in Colorado?

In the map of Colorado that is pictured below there are a total of 64 countries that are within the state. You can go directly to the page and see which area has the highest and lowest sales tax in your county of choice.

Adams Alamosa Arapahoe Archuleta Baca Bent Boulder Broomfield Chaffee Cheyenne Clear Creek Conejos Costilla Crowley Custer Delta Denver Dolores Douglas Eagle El Paso Elbert Fremont Garfield Gilpin Grand Gunnison Hinsdale Huerfano Jackson Jefferson Kiowa Kit Carson La Plata Lake Larimer Las Animas Lincoln Logan Mesa Mineral Moffat Montezuma Montrose Morgan Otero Ouray Park Phillips Pitkin Prowers Pueblo Rio Blanco Rio Grande Routt Saguache San Juan San Miguel Sedgwick Summit Teller Washington Weld Yuma
The state sales tax for businesses and so forth is a standard rate of 2.9% which allows the local government to be able to collect up to another 8.3% on top of this:

  • the average sales tax for the entirety of Colorado is 6.319%,
  • the highest is within the Grand County that consists of Winter Park and this equates to 11.2% sales tax,
  • the lowest sales tax is in the Baca and Cheyenne County, which includes cities likeWalsh, Campo, Vilas, Pritchett, Two Buttes, Arapahoe, Kit Carson and Wild Horse and the sales tax in these areas total to 2.9%

This is a brief overview, and we suggest that you go directly to the page if you wish to get a clearer image of the different ranges of sale tax in a particular county. Please note that the ones that have an asterisk means they are below the usual county level of sales tax.

How to calculate your own sales tax in the state of Colorado.

So, what does this mean for you, if you are looking into how much sales tax you are going to charged dependant on what sort of county you are residing or working out of. You can go ahead and use a sales tax calculator which will give you a section that is exampled below.

$
-or- Specify Sales Tax Rate
-or- Specify ZIP Code
%

 

You do need to know the purchase ZIP code and purchase amount in order to get an accurate figure. For an example we will use the amount of $700 and see what the ranges could be from the highest area to the lowest.

In Winter Park, CO with the highest sales tax of 11.2% would mean that your $700 purchase would incur a $78.4 sales tax, taking the total amount to $778.4.

Whereas in Denver, CO the sales tax is only 8.81% and a $700 purchase would equate to $61.67 tax, taking the total to $761.67.

The sales tax calculator makes it as easy as it can be to find out what sort of sales tax you will be charged by simply adding the amount and the ZIP code. Though there might be some purchases that are exempt from sales taxes or have some special leniency which do need to be taken into consideration.

City Sales Tax Rate Zip-code Population
Denver 8.81% 80201, 80202, 80203, 80204, 80205, 80206, 80207, 80208, 80209, 80210, 80211, 80212, 80216, 80217, 80218, 80219, 80220, 80222, 80223, 80224, 80230, 80231, 80236, 80237, 80238, 80239, 80243, 80247, 80248, 80249, 80250, 80256, 80257, 80259, 80261, 80263, 80264, 80265, 80266, 80271, 80273, 80274, 80281, 80290, 80291, 80293, 80294, 80295, 80299 438478
Colorado Springs 8.20% 80901, 80903, 80904, 80905, 80906, 80907, 80909, 80910, 80914, 80916, 80917, 80918, 80919, 80920, 80922, 80923, 80924, 80927, 80932, 80933, 80934, 80935, 80936, 80937, 80938, 80939, 80941, 80942, 80946, 80947, 80949, 80950, 80960, 80962, 80997 324793
Aurora 8.00% 80011, 80012, 80013, 80014, 80015, 80016, 80017, 80041, 80047 268157
Fort Collins 7.55% 80521, 80522, 80523, 80524, 80525, 80526, 80527, 80528, 80553 133298
Arvada 7.96% 80001, 80002, 80003, 80004, 80005, 80006, 80007 103637
Pueblo 7.60% 81001, 81002, 81003, 81004, 81005, 81007, 81008, 81009, 81010, 81011, 81012 102734
Longmont 8.52% 80501, 80502, 80503, 80504 96905
Boulder 8.85% 80301, 80302, 80303, 80304, 80305, 80306, 80307, 80308, 80309, 80310, 80314 87879
Greeley 7.01% 80631, 80632, 80633, 80634, 80638, 80639 71272
Loveland 6.70% 80537, 80538, 80539 69796
Castle Rock 7.90% 80104, 80108, 80109 55704
Broomfield 8.15% 80020, 80023, 80038 53021

Golden

4.50% 80401, 80403 46789

Westminster

8.60% 80030, 80031, 80035, 80036 40898

Grand Junction

8.52% 81501, 81502, 81505, 81506 34396

Englewood

7.75% 80110, 80113, 80150, 80151 33092

Commerce City

9.25% 80022, 80037 31469

Louisville

8.64% 80027 27059

Thornton

8.50% 80241 25982

Parker

8.00% 80138 24253

Littleton

7.25% 80120, 80160, 80161, 80165, 80166 23846

Brighton

8.50% 80602 22592

Durango

8.40% 81301, 81302 22398

Lafayette

8.49% 80026 22364

Evergreen

4.50% 80437, 80439 21495

Montrose

8.53% 81401, 81402 21474

Canon City

8.40% 81212, 81215 19773

Wheat Ridge

8.00% 80033, 80034 19598

Monument

5.13% 80132 18806

Fountain

7.53% 80817 18577

Peyton

5.13% 80831 18313

Windsor

6.85% 80550, 80551 17389

Erie

7.40% 80516 17116

Lone Tree

6.81% 80124 15055

Morrison

4.50% 80465 13157

Evans

7.40% 80620 12673

Glenwood Springs

8.60% 81601, 81602 12581

Fruita

8.27% 81521 12464

Fort Morgan

6.90% 80701 12383

Sterling

7.00% 80751 11745

Carbondale

8.40% 81623 11557

Cortez

7.35% 81321 11209

Clifton

5.27% 81520 10846

Woodland Park

8.49% 80863, 80866 10657

Delta

8.70% 81416 10421

Alamosa

8.40% 81101, 81102 10239

Elizabeth

3.90% 80107 10224

Rifle

8.15% 81650 10027

Why do I need to collect sales tax in Colorado?

You will need to collect sales tax if you have any sort of nexus there, and what this means is that if you have assets that are physical or economic then you need to do this.

Physical meaning having a tangible activity or some sort of presence in any of the states of Colorado, economic nexus is simply passing the states’ economic threshold for total revenue, or the maximum number of transactions that can occur in the period of time within the state.

Two easy ways to see if you have either a physical or economic nexus in any of the counties is the following:
Physical:

  • Tangible personal property
  • Business assets or property
  • Own, renting properties
  • Made more than $500,000 in a service or content delivery in the state

Economic:

  • Made more than $100,000 in sales annually
  • More than 200 transactions in the last calendar year

How do I get a sales tax permit?

The main way to go about this is to register online at the Colorado Business Gateway. Follow the steps that are presented to you and ensure that you have the following to hand to use as information:

  • Business identification information
  • Business entity
  • Location/s that you will be conducting this from
  • Date you will start collecting Colorado sales tax from a business/property
  • NAICS Code (North American Industry Classification System.)

What is the best way to file sales taxes?

Before you think of doing anything else there are three things that we recommend that you do in order to make this process as easy and smooth as possible.

First of all, find out how much tax you owe (remember the sales tax calculator we mentioned before) so that you know how much you need to pay the state at the end. Second is get onto the Colorado Department Of Taxation ready to submit them, and third have the money ready so you can make the payment straight away.

There are two main options as well to filing and paying your Colorado sales tax, these are:

  • Filing online. This is where merchants are required to file all of their sales taxes through the department of taxation in the state of Colorado, you can also pay your taxes on this platform, so it is one to keep close to you for future reference.
  • Filing by mail. Simply fill out the form UST-1, but this is not the recommended way of filing your taxes due to the possibilities of them getting lost in the post and then it could mean that you are subject to late fees if they are not filed within the allotted time.

We hope this document was able to allow you to feel more confident when it comes to sales tax in the state of Colorado depending on where you operate out of.