Does Colorado have a Use Tax?

Yes, the State and some state-collected local jurisdictions and home-rule cities have a use tax.

The Colorado Department of Revenue collects State use tax and use tax for some special districts like the Regional Transportation District (RTD), the Regional Transportation Authority(RTA), the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (CD) and the Mass Transportation System Tax (MTS).

Colorado also has some “statutory” towns, cities and counties as well as “home-rule” cities that have use tax.  While the statutory jurisdictions can only opt to have use tax on motor vehicles and building materials, the home-rule jurisdictions generally have a broad based use tax on the same products and services that are subject to their sales tax.  The Colorado Department of Revenue does not collect use for the statutory towns, cities and counties.

As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time to think about filing a Colorado State Use Tax return.  You may have a Revenue Online account for sales tax, wage withholding and income tax, but unfortunately you won’t see use tax there!  From the Revenue Online page, don’t login!   Look under the Sales and Use Tax section and click “File A Consumer Use Tax Return”.

• The State’s use tax returns are due at least annually and sooner of you reach $300 in tax due..
• The home-rule cities use tax is usually filed as part of their combined sales  and use tax return.
• The statutory jurisdictions are left to fend for themselves regarding use tax, so contact them directly if they have an applicable use tax and you have an amount due.

Filing an accurate use tax return starts the statute of limitations which limits how far back the State or home-rule jurisdictions can go back upon audit.

There’s much more to handling use tax. Please contact us if you need further assistance.