What is the Colorado sales tax rate?
The state rate is 2.9%. Counties, cities and special districts add their own taxes, so combined rates in the larger cities are commonly 8% or more. Tax is charged at the rate for the delivery address. Colorado exempts groceries at state level, but some cities tax them.
When does an online seller have to collect in Colorado?
You must collect if you have a physical presence in Colorado, such as staff, an office or inventory, or if your retail sales into Colorado are more than $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year. There is no transaction-count test, and both taxable and exempt retail sales count. Guidance differs on whether sales made through a marketplace count towards your own $100,000, so check with the Department of Revenue if marketplace sales would decide it. A seller who passes the threshold has a grace period of about 90 days before collection must start.
How nexus works in general is covered in physical vs economic nexus and economic nexus explained.
What if you sell on Amazon, eBay or Etsy?
Colorado requires marketplace facilitators to collect and remit sales tax on the sales they facilitate, so you do not collect on those orders. Your own website and other direct channels remain your responsibility. See marketplace facilitator laws.
How do you register?
Apply to the Colorado Department of Revenue for a sales tax license, online through its business registration service. The state license covers the state tax and the local taxes the state collects. Home-rule cities that administer their own tax may require their own license; many of them can be handled through the state's Sales and Use Tax System, known as SUTS.
What are the steps once you have nexus?
Confirm nexus
Check your presence and your sales into Colorado against its threshold.
Register before collecting
With the Colorado tax agency, as set out above.
Set up your store
Charge the correct combined rate for each delivery address and product.
File and pay
On the schedule Colorado assigns, including zero returns where required.
How are returns filed?
Returns are due by the 20th of the month after the period, monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the tax collected. The Sales and Use Tax System lets you file the state return and returns for participating home-rule cities in one place, with a rate lookup by address. Cities outside the system are filed on their own portals. The allowance retailers used to keep for collecting state tax was removed from January 1, 2026.
See how to file a sales tax return.
What are home-rule cities?
About 70 Colorado cities, including Denver, Aurora, Boulder and Colorado Springs, administer their own sales tax, with their own rules on what is taxed, their own licenses and their own audits. Registering with the state does not cover them. Most have adopted a standard $100,000 economic nexus rule measured on sales into Colorado as a whole, so a remote seller with state nexus usually has to collect their taxes too. Using the state's Sales and Use Tax System where the city takes part keeps this manageable.
What is the retail delivery fee?
A flat fee on every retail delivery made by motor vehicle to a Colorado address that includes at least one item subject to state sales tax. The fee is 31 cents per delivery from July 1, 2026, up from 28 cents, and is adjusted each July. The retailer can charge it to the customer or pay it itself, and reports it on a separate return on the same schedule as sales tax. Under current rules, retailers with $500,000 or less of retail sales in the previous year are exempt from the fee.
What else should sellers know?
- Sellers outside the US: the same rules apply wherever the business is based. See selling on Amazon US as a non-resident.
- Late registration: tax you should have collected becomes your own debt. See voluntary disclosure agreements and collected but not remitted.
- Records: keep sales by delivery address, tax collected and any certificates. See exemption certificates and sales tax audits.
- Stopping: returns stay due until the account is closed. See filing frequency and cancelling a sales tax permit.
- Store settings: switch on collection only once you are registered. See Shopify sales tax setup.
Selling into Colorado?
We check whether you have Colorado nexus, register you, and file your Colorado sales tax returns.
Questions people ask
What is the Colorado economic nexus threshold?
More than $100,000 of retail sales into Colorado in the current or previous calendar year, with no transaction test.
What is the Colorado sales tax rate?
2.9% at state level, plus county, city and district taxes.
What is a home-rule city in Colorado?
A city that administers its own sales tax, with its own license, rules and returns.
What is the Colorado retail delivery fee?
A flat fee on taxable deliveries, 31 cents from July 2026, with an exemption for small retailers.
Sources
Every fee, date and rule on this page was taken from these official and primary sources.
- Colorado Department of Revenue: Taxation, out-of-state businesses and retail delivery fee
- Supreme Court of the United States: South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 585 U.S. 162 (2018)
- Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board: Marketplace facilitator state guidance
Rules and fees change. If you are reading this long after October 1, 2026, confirm the figures with the source before you rely on them.
Related guides
More in State sales tax
This guide is general information. It is not tax or legal advice for your situation.