What is the Denver sales tax rate?

Denver's general sales tax rate is 9.15%: 5.15% for the City and County of Denver, 2.9% for the state, 1.00% for RTD and 0.10% for the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. Prepared food and drink is taxed at 8.00% in total, because Denver's share is 4.00%.

What are home-rule cities in Colorado?

Home-rule cities are municipalities that run their own sales tax instead of letting the Colorado Department of Revenue collect it. Denver, Colorado Springs, Aurora, Boulder and Fort Collins are examples. Each has its own tax code, license and return. A seller in one of them registers and files with the city, as well as with the state for state and other local taxes.

How much is the Colorado retail delivery fee?

The retail delivery fee is $0.31 per delivery from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, up from $0.28. It applies to deliveries by motor vehicle to a Colorado address that include at least one item subject to state sales or use tax. The retailer or marketplace facilitator that collects the sales tax remits the fee.

Do out-of-state sellers have to collect Colorado sales tax?

Only above a threshold. A retailer with no physical location in Colorado doesn't have to collect if its Colorado retail sales were less than $100,000 in both the current and previous calendar year. Once current-year sales pass $100,000, it must be licensed and collecting from the first day of the month at least 90 days later.

When are Colorado sales tax returns due?

Returns and payments are due by the 20th of the month after the period, whatever your filing frequency. Monthly filing is the default. You file quarterly if your average monthly Colorado sales tax is less than $1,100 but more than $50, and annually if it's $50 or less. Home-rule cities set their own frequencies and due dates.

Sales tax

Colorado Sales Tax Rate in 2026: The 2.9% State Rate, Home-Rule Cities, Denver and Colorado Springs

Colorado sales tax rate 2026: 2.9% state plus local taxes. Denver is 9.15%, Colorado Springs 8.20%. Home-rule cities, SUTS, delivery fee and filing.

Edited by Sumeet YadavFounder & editor, MSMETOOLS · fact-checked against official sources

Updated October 2026 Verified against official sources 9 October 2026 15 min read

Colorado sales tax rate — MSMETOOLS guide cover

Contents (10)

1. How Colorado sales tax is built
2. Colorado sales tax rates in major cities
3. Home-rule cities and SUTS
4. Worked examples
5. The retail delivery fee
6. Getting a Colorado sales tax license
7. Filing, payment and the end of the service fee
8. Use tax on your own purchases
9. Common mistakes
10. What to do next

If you sell goods in Colorado, ship to Colorado customers or are opening a shop in Denver or Colorado Springs, this guide gives you the 2026 numbers and the system behind them. Colorado's state sales tax rate is low, but the state has one of the most complicated local tax systems in the country, because dozens of home-rule cities collect their own tax under their own rules. You'll find the state rate, how local rates stack, how Denver and Colorado Springs work, the retail delivery fee, remote seller rules, licensing, filing and the 2026 change to the vendor service fee. Figures were checked on Department of Revenue and city websites in October 2026.

Quick answer

Colorado's state sales tax rate is 2.9%. Counties, cities and special districts add their own taxes, so most sales are taxed at a combined rate several points higher: 9.15% in Denver and 8.20% in Colorado Springs. Colorado is destination-based, so you charge the rate where the customer takes possession.

Home-rule cities such as Denver and Colorado Springs collect their own tax, with their own license and return
Retail delivery fee: $0.31 per delivery from July 1, 2026
State license: $16 (less later in the cycle) plus a $50 deposit
Returns due the 20th of the month after the period
No state vendor service fee from January 1, 2026

How Colorado sales tax is built

Every taxable sale in Colorado can carry up to four layers of tax. Understanding them is the key to charging the right rate.

The state tax. The Colorado Department of Revenue (CDOR) imposes 2.9% on retail sales of tangible personal property and some services. This rate is the same everywhere in the state.

State-administered local taxes. Most counties, many statutory cities and towns, and special districts levy sales taxes that the Department collects for them. You report these on the same state return as the state tax. Special districts include the Regional Transportation District (RTD) at 1.00% and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) at 0.10%, which cover much of the Denver metro area, and regional transportation authorities such as the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) at 1% around Colorado Springs.

Home-rule city taxes. Home-rule cities have their own charters and can run their own sales tax. Many choose to collect it themselves rather than through the state. The Department's own guide says it doesn't administer or collect sales taxes imposed by those cities. If you sell in one of them, you need the city's license and file the city's return, in addition to the state return for the other layers.

Base differences. Because each home-rule city writes its own tax code, the list of what's taxable can differ from the state's. Denver, for example, taxes prepared food at a different rate from other goods, and home-rule cities often tax items the state exempts.

The combined rate for an address is the state rate plus every county, city and district tax that applies at that spot. Two addresses with the same ZIP code can have different rates, because district and city boundaries don't follow ZIP codes. The Department's Colorado Sales Tax Lookup Tool and its DR 1002 rate publication, updated every January 1 and July 1, are the reliable sources.

Shops and restaurants under overhead lights in Larimer Square, Denver — A shop in Denver charges 9.15% on most goods, but files Denver's 5.15% share with the city and the other 4% with the state.· Image: Pdubs.94 (Wikimedia Commons) (CC BY 4.0)

Colorado sales tax rates in major cities

The table shows how the two largest cities' rates break down. Both are home-rule cities that collect their own tax.

Location	State	County / districts	City	Combined
Denver (general rate)	2.9%	RTD 1.00% + SCFD 0.10%	5.15%	9.15%
Denver (prepared food and drink)	2.9%	RTD 1.00% + SCFD 0.10%	4.00%	8.00%
Colorado Springs	2.9%	El Paso County 1.23% + PPRTA 1%	3.07%	8.20%

Denver

Denver is a consolidated city and county. Its general sales tax is 5.15%, which with the state, RTD and SCFD taxes gives 9.15%. Denver taxes prepared food and drink, meaning food for immediate consumption, at 4.00% instead, for a combined 8.00%. Alcohol bought in Denver is taxed at the same 4% city rate, whether it's sold by the bottle or by the drink. Food and beverages bought for domestic home consumption are exempt from Denver's tax. Denver also has special rates for short-term car rentals and retail marijuana, and lodging is taxed separately under the lodger's tax.

Denver issues its own sales tax license, now without a fee, for a two-year period. You file Denver's returns with the city, not the state. Denver's filing frequency depends on your average monthly Denver tax: monthly if it's $1,100.01 or more, quarterly from $50.01 to $1,100, and annual at $50 or less. Bars, liquor stores, restaurants, caterers and street vendors file monthly regardless. Returns are due on the 20th of the month after the period.

Colorado Springs

The City of Colorado Springs charges 3.07%, made up of 2.00% for the general fund, 0.10% for Trails, Open Space and Parks, 0.40% for public safety and 0.57% for roads. With the state's 2.9%, El Paso County's 1.23% and PPRTA's 1%, the combined rate is 8.20%. The state collects everything except the city's share.

The city license is free, and applications, renewals, returns and payments are all made online through the city's GenTax portal; Colorado Springs no longer accepts paper returns or mailed payments. Our Colorado business license guide explains what else a Colorado Springs business needs.

Two big home-rule cities (2026)

5.15%

Denver city rate

Combined 9.15%

3.07%

Colorado Springs city rate

Combined 8.20%

City sales tax license fee in both

Home-rule cities and SUTS

Roughly 70 Colorado municipalities have home-rule status and collect their own sales tax. Besides Denver and Colorado Springs, the list includes Aurora, Boulder, Fort Collins, Lakewood, Arvada, Longmont and Loveland. For a seller, three things follow:

You may need a sales tax license from each home-rule city where you have a location or make deliveries, in addition to the state license.
Each city has its own taxable base, exemptions, filing frequency and penalties, which may differ from the state's.
You file a separate return for each city, unless you can use SUTS.

SUTS, the Sales and Use Tax System, is the state's portal for filing and paying sales tax across jurisdictions. It lets you file and pay state-collected sales tax, and file and pay the sales and use taxes of participating home-rule cities, in one place. Participation by cities is voluntary, so not every home-rule city is in it. Before relying on SUTS for a city, check the Department's list of participating jurisdictions; for cities that aren't in it, use the city's own system, such as Colorado Springs' GenTax portal.

The practical upshot is that a small online seller shipping across the Front Range can end up with several licenses and returns. Many such sellers use the state's lookup tool for every address and keep a simple table of which jurisdictions they've registered with and how often each wants a return.

Working out where your tax goes

Step 1

Find delivery address

Sales Tax Lookup Tool

Step 2

State + state-collected local taxes

state return / SUTS

Step 3

Home-rule city?

check DR 1002 list

Step 4

City license and return

SUTS if participating, or city portal

Worked examples

A $100 jacket sold in a Denver shop. The customer pays 9.15%, so $9.15 in tax. The shop reports $5.15 to Denver on its Denver return and $4.00 on its state return: $2.90 state tax, $1.00 RTD and $0.10 SCFD.

A $40 lunch at a Denver café. Prepared food is taxed at 8.00%, so the tax is $3.20: $1.60 to Denver at 4.00%, and $1.60 to the state for the state, RTD and SCFD taxes.

A $250 bicycle sold in Colorado Springs. At 8.20%, the tax is $20.50. The city's 3.07% share, about $7.68, goes on the Colorado Springs return through GenTax. The remaining $12.82 or so, for the state, El Paso County and PPRTA, goes on the state return.

A $60 online order delivered to a Denver home by van. The retailer charges 9.15% sales tax, $5.49, plus the $0.31 retail delivery fee, for a total of $65.80. The delivery fee isn't subject to state or state-administered local sales taxes. Self-collecting home-rule cities can choose to tax it, so check Denver's rules.

An out-of-state craft seller with $80,000 of Colorado sales last year and this year. With no physical location in Colorado and sales below $100,000 in both years, the seller isn't required to collect. If its sales this year pass $100,000 in, say, mid-August, it must hold a license and start collecting from the first day of the month at least 90 days later, which would be December 1.

Try it — Denver sales tax on $250

Purchase AmountState

Local / County Rate

Purchase Amount$250.00

State Tax (6.25%)$15.63

Local Tax (2%)$5.00

Combined Rate8.25%

Total Amount (Including Tax)$270.63

Open the full Sales Tax Calculator (PDF, save, compare)

The retail delivery fee

Since July 2022, Colorado has charged a retail delivery fee on deliveries by motor vehicle to a Colorado location that include at least one item subject to state sales or use tax. The retailer or marketplace facilitator that collects the sales tax is liable to remit it, including when a third-party courier makes the delivery.

The fee is adjusted for inflation each July, and the Department publishes the new rate by April 15. For July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 it's $0.31 per delivery, up from $0.28 in the previous year. The fee is split among several state enterprises and funds: community access, clean fleet, clean transit, general transportation, bridge and tunnel, and air pollution mitigation.

The fee applies per delivery, not per item, so an order of five taxable items in one delivery pays it once. It's reported and paid through Revenue Online. The fee itself isn't subject to state sales tax, but some self-collecting home-rule cities may tax it. Check the Department's Retail Delivery Fee page for exemptions and how to show it on receipts before you set up your checkout.

Acacia Park at North Tejon Street and East Platte Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs — Shops in downtown Colorado Springs charge 8.20%, filing the city's 3.07% share online through the city's own portal.· Image: lumenwilde (CC BY 2.0)

Getting a Colorado sales tax license

Anyone making retail sales of taxable goods in Colorado needs a state sales tax license from the Department of Revenue, one for each location. You can apply online through the state's business registration tools, including MyBizColorado, or through Revenue Online.

State licenses run on a two-year cycle that ends December 31 of each odd-numbered year, and the fee is prorated. Applying between January and June of an even-numbered year costs $16; later in the cycle it costs less, $12, $8 or $4. New accounts also pay a $50 deposit, which is refunded once you've collected and paid $50 of state sales tax. Someone applying in October 2026 would pay the $12 fee and the deposit.

Then add a license from each home-rule city you sell in. Denver's and Colorado Springs' licenses are free, but other cities may charge.

Setting up for Colorado sales tax

1
Apply for the state sales tax license
Register each location with the Department of Revenue. Pay the prorated fee and the $50 deposit.
CDOR — Standard Sales Tax License
2
Identify home-rule cities you sell in
Check each store and delivery address with the Sales Tax Lookup Tool and the DR 1002 home-rule list.
Colorado Sales Tax Lookup
3
Get each city's license
Apply through SUTS for participating cities, or the city's own portal, such as Denver's or Colorado Springs' GenTax.
4
Set rates in your till or checkout
Use the address-level rate, Denver's prepared-food rate if it applies, and the $0.31 delivery fee for taxable deliveries.
5
File by the 20th
File the state return and each city return on time, including periods with no sales.

Filing, payment and the end of the service fee

The state's default filing frequency is monthly. You file quarterly if your average or estimated monthly Colorado sales tax is less than $1,100 but more than $50, and annually if it's $50 or less. The total that counts is state plus state-administered local tax. Returns and payments are due by the 20th of the month after the period; if the 20th is a weekend or holiday, the next business day. Electronic filing is being phased in as mandatory based on prior-year sales, and most businesses already file online through Revenue Online or SUTS.

There's one change for 2026 that affects every retailer's margin. For years, Colorado retailers who filed and paid on time could keep a vendor service fee, a small share of the state tax collected, to cover their costs. For 2022 to 2025 it was generally 4% of state tax due, capped at $1,000 per period. Under HB 25B-1005, passed in a 2025 special session, retailers may no longer keep any service fee on state sales tax from January 1, 2026. Some local jurisdictions still allow a service fee on their own taxes, at their own rate, so check each one. If your bookkeeping still deducts the state service fee, you're underpaying, and penalties and interest will follow.

Colorado sales tax dates for 2026

January 1, 2026

State vendor service fee ends (HB 25B-1005)

January 1 and July 1

DR 1002 rate publication updated with local rate changes

By April 15

Next year's retail delivery fee published

July 1, 2026

Retail delivery fee rises to $0.31

20th of each month

State returns due for the previous period

December 31, 2027

Current two-year state license cycle ends

Use tax on your own purchases

Sales tax has a twin: use tax. When your business buys taxable items for its own use, such as equipment, furniture or supplies, from a seller that didn't charge Colorado sales tax, you generally owe use tax at the same combined rate that would have applied at your location. This catches purchases from out-of-state suppliers that aren't registered in Colorado, and items you took out of resale inventory and used yourself.

Home-rule cities have their own use taxes, and they audit them actively, especially on construction materials and equipment. A Denver business that buys a $3,000 laptop from an unregistered online seller, for example, owes Denver's share on that purchase as well as the state-collected share. Keep invoices showing what tax was charged, so you can prove which purchases are already covered.

If you hold items for resale, you don't pay sales tax when you buy them; you give your supplier your resale documentation. Use tax becomes due only if you later use those goods yourself instead of selling them.

Common mistakes

Charging only the state rate. Some new sellers see "2.9%" and stop there. Almost every Colorado address has local taxes on top, and you're liable for tax you should have collected.

Using a ZIP code to pick a rate. District and city boundaries cross ZIP codes. Look up the full address.

Missing home-rule licenses. A business that registers with the state but sells in Aurora or Boulder without those cities' licenses can face back tax, penalties and interest from each city.

Applying state exemptions to home-rule cities. Each home-rule city has its own exemptions. An item exempt from state tax may still be taxable in the city.

Keeping the old service fee. Since January 1, 2026, there's no state service fee to keep.

Forgetting the delivery fee on mixed orders. One taxable item in a delivery triggers the fee for the whole delivery.

Official links

What to do next

Look up the full rate for each address you sell to, get the state license, and register with every home-rule city on your list. Use the sales tax calculator to check totals, and read how to calculate sales tax for invoicing. For the rest of your Colorado setup, including Secretary of State filings and Denver and Colorado Springs licensing, see our Colorado business license guide.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

The state rate is 2.9%, one of the lowest in the country. But cities, counties and special districts add their own taxes, so the rate a customer pays is usually much higher. It's 9.15% in Denver and 8.20% in Colorado Springs. Use the state's sales tax lookup tool to find the rate for an exact address.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 9 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1.Sales Tax Guide — Colorado Department of Revenue · accessed 9 October 2026
2.Sales & Use Tax — Colorado Department of Revenue · accessed 9 October 2026
3.Retail Delivery Fee Rates — Colorado Department of Revenue · accessed 9 October 2026
4.Retail Delivery Fee — Colorado Department of Revenue · accessed 9 October 2026
5.DR 1002 Colorado Sales/Use Tax Rates — Colorado Department of Revenue · accessed 9 October 2026
6.Standard Sales Tax License — Colorado Department of Revenue · accessed 9 October 2026
7.Business Tax FAQ — City and County of Denver · accessed 9 October 2026
8.Sales Tax — City of Colorado Springs · accessed 9 October 2026

MSMETOOLS is an independent platform and is not affiliated with any government agency, ministry or department.

We provide tools, guides and information for general educational purposes only. Always refer to official government websites for the latest and most accurate information.