Colorado Businesses Have 30 Extra Days to Remit Sales Tax

Published: April 6th, 2020

Colorado Businesses Have 30 Extra Days to Remit Sales Tax

NOTE: This does not apply to Home-rule cities.

Extension defers penalty and interest

On Friday, April 3, 2020, the Governor issued an executive order temporarily suspending the requirement for businesses to remit state and state-administered local sales tax for 30 extra days. The order reads in part:

“Retailers that are required to file a sales tax return on April 20, 2020 pursuant to C.R.S. §§ 29-2-106, 39-26-105 and 39-26-109 may extend their April 20, 2020 filing and remittance deadline to be filed and paid in full on or before May 20, 2020. This is a one-time extension of the April 20, 2020 filing and remittance deadline for State and State-administered sales taxes. However, a retailer that does not file the return and remit full payment on or before April 20, 2020 will not be permitted to retain the vendor fee described in C.R.S. § 39-26-105(1)(c) and (d) and the vendor fees described in the statutes, ordinances, and resolutions that apply to the State-administered sales taxes. I also direct the Department of Revenue to promulgate and issue emergency rules to extend the April 20th filing and remittance deadline to May 20, 2020.”

The extension applies to all state-administered local sales taxes but does not apply to self-collecting home-rule cities. Retailers taking advantage of the extension defer penalties and interest but forfeit their ability to retain the vendor fee (currently 4% of sales tax remitted, capped at $1,000 per filing period). Local vendor fees vary by jurisdiction.

The Colorado Department of Revenue continues to monitor COVID-19 developments and posts all updates at www.Colorado.gov/Tax/COVID-19-Updates.

Handling Colorado sales and use tax properly is complicated. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us.