Services

What is SUTS?

SUTS is an abbreviation for Sales and Use Tax Simplification. It represents various services the state offers to help taxpayers and business owners to determine the correct sales tax rate based on location, as well as filing and remitting those taxes to the various municipalities and taxing districts in your area.

When will I need to know the sales and use tax?

House Bill 22-1027 allowed some extensions for small retailers with less than $100,000 in annual sales to source sales to their Colorado business location until October 1, 2022. After October 1, 2022 all retailers regardless of annual sales figures must calculate sales taxes based on the location of where their product was ultimately received by their customer. This lookup service is here to provide taxpayers and business owners with an extra tool to help make this transition period as easy as possible.

What happens if I used your Sales Tax Lookup, was audited, and found out I charged an incorrect amount for sales tax? 

If you used the myColorado Sales Tax Lookup, and through a state review or audit that the proposed tax rate was incorrect, the tax remitter would still be liable for the difference in tax due (or refund if the tax rate was too high). However, the Department of Revenue (DOR) would not charge any penalty or interest on the correction that would otherwise be applicable. This is because the state guarantees the information provided through the myColorado's Sales Tax Lookup is accurate. This is also called Hold Harmless Protection and is afforded to any business that shows they’ve used the state’s data to calculate the sales tax due from a customer with a Colorado destination address. If you’re a business that is interested in automating this data into your own POS system please contact dor_locationfilers@state.co.us and they will be happy to help you integrate this data.

What kind of vendors need to know the sales and use tax?

Business owners, freelancers or online sellers need to understand sales taxes in Colorado provided they’re shipping the product they sold to a Colorado address. Photographers, crafters that sell goods at trade shows and vendors that sell food from food trucks are just a few examples of people who benefit from knowing sales and use tax rates across Colorado. Please refer to the Department of Revenue if you have any questions about the taxability of a product you may be selling in Colorado cdor.colorado.gov/im-looking-for/ask-a-question.

What’s new in the latest version of myColorado Sales Tax Lookup?

Now you can view your sales and use taxes by searching via geolocation, or a phone’s geographic location, when using the app. An additional way to search for tax is by using the new display map that allows the user to tap on a location in Colorado to bring up the sales and use tax in the region selected.

With the addition of our new sales tax calculator function in Sales Tax Lookup, users can enter a gross dollar amount (the amount you’re charging for the product you’re selling) and the service will apply the applicable tax rate for where you are located (or for a different location that can be selected on the map) and produce the total amount a customer should pay for the given product. Note, users can also select from a list of different product types that may be taxed differently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction from the drop-down menu (the default is “General Merchandise”).