Colorado State Tax Rulings
Free plain-English summaries of state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued in Colorado, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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If a Colorado retailer adds a credit-card surcharge to a sale, is that surcharge part of the taxable purchase price — meaning the customer pays sales tax on it too?
No, if it's done by the book. A credit-card surcharge that complies with the conditions in § 5-2-212, C.R.S. — charged only when the customer chooses a credit or charge card, shown as a separate line …
For a company selling EV charging stations, must it collect sales tax on (1) the station, (2) an annual network fee, and (3) maintenance contracts?
A general overview, no binding determination. (1) Selling the charging station is a taxable retail sale of tangible personal property (and use tax can apply to its use). (2) The annual network fee is …
When a company sells custom signage to Colorado customers, are its separately stated charges for delivery and installation subject to Colorado sales or use tax?
Generally no, for the delivery and installation. Colorado taxes the sale of the signage (tangible personal property) but not services. Delivery and installation are typically services, so those charge…
Is a company's charge for designing, printing, and distributing door-hanger marketing materials subject to Colorado sales tax?
Largely yes. A company that designs, prints, and distributes door-hanger marketing material is selling tangible goods — the printed material is the 'true object' — so a lump-sum charge is taxable. Eve…
Is an optional maintenance agreement bought with a vehicle lease subject to Colorado sales tax?
No, not if it is truly optional and separately stated. A maintenance agreement sold with a vehicle lease is normally taxable unless it is separable from the lease — and it is separable when (1) the cu…
If a retailer charged sales tax on mandatory shipping and a customer returns the goods for a full refund of the item price but not the shipping, must the retailer refund the sales tax it collected on the shipping charge?
Yes. When a retailer refunds the customer the full purchase price of returned goods but keeps the mandatory shipping charge, it must also refund the sales tax it collected on that shipping charge. Man…
Is a separately stated charge to install a custom-made, freestanding closet organizer into a customer's home included in the Colorado sales/use tax calculation?
Yes, on these facts. The separately stated 'installation' charge for a custom-made closet organizer is included in the sales/use tax calculation. The product is made to order and isn't finished until …
Is a restaurant's separately stated delivery charge taxable when the customer is never told there's a delivery fee they could avoid by picking up the meal?
Taxable here. A delivery charge escapes sales tax only if it's both (1) separable from the sale and (2) separately stated in a way the customer actually knows about before buying. This restaurant's fe…
Does Colorado sales tax apply to a late-payment fee a seller charges when a customer pays an invoice late?
No. A late-payment fee is not included in the sales tax calculation as long as it is separately stated from the purchase price. Sales tax is a transactional tax fixed when the sale is created, and a l…
Is a 'consolidated freight charge' for moving goods between a seller's own facilities subject to Colorado sales tax, even if separately stated?
Probably taxable. A 'consolidated freight charge' — a fee for moving goods between the seller's own plants to combine a customer's order into one shipment — escapes sales tax only if BOTH conditions h…
Does Colorado sales tax apply to a separately stated prepaid-fuel charge or to freight/transportation charges on a vehicle?
It depends. A prepaid-gasoline charge is likely NOT taxable as long as it's optional and separately stated, because gasoline itself is exempt from state sales tax — but if the customer is required to …
Are a seller's charges for installation, troubleshooting, removal, reinstallation, and trip fees on equipment subject to Colorado sales tax?
It depends on how the labor is sold. Charges for services are generally not subject to Colorado sales tax, but a charge for maintenance or a service warranty made in connection with the sale or lease …
Is carbon dioxide sold to a retailer to carbonate fountain drinks taxable, and is the rental of the tank system that ships and stores it taxable?
The carbon dioxide is exempt — it becomes an ingredient of the soft drink, so the supplier's sale to a retailer is an exempt sale for resale. The shipping tank is also exempt as the container for an e…
For a commercial furniture dealer, which charges — delivery, installation, reconfiguration, repair, storage, freight-in, design — are subject to Colorado sales tax?
Services a furniture dealer provides are taxable when they're inseparable from the sale of the goods, and nontaxable when they're optional and separately stated. Resales to end users are taxable (resa…
Is a service contract bought together with rented office equipment taxable in Colorado?
It depends on whether it's a separate contract. If the equipment rental and the service contract are one bundled deal, the entire consideration is taxable unless the retailer gets Department permissio…
Are CCTV consulting and project-management fees taxable in Colorado, and can a company credit sales tax it paid another state on equipment it bought to resell to its client?
Consulting and project-management fees for a video-surveillance system are not taxable if they're genuinely separable from the equipment sale and separately stated on the invoice (the Department won't…
For short-term rentals of oilfield living quarters, water/sewer systems, generators, transportation, cleaning, and consumables, who owes Colorado tax and on what?
For rentals of three years or less, the lessor is treated as the end user: it owes sales or use tax on what it paid for the equipment (with credit for tax paid another state), rather than charging tax…
Can a retailer buy bulk gift-card stock tax-free as a sale for resale, and is a transaction-tracking service bundled with the cards taxable?
No resale exemption. A gift card is functionally a credit voucher, not something the retailer actually sells to the customer (there's no separate charge for the card itself), so a retailer's bulk purc…
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These are official tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued by Colorado's revenue authority in response to questions from specific taxpayers about how the tax law applies to their facts. A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who requested it and cannot be relied on by anyone else, but it is strong evidence of how the state reads the law. Every ruling above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original source.