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.
No Colorado rulings match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Does a company have to charge Colorado sales tax on DNA-based ancestry and health reports and the saliva kits it sends customers — and does the company owe use tax on those kits itself?
Two answers. The DNA ancestry and health-history reports — and the saliva collection kits sold to customers to produce them — are NOT subject to Colorado sales tax, because the customer's 'true object…
Is an all-inclusive, bundled multi-day train 'travel experience package' — which lumps interstate train travel, on-board sightseeing/guides, catered meals, and a Colorado hotel night into one price — subject to Colorado sales tax?
No. Where a multi-day travel experience is sold as one inseparable, all-inclusive bundle, Colorado taxes it by the transaction's 'true object.' Here the true object is the nontaxable train travel expe…
Are subscriptions to an online learning platform — streaming video courses bundled with tutoring and advising — subject to Colorado sales tax, and is the platform's internet advertising revenue taxable?
Two answers. (1) Yes — the online learning subscriptions (all six plan tiers) ARE subject to Colorado sales tax. Even though they're delivered by streaming and bundle in tutoring and advising, the tru…
Does a cable TV company owe Colorado sales tax on its basic and premium channel packages, sports packages, pay-per-view events, and video-on-demand?
No. A cable company's sales of basic and premium channel packages, sports packages, pay-per-view events, and video-on-demand are not subject to Colorado state or state-administered local sales tax, be…
Is a third-party company's charge for ERP-software maintenance and support — including tax, legal, and regulatory updates delivered electronically — subject to Colorado sales or use tax?
No. The company isn't selling taxable computer software — it's selling maintenance and support services. Even if some tangible personal property changes hands while providing those services, it is de …
Does a billing-services company owe Colorado sales tax on the printed bills it produces, or on the separately stated postage it charges to mail them?
No to both. A company that turns clients' raw financial data into printed bills and statements is selling a nontaxable service, not taxable goods — the paper the bills are printed on is incidental to …
When a company sells and installs a commercial sign, are its separately stated charges for surveying, engineering stamps, and permits included in the sales tax on the sign?
It depends on what the charge is really for. A sign is taxable tangible personal property, and a retailer's costs of bringing goods to market — government permits, engineering drawings, manufacturing …
When a company rents scaffolding and bills extras like sheeting, planks, lighting, delivery, on-site equipment, consumables, and erection labor, which of those charges are included in the Colorado sales tax on the rental?
It depends on the rental's length and how each charge relates to the rental — and this GIL lays out the framework without deciding the specific items. Key points: (1) for rentals of three years or les…
Is a company's monthly 'subscription' charge for energy-saving technology it owns and installs at the customer's site a nontaxable service, or a taxable rental of tangible personal property?
It depends — and this GIL does NOT decide it. The question is whether a monthly charge for company-owned energy-saving technology installed at the customer's site is a nontaxable service or a taxable …
Are membership fees and golf-bay play charges at a golf-entertainment venue subject to Colorado sales tax?
No. At a golf-entertainment venue, the membership fees, the charges to play in the golf bays, and the line-skip passes are all nontaxable services, not taxable rentals of tangible personal property. T…
Does Colorado sales or use tax apply to charging third parties for non-transplantable human tissue?
Yes. Charging third parties for non-transplantable human tissue is a taxable sale of tangible personal property in Colorado, not a tax-free service. Human tissue is corporeal property; the labor to ac…
Are colocation cross connects, cables, direct private lines, and remote-management software subject to Colorado sales or use tax?
It depends, and the Department gave only limited guidance because the company declined to request a (binding) private letter ruling. Whether colocation cross connects and cables are a taxable rental o…
Are an association's membership fees taxable when membership comes with both goods (a guidebook, a magazine) and services, and is tax refundable if a member cancels?
It depends on the true object. A membership fee can be a taxable sale when the member gets tangible goods (here, an instructor's guidebook, marketing material, and a magazine subscription) for the fee…
Is a custom promotional video a taxable sale of property or a non-taxable service, and what about charges for raw footage and project files?
Likely a non-taxable service. Under the 'true object' test, producing a custom promotional video is generally a non-taxable service even though some property (a DVD, thumb drive, or hard drive) change…
For Colorado income tax apportionment, is digital imagery delivered electronically tangible personal property, and how is it sourced?
It's tangible personal property, sourced to where it's delivered. For Colorado income tax apportionment, a static digital image delivered electronically is treated as a sale of tangible personal prope…
Are a medical-records company's retrieval and copying fees taxable in Colorado, and must the company collect tax?
Not taxable, and the company doesn't have to collect tax. The Department ruled that a company's charges for retrieving and copying medical records aren't subject to Colorado sales tax no matter how de…
Are the various per-record fees a medical-records company charges (copying, retrieval, certification, postage, etc.) subject to Colorado sales tax?
None of them are taxable. The Department ruled that every enumerated fee a medical-records release-of-information company charges — basic, retrieval, certification, photo/per-page, handling, postage, …
Does an out-of-state company that occasionally sends tutors to teach a corporate training course in Colorado owe Colorado sales tax or income tax?
Generally no sales tax on the teaching itself, but watch the materials and income tax. Colorado treats education and training as nontaxable services, so charges for instruction aren't subject to sales…
Browse Colorado rulings by topic
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.