Do I need a sales tax permit in Colorado?

Every retailer doing business in Colorado must obtain a Colorado sales tax license from the Department of Revenue before making any retail sales. A retailer that sells only items exempt from Colorado sales tax does not need one. Colorado calls the registration a Colorado sales tax license. For a seller outside Colorado, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year, or in the current calendar year (collection then starts on the first day of the month after the 90th day after the threshold is passed). Colorado's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

Sales tax permit · Colorado

How to Get a Colorado Sales Tax License

The short answer. In Colorado, the registration a business must hold before it makes sales subject to Colorado sales tax is a Colorado sales tax license, issued by the Colorado Department of Revenue, Taxation Division.

Colorado Sales Tax License at a Glance

What Colorado calls it	Colorado Sales Tax License
Issued by	Colorado Department of Revenue, Taxation Division
How to apply	Online or paper
Fee	$16 per location (see Cost)
Security deposit or bond	Required in stated cases
Expires	Renewed every 2 years
Several locations	One for each location
Local sales tax	Some need their own registration
Threshold for sellers outside the state	$100,000 in sales

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 29, 2026. See the sources.

Who Needs a Colorado Sales Tax License

Every retailer doing business in Colorado must obtain a Colorado sales tax license from the Department of Revenue before making any retail sales. A retailer that sells only items exempt from Colorado sales tax does not need one.

For a seller outside Colorado, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year, or in the current calendar year (collection then starts on the first day of the month after the 90th day after the threshold is passed). Colorado's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

How to Apply

You apply to the Colorado Department of Revenue, Taxation Division. You can apply online or on a paper application. Go to Colorado's registration page.

Colorado requires your registration to be displayed at the place of business.

What It Costs

The sales tax license costs $16 for each location. The $16 fee is charged for each location's license and covers the two-year license period. A license started partway through the period is prorated to $12, $8 or $4, and renewal is $16 for each location.

Colorado requires security, such as a bond or deposit, in stated cases. Every new retail sales tax license account pays a $50 deposit with the application, but not again for extra locations added to the same account. The Department refunds it once you have remitted $50 in state sales tax. Charitable organizations are exempt, and a seller of products taxed only by cities or counties may ask for it to be waived.

Does It Expire?

The sales tax license is renewed every 2 years. Licenses run on a statewide two-year cycle that ends on December 31 of each odd-numbered year, so a license issued partway through the cycle lasts less than two years. You renew for the next two-year cycle.

More Than One Location

A business needs a separate sales tax license for each place of business in Colorado.

Local Sales Taxes in Colorado

The state license covers state sales tax and the city, county and special district taxes the Department collects. Self-collecting home-rule cities administer their own sales tax and require their own city sales tax license, which you get from each such city (the Department's publication DR 1002 lists them).

Worth Knowing in Colorado

You can apply online through MyBiz Colorado and get your Colorado Account Number the same day, or file Form CR 0100 in person at a Taxpayer Service Center or by mail.

More for Colorado Businesses

Colorado resale certificate, for buying inventory for resale.
Sales tax nexus checker, to see which other states your sales may require you to register in.
Colorado LLC guide, for forming and running an LLC in the state.
LLC guide for eBay sellers in Colorado, for selling only through a marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Every retailer doing business in Colorado must obtain a Colorado sales tax license from the Department of Revenue before making any retail sales. A retailer that sells only items exempt from Colorado sales tax does not need one. Colorado calls the registration a Colorado sales tax license. For a seller outside Colorado, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year, or in the current calendar year (collection then starts on the first day of the month after the 90th day after the threshold is passed). Colorado's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: The sales tax license costs $16 for each location. The $16 fee is charged for each location's license and covers the two-year license period. A license started partway through the period is prorated to $12, $8 or $4, and renewal is $16 for each location. Colorado requires security, such as a bond or deposit, in stated cases. Every new retail sales tax license account pays a $50 deposit with the application, but not again for extra locations added to the same account. The Department refunds it once you have remitted $50 in state sales tax. Charitable organizations are exempt, and a seller of products taxed only by cities or counties may ask for it to be waived.
: The sales tax license is renewed every 2 years. Licenses run on a statewide two-year cycle that ends on December 31 of each odd-numbered year, so a license issued partway through the cycle lasts less than two years. You renew for the next two-year cycle.
: A business needs a separate sales tax license for each place of business in Colorado.
: The state license covers state sales tax and the city, county and special district taxes the Department collects. Self-collecting home-rule cities administer their own sales tax and require their own city sales tax license, which you get from each such city (the Department's publication DR 1002 lists them).

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's law and tax agency say about the registration a business holds before it makes taxable sales, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you whether your own business must register: that turns on what you sell, where you sell it from, and how much you sell into the state, and fees, security rules and thresholds change between our reviews. Confirm your own position with the tax agency named on this page before you start selling.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Colorado sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-39.pdfColorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 39 (39-26-102, 39-26-103)
tax.colorado.gov/sites/tax/files/documents/Sales_Tax_Guide_May_2026.pdfColorado Sales Tax Guide (Revised May 2026)
tax.colorado.gov/sites/tax/files/documents/CR0100_2025.pdfCR 0100, Colorado Sales Tax and Withholding Account Application (11/22/24)
tax.colorado.gov/renew-your-sales-tax-licenseColorado DOR: Renew Your Sales Tax License
tax.colorado.gov/add-locations-sites-to-your-sales-tax-accountColorado DOR: Add Locations (Sites) to Your Sales Tax Account
tax.colorado.gov/how-to-apply-for-a-colorado-sales-tax-licenseColorado DOR: How to Apply for a Colorado Sales Tax License

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.