Sales & Use Tax System (SUTS) | Frequently Asked Questions

SUTS is the Department's new Sales & Use Tax System. For more information, visit the SUTS Information web page. 

Visit the Sales & Use Tax System (SUTS) Help web page for more information on how to sign up.

Yes. Every business will need to have a Colorado State Sale Tax License. If you do not have a state sales tax license, you may register for the license through the SUTS System.

Payments can be made using ACH Credit, Bank Account/E-Check, or Credit Card. The taxpayer will need to cover any applicable processing fees.   

Department of Revenue rules provide that a taxpayer with an average monthly tax of $300 or more must file monthly. Taxpayers with an average monthly tax less than $300 may file quarterly. If a taxpayer’s average monthly tax liability is $15 or less, and filing monthly or quarterly would prove a hardship, the taxpayer may request permission to file annually.

Retailers engaged in a seasonal business may request permission to file only for the months during which they operate. Also, retailers who structure their accounting periods on a basis other than a calendar month (e.g. retailers who account in 13 four-week cycles) may request permission to file according to their accounting schedule. The rule also provides for changes to the filing schedule after it is approved.

Your return and payment will not show up on your Revenue Online account until the funds have cleared with SUTS, which is usually three (3) business days after payment.

Taxpayers will be able to report use tax to self-collecting home-rule municipalities that utilize a combined sales and use tax return. For a list of home-rule, self-collecting municipalities that have a combined return and can accept use tax return via SUTS, visit Tax.Colorado.gov/SUTS-Jurisdictions.

SUTS will not request the use tax details that are typically found on Schedule B. Taxpayers should maintain such detail in their records as required by local rules.

Taxpayers will not be able to file consumer’s use tax returns (forms DR 0251 and DR 0252) for the state or any state-administered jurisdictions through SUTS. Visit the Consumer Use Tax and the Use Tax for Businesses web page for more information. 

Currently, SUTS is only set up to collect sales and use taxes. Other local taxes collected must be remitted directly to home-rule, self-collecting tax jurisdictions. Other taxes for the state and state-administered jurisdictions can be filed and paid online using Revenue Online.  

Yes, businesses could file just their home-rule filings in SUTS and their state filings in Revenue Online if they chose to do so. The system is flexible, so that each business can use SUTS as it best suits their needs.

Please reach out to the home-rule jurisdiction directly with licensing requirement questions. Each self-collecting home-rule jurisdiction establishes their own tax laws, rules and regulations. 

Yes, this is a new system.

Visit the SUTS Participating Jurisdictions web page to see which jurisdictions are participating. 

No, there are other electronic filing methods available.

No, participation in SUTS is voluntary for the home-rule, self-collecting jurisdictions. 

While there are plans to add this feature in the future, at this time you can add locations (sites) to your account by using your Revenue Online account (if you have set one up) or by emailing DOR_multilocations@state.co.us.

The Sales & Use Tax System (SUTS) does not currently support amended returns. To amend a sales tax return for a participating, home rule, self-collecting tax jurisdiction, please reach out to the jurisdiction directly for additional information and instructions. Contact information for all home rule, self-collecting jurisdictions can be found in the DR 1002 publication. For state and state-administered jurisdictions, information about how to amend a retail sales tax return can be found on the Sales Tax Filing Information web page.

SUTS (Sales and Use Tax System) is the name for the combination of the GIS (Geographic Information System) and the new Sales Tax Remittance Portal. For more information on these systems, visit the SUTS Information web page. 

The Geographic Information System (GIS) allows businesses to look up the specific sales tax rate for an individual address. The GIS not only shows state sales tax information, but it also includes sales tax information for counties, municipalities, and special taxation districts. This system allows for a complete tax rate to be determined so the correct tax is collected from customers in real-time. 

Also, if your internal point of sale system supports it, the GIS information can be accessed through an Application Programming Interface (API). This API can automatically reference current tax information directly from the CDOR. Please note that the Department will need to verify that you have registered for an account for the Remittance Portal before using the API. Additionally, in some instances, the base map from Google cannot resolve some queries where, for example, “county road” is abbreviated as C.R. This issue is being investigated by Google Maps staff and should be resolved shortly.

The new GIS includes an API, which is short for "application programming interface," which is a software intermediary that allows two systems to talk to one another. An API assists you in automating your point of sale (POS) system. The API automatically retrieves sales tax rate calculation information from the GIS database. It can also help integrate GIS database information into your online ordering and point of sale systems.

Local and special district sales tax due is generally based on the rates that apply for the destination address of the taxable good or service purchased. The Colorado Sales/Use Tax Rates Form (DR 1002) lists taxation jurisdictions that are collected by the state and the jurisdictions that are self-collecting, along with their contact information. Please contact self-collecting jurisdictions directly for more information about their sales and use tax policies and procedures.

The Colorado Department of Revenue collects sales taxes for the State, all statutory jurisdictions (those that have not elected to go to home rule and to self collect), plus the sales taxes for all special districts that assess a sales tax.

Any self-collecting jurisdiction may opt-in to have the Colorado Department of Revenue administer, collect and audit sales tax for it.
In order to be state-collected the jurisdiction must conform to a prescribed list of exemption elections and conform to the State's tax base. There may be local ordinance changes required, or other conforming actions necessary before the self-collected jurisdiction can qualify for the Colorado Department of Revenue to administer, collect and audit as a state-collected jurisdiction. Please reference the DR 1002 for Colorado sales and use tax rates throughout the state.
 

Some municipalities have elected a home rule designation which, among other features, gives them greater autonomy and control over the taxes within their jurisdictions. Home rule jurisdictions, however, may choose to have the Department collect their taxes under certain conditions. The home rule jurisdictions that make this election are considered state-administered jurisdictions.
Home rule jurisdictions that do not make this election are considered self-collecting jurisdictions. A list of self-collecting jurisdictions can be found in DR1002.

The Colorado Department of Revenue is the single state authority to administer (register, collect, distribute and audit) sales taxes for all state-collected jurisdictions in the state of Colorado. The Colorado Department of Revenue does not require retailers to register separately with state-collected local jurisdictions to collect local sales taxes.

Some local jurisdictions may have a separate requirement for retailers doing business in their jurisdictions to register with them for a business license, but that has no impact on the administration of sales tax. The Colorado Department of Revenue does not require any local registration to collect state-collected local jurisdiction sales taxes.