TAX NEWS - January 2010

Colorado Use Tax For Retailers

Use Tax is due if:

- Any items are purchased from out-of-state, catalog or Internet vendors where Colorado sales tax was not paid.
- Transfer of personal items to business (such as a computer or laptop).
- In-state purchase when the special district taxes were not paid to the retailer.
 

Use Tax is NOT due if the:

- Item is for your inventory only and will be resold to a customer in a taxable transaction.
- Item will be used in a finished product and will be resold to a customer.
- State and special district sales taxes were paid on an in-state purchase.
 

A business should file a use tax return every year even if there is no use tax to report. This can be reported by filing a "zero" return using Colorado Tax Department Retailer's Use Tax ZeroFile System.  The due date for filing the return is January 20 of the next year unless you have more than $300 (cumulative) of use tax due in a given month. Then the return is due before the 20th of the following month. This does not set a precedence to file monthly returns.  The statute of limitations on a use tax return is three years from the date the return is filed
 

Failure to File

Late filings and payments are subject to " Failure-to-File/Failure-to-Pay " penalties of up to 20 percent.