Colorado Springs collects its own sales tax, separate from the state

If you sell anything inside Colorado Springs, the sales tax on your receipt does not all flow to one office. The city runs its own.

Colorado Springs is a “home-rule” city that has chosen to be self-collected. That means the city administers and collects its own sales and use tax, instead of handing that job to the state. The Colorado Department of Revenue collects the other pieces a customer pays here, including the state share, the El Paso County share, and the PPRTA transportation share. The city share is the city’s own to manage.

For a normal shopper this is invisible; you just pay one total at the register. It matters most to small-business owners and anyone selling goods in town. In a self-collected city you may file and remit sales tax to two places: the City of Colorado Springs for the city portion, and the state for the portions the state collects. The city’s rules, definitions, and forms can differ from the state’s, so what is taxable or exempt is not always the same in both places.

There is a state tool, the Sales and Use Tax System (SUTS), that lets some businesses send one combined return to the state and to participating home-rule cities. Whether that fits your situation is worth checking, because not every city or filing method qualifies.

If you run or are starting a business here, confirm how the city wants you to register and file. Start with the City of Colorado Springs Sales Tax office and the state’s local-government sales tax page for how home-rule self-collected cities work.