Beginning Dec. 1, the state of Colorado is requiring some changes to tax collection for establishments that sell taxable merchandise out of the county in which they have a “bricks and mortar” facility.
The new rule states that “sales tax must be collected and remitted based on the jurisdiction’s tax rate at the point of delivery for the taxable goods when the taxable goods are delivered to a Colorado address outside the retailer’s jurisdiction.” This includes state, county, self-collecting towns and special districting taxes.
In short, if you ship your taxable product to a home or business outside of Archuleta County, you are now responsible for collecting and reporting taxes differently.
While not always an easy process when slogging through the bureaucracy of governmental agencies, if you have a Colorado Revenue Online account, the process should be a little easier.
This article is not meant to give you the details of what needs to happen, but how you can access the information. First off, go to the Colorado Department of Revenue’s website, www.colorado.gov/tax. Front and center on the home page is the link that takes you to more information about the new tax collection requirements.
Some business ship regularly out of the county but within the state. There is a link on the Colorado.gov/tax website that lists all of the jurisdictions in the state — including towns in Colorado. A jurisdiction is determined by what is being termed “a non-physical site” which means it is not a bricks and mortar facility in the jurisdiction where you are doing business. This includes private home deliveries as well as business address deliveries.
There is a little pre-work to the process. First off, if your business does not have a Colorado Revenue Online account, get one. It is easy, you can apply for it on the state’s website. Once online, go to the “I Want to” section of the account and add your nonphysical locations. If you regularly sell goods to a location out of the county, enter that jurisdiction or nonphysical location.
You will need to file a tax report when you have activity to an outside jurisdiction that month. At the beginning, only list the jurisdictions where you know that you will be doing business. You can add other locations as you do business. It doesn’t matter if you sell to one or 100 locations out of the county — you will need to list them all.
This process seems a little daunting and initially it might be. The state’s website, www.colorado.gov/pacific/tax/sales-tax-changes, is a great resource of information and has a whole section dedicated to questions and answers. If you cannot comply with these changes initially, the state is offering a grace period until March 31, 2019.
There is also a way to send your questions to the Department of Revenue through this site. If you haven’t started researching your business’ changes to this tax collection system, do so right away and use the resources available to you through the state.
Membership news
Sign up now for the next Maximizing Your Membership class at the Chamber on Tuesday, Nov. 13, from 9 to 10 a.m. This free breakfast session will help you utilize the benefits that you are entitled to as Chamber member. How can you get more marketing bang for your buck? What kinds of benefits are you just leaving on the table? Interested in joining the Chamber — come and find out how we can help you. Please RSVP to Rick Artis, membership coordinator, so that we can ensure enough breakfast items are available.
