Colorado income tax rate for 2025 and 2026: a flat 4.4%

Colorado taxes the income of individuals at 4.4% for tax year 2025 and tax year 2026, the rate the Colorado Department of Revenue uses in its 2025 income tax table, its 2026 estimated tax worksheet and its 2026 withholding worksheet. There are no brackets: the same 4.4% applies to every dollar of Colorado taxable income.

In some years Colorado’s TABOR amendment has lowered the rate for one year when state revenue went over its limit; that is why the rate was 4.25% for 2024. No cut applies for 2025 or 2026. The state’s Legislative Council staff forecast in September 2026 that no cut will be triggered for 2027 or 2028 either.

Two measures on the November 3, 2026 ballot would change the rate from 2027. Amendment 87 would replace the flat rate with graduated rates from 3.7% to 8.4% on income over $1,000,000; Proposition 136 would cap the rate at today’s 4.4%. Neither affects 2025 or 2026 returns.

Most states start from federal adjusted gross income. Colorado starts one step later, from federal taxable income on line 15 of Form 1040, after the federal standard or itemized deduction and the qualified business income deduction. Colorado then adds some items back, subtracts others on Form DR 0104AD, and applies 4.4% to the result. There is no separate Colorado standard deduction or personal exemption.

For example, a single filer with $60,000 of wages and no other income has $43,900 of federal taxable income for 2026 after the $16,100 federal standard deduction, and owes $1,932 to Colorado at 4.4%. For 2025, with the $15,750 standard deduction, the same wages give $44,250 of taxable income and $1,947 of Colorado tax.

The July 2025 federal tax law (Public Law 119-21) created deductions for 2025 through 2028 for qualified tips (up to $25,000), overtime pay (up to $12,500, or $25,000 on a joint return), interest on a loan for a new U.S.-assembled car (up to $10,000) and an extra $6,000 for each person 65 or older. Because Colorado starts from federal taxable income, these deductions reduce Colorado income too, unless Colorado law says to add them back.

Colorado does not tax Social Security for anyone 65 or older: they subtract all of the federally taxed amount. From 2025, people aged 55 to 64 can also subtract all of it if their AGI is no more than $75,000 single or $95,000 joint; above that, the subtraction is capped at $20,000. Under 55, only survivor benefits qualify, up to $20,000.

Pensions, annuities and IRA distributions get a separate pension and annuity subtraction of up to $20,000 a year for ages 55 to 64 and $24,000 at 65 and older, allowed separately for each spouse on a joint return. Social Security you subtract uses up the same cap first: someone 65 or older who subtracts $24,000 or more of Social Security gets no pension subtraction, and someone who subtracts $10,000 can subtract up to $14,000 of pension income.

When state revenue goes over the limit set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), Colorado refunds the excess, partly through a state sales tax refund on the income tax return. For tax year 2025 the refund was a six-tier credit on line 38 of the DR 0104, by modified AGI. To get it you had to be a full-year resident, generally 18 or older on January 1, 2025, and file by October 15, 2026, so the 2025 refund window has closed.

There is no TABOR refund for tax year 2026, on returns filed in 2027. The State Controller certified that revenue for the 2025-26 fiscal year fell $175.9 million short of the limit, and the Legislative Council staff says no refunds will be paid for tax year 2026. That figure may be revised in December 2026 after the State Auditor’s review.

Colorado’s family credits are smaller for 2026. The Department of Revenue says the Colorado Earned Income Tax Credit was 50% of the federal credit for 2024 and 2025 and drops to 25% for 2026, and the Family Affordability Tax Credit is paused for 2026, because the forecast that turns them on did not show enough revenue. A new expanded family credit (HB26-1223) starts in tax year 2027.

Colorado cities do not tax income, but a few charge a flat monthly occupational privilege tax, often called a head tax, on people who work in the city and on their employers. The employer withholds the employee’s share from pay. Aurora repealed its tax as of January 1, 2025.

You generally file a Colorado return if you must file a federal return, or if you owe Colorado tax, as a full-year resident, a part-year resident or a nonresident with Colorado income. Full-year residents file Form DR 0104, with DR 0104AD for subtractions and DR 0104CR for credits; part-year residents and nonresidents add Form DR 0104PN. The Department’s Revenue Online site files for free.

Returns and payment are due April 15: 2025 returns were due April 15, 2026, and 2026 returns are due April 15, 2027. Colorado gives an automatic extension to file to October 15, with no form, but there is no extension to pay. The late-payment penalty is waived if you paid at least 90% of the tax by April 15, file by October 15 and pay the rest when you file; interest runs from April 15 either way.

Check a Colorado refund on the Department of Revenue’s refund page, tax.colorado.gov/refund, which opens the “Where’s My Refund” tool in Revenue Online. You need your SSN or ITIN and either the refund amount on your return or the Letter ID from a Department letter. The Department says to allow 3 to 5 weeks for an e-filed return with direct deposit and up to 3 months for a paper return with a paper check.

Colorado screens returns for identity theft. It may mail a letter with a validation key you must enter online before the refund is released, and it sometimes sends a paper check instead of a direct deposit to confirm the refund is legitimate.

You are a Colorado resident if Colorado is your domicile, or if you keep a permanent home in Colorado and spend more than six months of the year here. In the year you move in or out you are a part-year resident: you file DR 0104 with DR 0104PN, which works out the tax on all your income and then charges the share that matches your Colorado-source income and the income you received while a resident.

A Colorado resident who pays income tax to another state on the same income claims a credit on DR 0104CR, the smaller of the other state’s tax and the Colorado tax on that income; attach a copy of the other state’s return. Nonresidents and, generally, part-year residents cannot take it. Colorado taxes nonresidents on pay for work done in Colorado, and employers withhold Colorado tax from it.