New taxing regulations have increased costs and time requirements for small businesses. Colorado has 344 taxing jurisdictions and a combination of city, county, and special districts creating 638 unique tax rates. This means some of our small, independently owned businesses and sole-proprietorships face the daunting burden and operational disruption of filing up to approximately 600 new tax returns a month.
To address this, the Boulder Chamber sent this letter to the Colorado General Assembly in support of Senate Bill 19-006, which proposes automated sales tax software to calculate tax rates for online sales. The bill continues to evolve as part of the legislative process, but specific provisions currently include:
- extending the compliance grace period, beyond the current May 31, 2019 deadline, to a period when the automated reporting software system is available.
- an investment (projected at $25 million) required to fund the development of resources for small businesses to comply, without imposing the additional costs on businesses.
- establishing thresholds for exempting our smallest in-state retailers from the reporting requirements.
- robust stakeholder engagement in the system development.
The Boulder Chamber also advocates for a collaborative stakeholder engagement process to inform the development of the software. If you would like to participate in that process, please contact Boulder Chamber Director of Public Affairs, Andrea Meneghel at andrea.meneghel@boulderchamber.com.