Tax preparation for Aurora, Colorado

Aurora is the biggest suburb in Colorado and the least uniform, which shows up in the returns. Military and defense work around Buckley, a large medical campus, small businesses on every arterial, and households that arrived here from somewhere else recently enough that two states are still involved.

Military and defense pay

Service members keep their state of legal residence when they move on orders, so an airman stationed at Buckley who is legally a resident of Texas does not become a Colorado resident by being posted here. Get that wrong and you file and pay a state return you never owed. Under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act a spouse can elect the same residency in many situations, which is regularly missed because it requires actively choosing it. Combat pay exclusions, moving expense rules that still apply to active duty, and reserve travel deductions all sit on top of that.

Three counties, one city

Aurora spans Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties. The county line running through the city decides your property tax rate, your school district levy, and which assessor handles an appeal. Two houses on opposite sides of a street can carry different bills, and people comparing their tax notice to a neighbor's sometimes conclude one of them was assessed wrong when both are correct.

Self-employment and first-year businesses

1099 income with nothing withheld produces the same April surprise here as everywhere else, and the answer is the same: quarterly estimated payments and an expense list that reflects the actual work. The deadlines and safe harbor rules are here, and the deduction checklist is here.

Aurora collects its own sales tax

Aurora is a home rule city, so it administers sales and use tax itself rather than through the state, and it requires its own business license. Businesses selling into Aurora from elsewhere in the metro can owe Aurora tax on those sales even without a location in the city, and businesses inside Aurora can owe use tax on equipment purchased outside it. Confirm current rates and licensing directly with the city, since both change.

Looking for a CPA or tax preparer in Aurora?

Straight about the wording, because it is how people search. Chuck is an Enrolled Agent, not a CPA. It is a federal credential issued by the IRS, earned by examination and maintained through continuing education, authorizing representation of taxpayers before the IRS in any state, focused on tax rather than accounting generally. For individual returns, Schedule C, partnerships, and small S-corps an EA and a tax-focused CPA do the same work. Audited financial statements or formal attestation for a lender require a CPA firm. The longer comparison is here.

How Aurora clients actually work with us

Across the metro is far enough that nearly all Aurora clients work entirely by portal. Documents go up through the secure upload, the follow-up questions happen by phone, and the return is read through before filing exactly as it would be for someone who walked in. The office is at Park Meadows if you want to come in.

What we handle for Aurora clients

• Individual returns, federal and Colorado, prepared and e-filed
• Military and multi-state residency returns
• Schedule C, single-member LLC, and S-corp returns
• Back and prior-year returns, plus IRS notices, audits, and collections

Aurora questions we get asked