Tax preparation for Castle Pines, Colorado

Castle Pines is two communities that share a name and a ZIP code. North of the Village gates is the city, incorporated in 2008 and still growing east into The Canyons. South of it is The Village at Castle Pines, older, gated, and unincorporated. The returns differ with them.

A first year in a new house in The Canyons

The Canyons was annexed into the city in 2009, and most of its homes are new construction inside metropolitan districts that finance the roads, water, and sewer lines. Those districts levy their own mill on top of the city, county, and school district, so the first full property tax bill is often higher than the escrow estimate from closing. On the federal return, the settlement statement needs a careful read. Property tax prorated at closing, points paid on the mortgage, and seller credits each land in a different place, and a return built from the lender's Form 1098 alone tends to miss one of them.

Stock plans from Meridian and the Tech Center

A lot of Castle Pines commutes a few exits north to Meridian or the Denver Tech Center, and a lot of those jobs come with an employee stock purchase plan. The expensive mistake is easy to miss. When ESPP shares are sold, the discount is usually already taxed as wages on the W-2, but the Form 1099-B from the broker often reports a cost basis that leaves the discount out. File it as reported and the same income gets taxed twice. The fix is an adjustment on Form 8949 using the supplemental statement the broker provides, which is easy to do and easy to skip.

Club dues and business entertaining

Castle Pines has more private golf than most towns its size, and the question comes up every year from owners who host clients at the club. Membership dues for a golf, country, or social club are not deductible, however much of the use is business. The meal can be, generally at 50 percent, when it is a real business meal with a record of who was there and why. The round of golf is entertainment and is not deductible at all. Sorting the bill into those pieces before year end is much easier than doing it from a card statement in March.

Which Castle Pines is your business in?

The post office does not track city limits. Both the City of Castle Pines and The Village at Castle Pines receive mail addressed to Castle Pines, CO 80108. For household returns that rarely matters. For a business it decides which licensing and sales tax rules apply.

Inside city limits, Castle Pines has collected its own sales tax since January 1, 2020. The city rate is 3.75 percent, for 7.75 percent combined with state, county, and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, and the city does not tax groceries. Every business with a physical presence in the city needs a city business license or contractor license. The city dropped the business license fee in October 2023, but the license itself is still required, and a business that collects city sales tax also needs a sales tax license at $10 a year.

Contractors working in The Canyons should know about use tax. The city charges 3.75 percent use tax on building materials, including items like fill, gravel, fencing, and curb and gutter, when city sales tax was not paid at purchase. A business in The Village sits outside city limits and follows Douglas County instead, with no city license at all. Rates and rules are set by ordinance, so confirm the current ones with the city before relying on anything here.

Looking for a CPA in Castle Pines?

Most people search for a CPA, so it is worth saying plainly that Chuck is an Enrolled Agent. It is a federal credential issued by the IRS, earned by examination and kept current with continuing education, and it covers tax specifically. For a personal return, a Schedule C, a partnership, or a small S-corp, an EA and a tax-focused CPA do the same work. If a lender or bonding company wants audited or reviewed financial statements, that takes a CPA firm, and we will tell you so. The longer comparison is here.

How Castle Pines clients work with us

The office is on Park Meadows Drive at C-470 and Yosemite, a mile west of the I-25 interchange, so it is a quick trip from Castle Pines Parkway. Plenty of clients skip the drive anyway. Documents go up through the secure upload, questions get handled by phone, and every return is reviewed with you before it is filed. See individual tax preparation and small business tax preparation for what each involves.

What we handle for Castle Pines clients

• Individual returns, federal and Colorado, prepared and e-filed
• Stock plan sales, including ESPP and RSU basis adjustments
• Schedule C, partnership, and S-corp returns for Douglas County businesses
• Back and prior-year returns, including amended returns for years filed with the wrong basis

Castle Pines questions we get asked