· Charles Trautman, EA
The Colorado TABOR refund, explained
Most states do not do this, so if you moved here recently the whole thing reads as slightly implausible: some years Colorado sends taxpayers money back, and it is not a stimulus, a rebate programme, or anything the legislature decided to do that year. It is a constitutional requirement.
What TABOR actually is
The Taxpayer's Bill of Rights was added to the Colorado Constitution by ballot measure in 1992. It caps how much revenue the state is allowed to keep, and the cap grows each year by roughly population growth plus inflation.
Revenue above that cap cannot simply be spent. The state has to give it back. That is the whole mechanism, and it explains the thing people find most confusing: whether there is a refund in a given year is not a policy decision, it is arithmetic. Strong revenue years produce a surplus and a refund. Weaker years do not.
Whether a surplus exists for the year you are filing, and how it is being distributed, changes annually. The Colorado Department of Revenue publishes the current position, and it is worth checking rather than assuming this year works like last year.
How the money actually reaches you
There is no single TABOR cheque. The state has used several mechanisms over the years, sometimes more than one at once, and which ones are in play depends on the size of the surplus and what the legislature has set up.
The common ones are a sales tax refund claimed on your Colorado individual income tax return, a temporary reduction in the state income tax rate that lowers what you owe rather than paying you separately, and reimbursement of the senior and disabled veteran property tax exemptions.
The practical consequence is that for most people the refund arrives folded into their Colorado return rather than as a separate payment. If you were waiting for a distinct cheque to turn up, it may already have reached you as a larger state refund or a smaller state bill.
The step people miss
You generally have to file a Colorado return to receive it.
This catches people whose income is low enough that they are not otherwise required to file, which is exactly the group least likely to file anyway. Retirees living on Social Security, students, and anyone with a very light year can all be owed a refund they never claim, because claiming it happens on a return they did not think they needed to send.
Colorado also runs a Property Tax, Rent, Heat rebate for qualifying older and disabled residents, which is a separate application with its own rules. Some people qualify for both and claim neither.
Residency and who qualifies
Eligibility generally turns on being a full-year Colorado resident for the tax year, meeting an age requirement, and filing. Part-year residents are treated differently, which matters if you arrived in or left Colorado partway through the year. If you moved to the Front Range mid-year, this is one of several things that make that first return more involved than the ones after it.
When it is issued
Because it usually travels with your state refund, the timing is the timing of your return: when you filed, whether you e-filed, and how quickly the Department of Revenue processes it. Colorado runs identity verification on returns that can add time. There is no separate TABOR issue date to wait for in most years, which is why searching for one tends to produce nothing useful.
What to do about it
File a Colorado return even if your income is under the filing threshold, check the Department of Revenue for the current year's position before assuming anything, and if you are a part-year resident get the residency dates right, because that is what drives eligibility.
We prepare Colorado returns for clients in Highlands Ranch, Centennial, Parker, Castle Rock and across the Denver metro from one office in Lone Tree.
Common questions
What is a TABOR refund?
Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights caps how much revenue the state can keep, growing roughly with population and inflation. Revenue collected above that cap has to be returned to taxpayers, which is what a TABOR refund is.
How do I get my Colorado TABOR refund?
In most years it comes through your Colorado individual income tax return rather than as a separate payment, so you generally have to file a state return to receive it, even if your income is below the threshold that would otherwise require filing.
When will Colorado TABOR refunds be issued?
Usually alongside your state refund, so the timing follows when you filed and how quickly the Colorado Department of Revenue processes your return. In most years there is no separate TABOR payment date.
Will there be a TABOR refund this year?
It depends on whether state revenue exceeded the constitutional cap for that year, which is arithmetic rather than a policy choice. The Colorado Department of Revenue publishes the current position each year.
General information from Tax Shop in Lone Tree, Colorado, current as of August 11, 2026. Tax rules change and every return is different, so this is not advice about your own situation. Ask us about your return.