Colorado

Forming the entity

• Articles of incorporation for a nonprofit corporation under the Colorado Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act (C.R.S. §7-121-101 et seq.) are filed online with the Secretary of State ($50 check); the form has no purpose or dissolution clause, so the IRS language goes in an attachment or additional provisions, or Form 1023 will come back. A registered agent in Colorado; at least one director (three is the norm and some funders require it); members or no members.
• EIN from the IRS; a Colorado account with the DOR only if there is payroll (wage withholding) or sales tax; a Colorado unemployment account with CDLE — a (c)(3) may elect to reimburse benefits instead of paying premiums, which is cheaper for stable small payrolls and expensive after a layoff.
• The periodic report: every entity, every year, in the anniversary month, two months either side without penalty, $10; $50 late; “delinquent” status after that and eventually administrative dissolution, which costs the determination letter’s reliance only if the entity is actually gone, but costs a bank its patience immediately.

Charitable solicitation registration (C.R.S. §6-16-101 et seq.)

• Who registers: any charitable organization that solicits contributions in Colorado, by any means, before soliciting. Exempt (§6-16-104(6)): organizations that neither intend to receive nor actually receive contributions over $25,000 in a fiscal year (grants from governments and from (c)(3)s do not count toward it) and do not use a paid solicitor; organizations that receive contributions from ten or fewer persons in the year; churches and religious organizations that do not file a Form 990 (an integrated auxiliary or a church that files a 990 voluntarily is not exempt); political candidates and committees that report under the election laws; appeals for a named individual where all proceeds go to that person. A church school or ministry that files a 990 registers.
• How: online with the Secretary of State’s Charities and Fundraisers program; $10 initial, $10 renewal; the renewal is due by the 15th day of the fifth month after fiscal year-end and may be extended three months automatically to match a federal extension and three more on request; financial figures (contributions, revenue, expenses, program percentage) from the 990 or EZ; a 990-N filer reports the figures itself. 17 days of grace after expiration; after that, reinstatement at $10 per year plus a $60 failure-to-renew fee per year with the financial reports for each missed year; soliciting while unregistered up to $300 per year for up to three years, and knowing violations are charitable fraud (a misdemeanor or felony). check (fees)
• Paid solicitors (anyone who solicits for compensation, or hires people to, other than the organization’s own staff, lawyers, bankers, printers, mailers, merchant processors and flat-fee grant writers): $175 registration, a $15,000 bond, a $75 contract filing at least 15 days before each campaign, and a financial report within 90 days after it ends. Every solicitation by a paid solicitor must disclose the solicitor’s name and that the solicitation is paid. Professional fundraising consultants (advice only, no soliciting, no custody of funds) are exempt from registration under §6-16-104.3 but their contracts must be in writing.
• Colorado’s program is one of the few with real enforcement; the Secretary of State publishes the registration status and the financial figures, and donors check it. Schedule G Part I line 3 lists the states where the organization is registered — put Colorado there.

Sales and use tax

• Purchases: a (c)(3) charitable organization (and (c)(19) veterans’ organizations) applies on DR 0715 with the determination letter, the articles, a certificate of good standing and the latest financial statement; the DOR issues an exempt-entity certificate (the 98- number). Purchases are exempt only when made in the conduct of the organization’s regular charitable functions and paid with the organization’s funds — an employee’s personal card reimbursed later does not qualify. State-collected cities and counties follow; home-rule cities (Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Englewood, Littleton, Centennial, Lone Tree itself) grant their own exemptions on their own applications and some do not.
• Sales: an exempt organization selling tangible goods collects sales tax like any retailer, with a sales tax license, except for occasional sales: a charitable organization’s sales are exempt if net proceeds from such sales in the preceding calendar year did not exceed $45,000 and the money is kept for the charitable purpose; the exemption ends on the day current-year net proceeds pass $45,000 (C.R.S. §39-26-718(1)(b), as amended by HB19-1323 — the old 12-day limit is gone). Auction and gala sales, bake sales and the thrift store are all judged against that number, and a thrift store crosses it in a month. Food sold at an event is taxable to the buyer at the same rate as a restaurant. Admissions are not taxed by the state but some home-rule cities tax them. See the public page on use tax for the mechanics.
• Property tax: real and personal property owned and used by a charitable, religious or educational organization for its purposes may be exempt on application to the Division of Property Taxation (annual filing); property rented out at market rent is not.

Income tax and UBTI

• An organization exempt from federal income tax is exempt from Colorado income tax (C.R.S. §39-22-112). It owes Colorado tax on federal unrelated business taxable income: the 990-T’s UBTI starts the DR 0112 (C corporation return), apportioned if the business operates in more than one state, at the corporate rate (4.40% for 2025 and 2026 unless TABOR triggers a temporary cut check), with the automatic DR 0158-C extension to the federal extended date and DR 0112EP estimates when the tax will exceed $5,000. A trust-form exempt organization (an IRA with UBTI, a VEBA trust) uses the DR 0105 fiduciary return instead check. An organization with no Colorado taxable income that is claiming a refundable or transferable credit files the DR 0990 rather than the DR 0112. added 2026
• Colorado does not require a copy of the Form 990 and does not have an information return for exempt organizations; the Secretary of State renewal is where the financial figures go.

Bingo and raffles

• Colo. Const. art. XVIII, §2 and the Bingo and Raffles Law (C.R.S. §24-21-601 et seq.): only a charitable, religious, fraternal, educational, veterans’ or labor organization that has existed for five years may hold a raffle or bingo, under a Secretary of State bingo-raffle license ($100 a year check); a registered, uncompensated games manager; proceeds only for lawful purposes; a separate bingo-raffle account; quarterly reports; no one under 18 playing. A door-prize drawing with free entry is not a raffle; a $20 ticket for a chance at a truck is, and so is a 50/50 drawing. The federal side is the bingo exclusion (raffles are not bingo) and Schedule G Part III; raffle prizes over $600 and 300 times the wager need a W-2G and withholding over $5,000. added 2026 check

The Colorado side of charitable giving

• The charitable contribution subtraction for taxpayers who take the federal standard deduction: contributions over $500, on the DR 0104AD, a (c)(3) donee required, and the same substantiation as federal. The $300,000-of-AGI addback for itemizers. Both on Colorado charitable giving; the 2026 federal non-itemizer deduction does not change the Colorado subtraction, which starts from federal taxable income check.
• Credits that run through the donee: the Child Care Contribution Credit (50% of a monetary gift to a licensed child care facility or program, up to $100,000 of credit a year, the donee issues the DR 1317); the Enterprise Zone Contribution Credit (25% of cash, 12.5% of in-kind, to a certified EZ project, DR 0075 from the project); the Homeless Contribution Credit (25%, replacing the EZ credit for approved homelessness projects, DR 1301). An organization that wants its donors to have these applies for the certification first; the office sees the certificates at tax time and the donor’s federal deduction is reduced by the state credit under the 2019 regulations (Reg. §1.170A-1(h)(3)).

Private reference, not client advice. Notes taken from a continuing-education course, Form 990: A Practical Guide (Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Learning, 12 hours, 2022 edition written on 2021 law and the 2021 forms). Figures and rules brought current to 2026 in October 2026 (P.L. 119-21, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, T.D. 9933, T.D. 9898, the 2025 form instructions). Items tagged check are to be confirmed against primary sources before they are relied on.