Colorado · Payroll registration
Colorado payroll tax registration, done for you.
Colorado is the state where the count catches people. It is not withholding and unemployment. It is withholding with the Department of Revenue, unemployment with the Department of Labor and Employment, and FAMLI, the Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, which is a third account most guides never mention.
Last updated:
Who you are dealing with
Colorado Department of Revenue
- Handles:
- Wage withholding account
- System:
- MyBizColorado, then Revenue Online
- Form:
- Registered through MyBizColorado, which registers you with Revenue and Labor and Employment together
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment
- Handles:
- Unemployment insurance, and separately the FAMLI paid family and medical leave program
- System:
- MyUI Employer+
- Form:
- Register through MyBizColorado or directly in MyUI Employer+. The Liability Information section asks about wages paid, and CDLE assigns the account number used for quarterly reporting
- Phone:
- 303-318-9100
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, payroll registration
State fee. $0 to register. Our flat fee covers preparing and filing the registrations.
Our fee. $180 per state, flat. State fees are passed through at cost.
When you have to register
Colorado treats you as a new employer when you pay wages to at least one employee in Colorado, your first payroll date falls in the prior or current calendar year, you have not previously held an unemployment identification number, and no change of ownership is involved. That last condition matters: acquiring a business is a different path from starting one.
What comes next
Note the asymmetry: one MyBizColorado application opens the accounts, and closing them is separate at each agency. Revenue also states that the paper DR 1108 closure form is slower than closing through Revenue Online.
How long it takes
Colorado does not publish a turnaround we could confirm from the agency. MyBizColorado is the route that starts both agencies at once, which is the practical time saving rather than any published speed.
What we do
We work out which accounts you need, submit each registration, and hand you the account numbers, rates, and deposit schedules your payroll system asks for. One remote hire. $180 per state, plus state fees at cost. We submit within 2 business days. You keep the client. We never email them.
Hiring in more than one state? State payroll tax registration covers the withholding and unemployment accounts payroll software will not open.
What makes Colorado harder than average
- There is a third account and it is easy to miss. FAMLI, the Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, sits alongside unemployment at Labor and Employment. A business that sets up withholding and unemployment and stops there has two of the three.
- A change of ownership disqualifies the new employer path. If you acquired the business rather than starting it, you are not registering as a new employer and the route is different. Answering that question wrongly at registration is awkward to unwind.
- One registration, several closures. MyBizColorado starts Revenue and Labor and Employment together. Nothing closes them together, which is the same asymmetry Illinois has and the same surprise.
- The liability questions are substantive. The Liability Information section asks about wages paid and the answers determine your account status, so it is not a formality to click through.
How Colorado compares
What triggers registration in Colorado is not what triggers it next door. The table sets the thresholds side by side.
Questions and answers
How many Colorado accounts do I actually need?
Usually three. Wage withholding with the Department of Revenue, unemployment insurance with the Department of Labor and Employment, and FAMLI, the paid family and medical leave program. The third is the one most often missed.
Can one application cover them?
MyBizColorado registers you with Revenue and Labor and Employment together, which is most of it. Closing them later is separate at each agency.
I bought an existing Colorado business. Same process?
No. Colorado's new employer path assumes no change of ownership. An acquisition follows a different route and can carry the predecessor's experience, so tell us it was a purchase.
When does Colorado consider me an employer?
When you pay wages to at least one employee in Colorado with a first payroll date in the prior or current calendar year, and you have not previously held an unemployment identification number.
What do you need from me to start?
The legal name and FEIN, entity type, Colorado work locations, first payroll date, whether the business was acquired, and expected wages so the liability questions are answered correctly.
Also in Colorado
Agency details verified 2026-08-03
About the provider
Regcrest LLC is a document preparation and filing service based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, founded in 2026. It prepares and files state payroll and sales tax registrations, account closures, and resale certificates on behalf of the businesses that instruct it, and works behind accounting firms, bookkeepers, and payroll providers as well as directly with businesses.
Regcrest LLC is not a CPA firm and not a law firm. It gives no tax or legal advice. It files in all 50 states, and publishes a full page for the 29states it has verified against the agency's own material so far, each one showing the date it was checked. For anything that turns on your specific situation, ask a licensed accountant or attorney.