In general. With certain exceptions, sales of Colorado real property valued of $100,000 of more, and are made by nonresidents of Colorado, are subject to a withholding tax in anticipation of the Colorado income tax that will be due on the gain from the sale.
A transferor who is an individual, estate, or trust will be subject to the withholding tax if either the federal Form
1099-S to be iled with the Internal Revenue Service to report the transaction or the authorization for the
disbursement of the funds resulting from the transaction shows a non-Colorado address for the transferor.
A corporate transferor will be subject to the withholding tax if immediately after the transfer of the title to the Colorado real property interest, it has no permanent place of business in Colorado. A corporation will be deemed to have a permanent place of business in Colorado if it is a
Colorado domestic corporation, if it is qualiied by law to
transact business in Colorado, or if it maintains and staffs a permanent ofice in Colorado.
Amount of withholding. The withholding shall be made by the title insurance company or its authorized agent
or any attorney, bank, savings and loan association,
savings bank, corporation, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, unincorporated organization or any
combination thereof acting separately or in concert that provides closing and settlement services. The amount to be withheld shall be the lesser of: (a) two percent of the selling price of the property interest or, (b) the net proceeds that would otherwise be due to the transferor as shown on the settlement statement.
"Closing and settlement services" means providing services for the beneit of all necessary parties in
connection with the sale, leasing, encumbering, mortgaging, creating a secured interest in and to the real property, and the receipt and disbursement of money in connection with any sale, lease, encumbrance, mortgage, or deed of trust. [§10-11-102 (3.5), C.R.S.]
Exceptions to Withholding. Withholding shall not be made when:
the selling price of the property is not more than $100,000;
or
the transferor is an individual, estate, or trust and both the Form 1099-S and the authorization for
disbursement of funds show a Colorado address for the transferor;
or
the transferee is a bank or corporate beneiciary under a mortgage or beneiciary under deed of trust,
and the Colorado real property is acquired in judicial nonjudicial foreclosure or by deed in lieu of foreclosure;
or
the transferor is a corporation incorporated under Colorado law or currently registered with the
Secretary of State's Ofice as authorized to transact
business in Colorado;
or
the title insurance company or the person providing
the closing and settlement services, in good faith, relies upon a written afirmation executed by the
transferor, certifying under the penalty of perjury one of the following:
that the transferor, if a corporation, has a permanent place of business in Colorado;
that the transferor is a partnership as deined
in section 761(a) of the Internal Revenue
Code required to ile an annual federal return
of income under section 6031(a) of the Internal Revenue Code;
that the Colorado real property being conveyed is the principal residence of the transferor which could qualify for the exclusion of gain provisions of section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code;
that the transferor will not owe Colorado income tax reasonably estimated to be due
from the inclusion of the actual gain required to be recognized on the transaction in the gross
income of the transferor.
Normally Colorado tax will be due on any transaction upon which gain will be recognized for federal income tax purposes. Gain will normally be recognized for federal income tax
purposes any time the selling price of the property exceeds the total of the taxpayer's adjusted basis in the property, plus the expenses incurred in the sale of the property. The taxpayer's adjusted basis of the property will normally be the taxpayer's total investment in the property, minus any depreciation thereon he has previously claimed for federal income tax purposes.
Partnership as Transferor. Sales of real property interests by organizations recognized as partnerships for federal income tax purposes and required to ile annual federal
partnership returns of income will not be subject to the
Colorado withholding tax. This exception will not apply to joint ownerships of property which are not recognized as
partnerships for federal income tax purposes. The sale of property jointly owned by a husband and wife, for example, is a sale by two individuals, not a sale by a partnership, and not exempt from withholding tax.