Staying compliant in Colorado

How does the Colorado periodic report work?

The Periodic Report is a yearly online filing that confirms who your LLC's registered agent is and where its principal office sits, due in a month assigned to your LLC and filed only through the Secretary of State's website.

Colorado describes it plainly: reporting entities are required by law to submit a Periodic Report each year to the Secretary of State. Here is how each piece works.²

• Due date. There is no single statewide deadline. Each LLC has its own Periodic Report month, and the state's FAQ tells you where to look: "You can find your reporting month on the entity's Summary page." Look it up once and put it in your calendar.²
• The filing window opens before that month and stays open after it. The state says the report can be filed two months before or two months after it without penalty, which gives you a span of several months to file at the base fee of $25.^{1, 2}
• The report must be filed electronically; the state publishes no paper version.²
• It lets the LLC confirm or update the principal office address and registered agent information. If nothing changed, you confirm what is on file. If something did, you correct it in the same filing.²

That last point gives the report a second use. Because you can change your agent on it ("You can update the registered agent information while filing your periodic report."), owners who plan an agent switch near their report month can fold it into the report and skip the separate $10 statement of change.¹

If you run LLCs in more than one state, the deadline model differs. Compare staying compliant in Wyoming or staying compliant in Arizona, and read how annual reports work for the general picture.

Does Colorado charge LLCs a franchise tax?

The Secretary of State materials behind this page don't publish a franchise tax for LLCs; the recurring charge they list is the Periodic Report fee of $25. The Colorado Department of Revenue is the office to ask about state taxes.¹

Business taxes are a separate track from the Secretary of State's filings. The Department of Revenue can tell you which registrations and returns apply to your LLC, based on what you sell, where you sell it and whether you have employees. Federal filings go through the IRS. How your LLC's profit is taxed depends on how it is owned and on any election it has made, which is a question for a tax professional.

Keep tax dates on their own list. Filing the Periodic Report on time says nothing about your tax standing, and a missed tax return will not show up as a late report.

What happens if a Colorado LLC files late or goes delinquent?

A report filed after the penalty-free window costs the $25 fee plus a $50 penalty, and an LLC that keeps ignoring the report ends up delinquent.¹

The state's reports FAQ, published with the $50 penalty, is direct about that next step: if the report still isn't filed, the LLC's status changes to delinquent.¹

An unfiled Periodic Report is one route into delinquency. The agent is another: an LLC also becomes delinquent if it fails to appoint a new registered agent after the resignation of the current registered agent.³

How a cure works

The way back is a Statement Curing Delinquency, which costs $100. The sources behind this page don't list what must accompany it, so read the form's instructions for what your record needs. The state's materials add some practical points.¹

1. The state reviews cure filings in the order it receives them, with no expedite for curing delinquency, so allow for a wait.¹
2. The state holds a delinquent LLC's name for 400 days from the date of delinquency, so filing sooner keeps the name protected.¹
3. If the LLC has been delinquent for many years, the cure must be filed under penalty of perjury with an affidavit and photo ID.¹

Reinstatement after dissolution

An LLC that has been dissolved, rather than only marked delinquent, files Articles of Reinstatement; the state lists $100 Articles of Reinstatement for a dissolved LLC. The sources behind this page do not describe each step between delinquency and dissolution, so if your record shows the LLC as delinquent or dissolved, ask the Secretary of State which filing applies. Talk to a lawyer if the LLC signed contracts or kept trading while delinquent or dissolved. The Colorado registered agent guide explains the agent side of delinquency in more detail.¹

How do you keep your registered agent current in Colorado?

You keep an agent on record who meets Colorado's statute (C.R.S. § 7-90-701) and update the record whenever the agent or its address changes, either on a Statement of Change Changing the Registered Agent Information for $10 or on your next Periodic Report.^{1, 4}

The statement of change appears in the online column of the state's fee schedule ($10), and the Periodic Report must be filed electronically. Whatever route you use, file the change before you cancel the outgoing service, never after, so the record is never left without an agent.^{1, 2}

Watch for resignations. Under the state's instructions, "The registered agent must deliver notice of the change to the entity." The notice goes to the entity, so contact details that have gone stale with your agent can hide it until the LLC is already delinquent. For the full order of steps, see how to change a registered agent.⁵

What providers' compliance features do for a Colorado LLC

Colorado has a yearly report, so the features agent services sell for annual-report states do have something to track here. They split into reminders and filing services, and the difference is who presses submit. Both tables list providers by our score, highest first.

Reminders tell you the report window is open but leave the filing to you. These providers publish reminders or alerts with their agent service; several also sell filing, shown in the second table.

Filing services go further, with the provider filing the Periodic Report for you.

Set the published prices against Colorado's own report fee of $25. The report itself is an online form centred on your office and agent details, so the question is whether you want to remember the month and fill it in yourself, or pay a provider to do it. Either way, check whether the plan bills per report or per year, and whether the state fee is included.

Agent renewal terms deserve the same attention. Swyft Filings lists its agent renewal at $149 per quarter, auto-renews until cancelled, and Harbor Compliance lists a renewal of $159 annually. Prices for every provider are on the Colorado registered agent comparison, and the compliance-focused list compares providers' compliance features. Before cancelling a service, read how to cancel a registered agent.^{9, 19}

What does a Colorado LLC compliance calendar look like?

Colorado's calendar turns on one date per year, your Periodic Report month, plus anything your agent service bills.

Year one

1. Articles filed. Online filings take effect immediately after payment, unless you chose a delayed effective date. The Colorado LLC formation guide covers that step, and the cheapest ways to form a Colorado LLC totals the state fees.²⁰
2. Look up your Periodic Report month on the LLC's Summary page as soon as the record appears, and set a reminder for the start of the filing window.
3. Confirm the email and phone your registered agent will use to reach you, and note the agent service's renewal date.
4. Ask the Colorado Department of Revenue and the IRS which tax registrations apply, and keep those dates separately.

Year two and later

1. File the Periodic Report inside the window around your report month, for $25. Check the principal office and agent details as you go.¹
2. If you are switching agents around that time, make the change on the report instead of a separate statement of change.
3. Decide on your agent service before its renewal date, reading any notice period in its terms.
4. If a late report or an agent resignation ever turns the LLC delinquent, file the Statement Curing Delinquency quickly, before the name hold runs out.¹

Definitions for terms on this page, such as good standing and service of process, are in the glossary. For what an agent does between filings, read what a registered agent is.