While the old adage may be true that the two most certain things are death and taxes, Colorado offers a number of ways to let you lower or postpone the taxes. (Sorry, the death piece is yours to handle on your own.) In this article we’ll look at options you have regarding property taxes. Pay close attention to the qualifying criteria, the deadlines for applying, and the directions for where applications are to be filed or sent. 

Colorado’s Property Tax Exemption Programs

For those who qualify for any of the following four exemptions, 50 percent of the first $200,000 in actual value of your primary residence is exempted when calculating your property taxes. In one recent year, this resulted in 267,000 seniors getting an average tax savings of about $587, and some 9,000 veterans saving an average of about $620. (Each individual’s savings depends on factors such as the home value and local mill levy.) Once approved, these exemptions remain in effect for future years, and the applicant need not reapply.

Senior Citizen Exemption in Colorado

This property tax exemption is available to senior citizens, meaning a homeowner who is at least 65 years of age in the year the exemption is applied for. Besides the age criterion, to qualify you must also have owned your home for at least 10 consecutive years at the time you are applying for your exemption and have occupied the home as your primary residence for those 10 years. There are limited exceptions to the ownership and occupancy requirements, which are detailed in the qualifications section of the application. This exemption is also available to surviving spouses of senior citizens who previously met the requirements. IMPORTANT: The exemption application deadline for 2023 is July 15. Application forms are available on the website of the Colorado Division of Property Taxation at https://cdola.colorado.gov/property-taxation or on the website of the county assessor of the county in which your property is located.

Disabled Veteran Exemption in Colorado

This exemption is available to applicants who: a) sustained a service-connected disability while serving on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, b) were honorably discharged, and c) were rated by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs as one-hundred percent permanent disability through disability retirement benefits. (Disabilities rated at less than one-hundred percent do not meet the requirement.) You must have owned and occupied the home as your primary residence since January 1 of the year of application; however, limited exceptions to the ownership and occupancy requirements are detailed in the eligibility requirements section of the application. IMPORTANT: The application deadline for 2023 is July 1. Applications are available from the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (https://dmva.colorado.gov/); on the website of the Colorado Division of Property Taxation at https://cdola.colorado.gov/property-taxation; or on the website of the county assessor for the county in which your property is located. For this exemption, completed applications must be submitted to the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs at the address shown for the “Gold Star Spouses Exemption,” described below.

(Note: The Colorado General Assembly may eliminate the funding for the Senior Citizen Exemption or Disabled Veteran Exemption at their discretion in any year that the budget does not allow for the reimbursement. But these exemptions are in place for 2023.)

Disabled Veteran Surviving Spouse Exemption in Colorado

This exemption is available to surviving spouses of disabled veterans who had the disabled veteran exemption and who passed away prior to January 1 of the current year. The property must be owner- occupied and used as the primary residence of an owner occupier who is the surviving spouse of a qualifying disabled veteran. IMPORTANT: The application deadline for 2023 is July 1. Applications are available from the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (https://dmva.colorado.gov/); on the website of the Colorado Division of Property Taxation at https://cdola.colorado.gov/property-taxation; or on the website of the county assessor for the county in which the property is located. Completed applications must be submitted to the county assessor for the county where the property is located.

Gold Star Spouses Exemption

Beginning in January 2023, this exemption is available to surviving spouses of “Gold Star” Veterans. The property must be owner-occupied as of January 1 in the year of the application and used as the primary residence of an owner occupier who is the surviving spouse of a qualifying Gold Star Veteran. To qualify, a surviving spouse must provide evidence to the U.S. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) from either the U.S. Department of Defense or the DMVA that the service member’s death was the result of a service-related injury or disease, whether the death occurred while on active duty or following separation from the military. IMPORTANT: The application deadline for 2023 is July 1. Applications are available from the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (https://dmva.colorado.gov/); on the website of the Colorado Division of Property Taxation at https://cdola.colorado.gov/property-taxation; or on the website of the county assessor for the county in which the property is located. Completed applications must be submitted to the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs at the address listed below.

Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
Division of Veterans Affairs
155 Van Gordon St., Suite 201
Lakewood, CO 80228
Phone: 303-914-5832 Fax: 303-914-5835

(Note: Multiple exemptions are not allowed. E.g., a 65-year-old disabled veteran cannot claim both the senior and disabled veteran exemptions.)

Colorado’s Property Tax Deferral Programs

Colorado’s Property Tax Deferral Program is designed to help seniors and active military personnel continue to afford to live in their homes by deferring the payment of their property taxes. Starting in 2023,

Colorado expanded the deferral program to allow those who do not qualify for the senior or military personnel tax-savings programs to defer a portion of their real property taxes if they exceed the property tax-growth cap of 4%, averaged from the preceding two years. Under this program, the minimum amount a taxpayer may defer is $100, and the maximum cumulative taxes that a taxpayer may defer is $10,000. 

Applications must be filed in the first quarter of the year, between January 1 and April 1. Taxpayers must reapply each year to continue deferring prior year taxes, as well as to request deferral on current year taxes.

How does it work?

The State Treasurer’s office makes the approved tax deferral amount payment directly to the county on behalf of the participant by April 30th of the year. If the payment made by the state results in an overpayment, a refund will be issued to the homeowner by the county treasurer. This deferral program does not exempt taxes. It functions much like a loan of the deferred amount. The deferral is recorded as a junior lien against the participant’s property and does not have to be repaid until the participant no longer qualifies to defer the approved amount. Interest on the deferred amount accrues beginning May 1st of the calendar year in which the deferral is claimed. This interest continues to accrue until the loan is paid in full. Deferral repayment is due 90 days after a non-qualifying event.

What are non-qualifying events?

Taxpayers with existing deferrals must reapply each year. Failure to do so will result in required repayment of the deferral amount by June 30th of the year a renewed application is not received. This is one non-qualifying event. Others such events to be aware of:

  • The taxpayer who claimed the deferral dies. But note that spouse survivorship may allow continuing the deferral, subject to approval by the State Treasurer Office.
  • The property on which the taxes were deferred is sold or becomes subject to a contract of sale, or the title to the property is transferred to someone other than the taxpayer who claimed the tax deferral.
  • The property is no longer owner-occupied. Except in the case of a taxpayer required to be absent from such tax-deferred property by reason of poor health.
  • If a mobile home is the property, and its location has changed.

If deferred taxes and accrued interest are due to be paid but are not paid by the due date, such amounts are considered delinquent as of that date and the State Treasurer may foreclose for the deferred tax lien.

Deferrals for Colorado seniors

To qualify for the Senior Tax Deferral program, the taxpayer must be 65 years of age or older. The property must be owner-occupied, and the taxpayer must reside at the property. Exception is allowed if the owner is not residing at the property due to ill health. The property must not be income-producing, and all previous property taxes must be paid in full. The total value of all liens or mortgages and deeds of trust must be less than or equal to 75% of the actual value of the property. There are also special requirements if the owner has a reverse mortgage on the property.

Deferrals for Colorado active military

To qualify for the Active Military tax deferral program, a person must be called into military service on January 1 of the year in which the person files a claim for deferral. The property must be owner-occupied by the taxpayer claiming the deferral, and the taxpayer must, by themselves or jointly with another person, reside at the property. Exception is allowed for an owner not residing at the property due to ill health. The property must not be income-producing, and all previous property taxes must be paid in full. The total value of all liens, mortgages and deeds of trust must be less than or equal to 90% of the actual value of the property. There are special requirements if there is a reverse mortgage in place.

Expanded Program (Tax-Growth Cap) deferrals in Colorado

A person who is not otherwise eligible for deferral consideration with the Senior or Active Military programs may elect to defer a portion of their real property taxes if the real property taxes increase by a specified amount (the tax growth cap). The tax-growth cap is met when the current year’s property tax amount has increased 4% or more from the average of the two preceding tax years’ amounts on their owner-occupied parcel. Under this program, the minimum amount a taxpayer may defer with the expanded program is $100, and the maximum cumulative taxes that a taxpayer may defer is $10,000.

As with the other deferral programs, here again the property must be owner-occupied, and the taxpayer claiming the deferral must own their home, by themselves or jointly with another person residing at the property, and must reside in it. Exception is allowed for an owner not residing at the property due to ill health. The property must not be income-producing, and all previous property taxes must be paid in full. The cumulative value of the deferral amount plus the interest accrued cannot exceed the market value of the property, less the value of all mortgages or liens on the property.

Find additional information on Colorado’s Property Tax Deferral Programs at https://colorado.propertytaxdeferral.com/faq. 

Possible property tax savings to come for all Coloradans?

As a strategy to respond to soaring property taxes tied to property reassessment values, a legislative bill in the 2023 Colorado General Assembly (SB 23-303) passed both House and Senate and was sent to the governor. If signed and enacted, the bill will require the Secretary of State to refer a ballot issue to voters in the November 2023 election that asks voters whether property taxes should be reduced by way of retaining excess state revenues. Those retained revenues would then be used to backfill some of the reduced property tax revenue for local governmental entities. Most of the bill becomes effective only if the voters approve the ballot issue. This has been controversial because, as some argue, those retained “excess state revenues” would otherwise be refunded to citizens under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR). So, say critics, using such retained revenues to lower increased property taxes just moves money around without taxpayers personally having much net gain, if any. Whatever the case, this potential savings on property taxes will depend on how the ballot issue fares, if that vote takes place later in the year as the bill calls for.