Colorado payroll setup for your first hire

One start file can open two accounts. The later portals are not the same.

Colorado takes state income tax from paychecks. The Colorado Department of Revenue collects that withholding. CDLE collects state unemployment tax. That tax is often called SUTA, state unemployment tax, or SUI, state unemployment insurance. You can open those two accounts on one start file. You still file them on two systems.

The withholding-accounts page starts the withholding file on MyBizColorado, the online business registration. The paper file is the Colorado Sales Tax and Withholding Account Application (Form CR 0100). CDLE’s new-employer checklist also sends a regular shop to MyBizColorado for an unemployment account number. After that, withholding reports go to Revenue Online. Unemployment reports go to MyUI Employer+, the CDLE unemployment portal. A MyBizColorado login is not a MyUI Employer+ account number. A payroll login is not either account.

When you owe unemployment: $1,500 in a quarter, or one person in 20 weeks

C.R.S. § 8-70-113 is the regular-shop test after December 31, 1998. You are an employer if you pay wages of $1,500 or more in any calendar quarter in the current or preceding calendar year. You are also an employer if you employ at least one person for some portion of a day on each of twenty days in different calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. One of those two tests is enough. CDLE’s premiums FAQ and the employer-liability chart restate both tests. The weeks do not have to be consecutive. The people do not have to be the same.

This is not California’s $100-in-a-quarter test. It is not Washington’s no-withholding path. Colorado withholds state income tax from paychecks. Do not copy California onto Colorado. Do not copy Washington’s missing withholding account onto Colorado either. The start file can be shared. The later portals are not.

Other tests sit on that liability chart. Household work uses $1,000 in a quarter. Agricultural labor uses $20,000 in a quarter, or ten people in 20 weeks. A 501(c)(3) shop uses four people in 20 weeks. A corporate officer in an LLC that reports to the IRS as a corporation, a corporation, or an S-corporation is on the regular path. This scorecard is the regular-business path.

Register unemployment on MyBizColorado or MyUI Employer+. File quarterly reports on the last day of the following month.

CDLE decides liability from the facts you send. CDLE’s starting-a-business page says you may register for an unemployment account number on MyBizColorado or on MyUI Employer+. CDLE’s registration page is the MyUI Employer+ door. Create a user login. Set up multi-factor authentication. Then mark New Employer Registration. Enter liability wages, a physical address that is not a post-office box, a NAICS code, and owner or officer detail that totals 100 percent. There is no 15-day California clock on that page. File when the facts show you are an employer.

After CDLE issues the employer account number, hold that number and the tax rate on the Rate Notice. Use that number on reports and payments. Do not substitute a federal EIN. CDLE’s premium-rates page sets the 2026 chargeable wage base at $30,600. Taxes are due only on wages up to that base. New employers who do not yet have an experience rate get an introductory rate by industry. CDLE’s introductory-rates page sets the 2026 non-construction combined rate at 0.0305. That figure is a 0.0153 beginning rate, a 0.0017 support rate, and a 0.0135 solvency surcharge. Heavy construction uses a higher combined rate. Use the rate on your Rate Notice, not a number from a software page. CDLE mails that notice in December.

CDLE’s FAQ is the filing clock. Quarterly wage-detail reports, monthly employment data, and premium payments are due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. That is the last day of the following month. File electronically in MyUI Employer+. A late wage-detail report can bring a $50 penalty. New employers pay $10 for each of the first four quarters. A quarterly wage report is not the new-hire report.

Register withholding on MyBizColorado. A federal W-4 is enough unless the worker files a Colorado certificate.

Colorado withholds state income tax from paychecks. The Wage Withholding Tax Guide says every employer who must withhold Colorado income tax must keep an active wage-withholding account. Register on MyBizColorado, or mail Form CR 0100. The withholding-accounts page says there is no fee for that account. There is no renewal. In-state shops use MyBizColorado or CR 0100. Out-of-state shops use CR 0100. MyBizColorado can issue a Colorado Account Number the same day. That number is not a CDLE unemployment number.

On or before the first day of work, collect a federal W-4. A worker may also file a Colorado Employee Withholding Certificate (Form DR 0004). That Colorado paper is optional. If the worker does not file a DR 0004, calculate Colorado withholding from the W-4 with the Colorado Withholding Worksheet for Employers (Form DR 1098). File the Colorado W-2 Wage Withholding Tax Return (Form DR 1094) on the schedule the Department assigns. The annual reconciliation is Form DR 1093. Frequency depends on expected annual withholding: less than $7,000 files quarterly, due the last day of the following month; $7,000 to $50,000 files monthly, due the 15th of the following month; $50,000 or more files weekly. Monthly and quarterly filers file even if no tax is due. Later filing sits on Revenue Online. You need the Letter ID that arrives with the withholding license. A sales-tax Letter ID does not open the withholding account.

New hire is a 20-day report. Independent contractors count. A quarterly wage report does not satisfy it.

The new-hire report is a list of who you just hired. It is not a box on the MyUI Employer+ wage report. C.R.S. § 26-13-125 requires the report within twenty calendar days after the hire, or at the first regularly scheduled payroll after that twenty-day period. A rehired person is someone who was gone for at least 60 consecutive days. Child Support Services also requires a report of an independent contractor who gives you a Social Security number. The form sits with the Colorado State Directory of New Hires. That directory does not sit with CDLE unemployment.

File at newhire.state.co.us. Employers who send reports electronically send two monthly files, not less than 12 nor more than 16 days apart, when they have people to report. A quarterly MyUI Employer+ wage report does not satisfy that clock.

Workplace injury insurance is due when the first employee starts

This is a first-hire policy for ordinary shops. It is not Washington’s state-fund monopoly. It is not Florida’s four-employee wait. It is not Virginia’s three-employee test. Colorado calls this workers’ compensation.

DOWC’s employer page is the agency rule. Colorado employers must carry coverage if they have one or more employees. Part-time people count. Family members count. Anyone paid for the work is presumed to be an employee. DOWC’s insurance-requirements page restates that duty. C.R.S. § 8-44-101 is the insurance statute.

DOWC does not sell insurance. Colorado has no exclusive state fund. Buy a policy from a licensed private carrier, or qualify as self-insured. Pinnacol Assurance must write a policy for any Colorado employer. More than 500 other licensed carriers can write one too. Ordinary first-hire shops do not self-insure. Knowing failure can bring a fine of up to $500 for every day without coverage. An uninsured injury also adds a penalty of 25 percent of the injured worker’s benefits. A payroll login is not a policy.

FAMLI is a related first-hire duty. It is not the unemployment account.

FAMLI is Family and Medical Leave Insurance. It is a separate program. It is not the CDLE unemployment account. It is not the withholding account. FAMLI’s employer page says every shop with at least one qualifying employee must register. Self-employed people with no employees do not have to register. Shops with nine or fewer employees still withhold the worker share and send wage reports. They do not owe the 0.44 percent employer share. Register on My FAMLI+ Employer. File quarterly wage data there. A MyUI Employer+ login is not a FAMLI account.

How Gusto and Patriot describe Colorado

Confirm the live withholding number on Revenue Online. Confirm the unemployment account and rate on MyUI Employer+. Confirm FAMLI on My FAMLI+ Employer. Confirm workplace injury insurance with a carrier or on DOWC’s employer page.

Gusto’s Colorado help article says Middesk (Gusto’s business-verification company) may register state income-tax withholding and state unemployment insurance (SUI). Confirm the live numbers on Revenue Online and MyUI Employer+. Confirm the rate on the CDLE Rate Notice. The same article says Middesk does not register Paid Family and Medical Leave. It tells you to open FAMLI on My FAMLI+ Employer yourself, then give Gusto third-party access. It names Occupational Privilege Tax, called OPT, in Denver, Sheridan, Glendale, and Greenwood Village as a local tax, not the state withholding account. Read Gusto’s Colorado article. See Gusto on the directory.

Patriot’s tax table says Full Service files Colorado Unemployment Insurance (SUI or SUTA) on the quarterly MyUI Employer+ wage report. It files Colorado income-tax withholding on Form DR 1094 and the annual Form DR 1093. It also lists FAMLI on My FAMLI+ Employer and the support and solvency surcharges with the unemployment report. The article does not claim Patriot opens MyBizColorado or MyUI Employer+ accounts. Use the three rates on your CDLE Rate Notice, not a number from a software page. Patriot’s TPA article tells you to grant access on MyUI Employer+ after those accounts exist. Read Patriot’s article and Patriot’s TPA article. See Patriot on the directory.

What still sits on the employer

• Decide that the $1,500-quarter test, or the 20-week test, has been met. Household, agricultural, and 501(c)(3) shops use other tests.
• Complete MyBizColorado or Form CR 0100 so the Colorado Department of Revenue can open withholding. Use MyBizColorado or MyUI Employer+ so CDLE can open unemployment.
• Hold the CDLE employer account number. Do not substitute a federal EIN for that number.
• Enter the tax rate from the CDLE Rate Notice, not a marketing figure. Confirm the 2026 wage base on the live CDLE page.
• File the quarterly wage-detail report in MyUI Employer+ by April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31 after liability begins.
• Register withholding on MyBizColorado or Form CR 0100. Collect a W-4 before the first day. A DR 0004 is optional. File Form DR 1094 on the schedule the Department assigns. File the annual DR 1093.
• File the Colorado new-hire report within 20 calendar days of hire or rehire after 60 days, including independent contractors who give a Social Security number. A quarterly MyUI Employer+ report does not satisfy that clock.
• Buy workplace injury insurance when the first employee starts. Part-time people count. Family members count. Payroll software does not issue that policy.
• Register FAMLI on My FAMLI+ Employer when you have one qualifying employee. Do not treat FAMLI as the unemployment account.
• Do not copy another state’s clock onto Colorado. Colorado can share a start file. Colorado does not finish on one portal. Colorado does not use California’s $100-quarter test. Colorado does not skip state paycheck withholding the way Washington does. Colorado does not use Florida’s four-employee workplace-injury wait. Colorado does not use Washington’s exclusive state fund.

Also forming a company in Colorado? Process Score compares registered agents there.