Colorado Real Estate Transfer Taxes: Which Towns Charge The...

Colorado Real Estate Transfer Taxes: Which Towns Charge Them and How Much

Short Answer

Twelve home-rule mountain and Western Slope resort municipalities in Colorado charge a local real estate transfer tax: Aspen, Avon, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Frisco, Gypsum, Snowmass Village, Telluride, Vail, Winter Park, Ophir, and Minturn. These taxes were approved by voters in the 1970s and 1980s, before TABOR passed in 1992 and prohibited any new or increased transfer taxes, which is why the list is frozen at twelve and cannot grow. No Front Range city charges one, including Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, and Lakewood, so purchases there trigger only the tiny statewide documentary fee.

Buyer Due Diligence Note

This guide is educational and should not be treated as legal, tax, lending, or title advice. Before relying on a property decision, verify the exact address with county records, title documents, HOA materials, district filings, lender estimates, and appropriate professional advisors.

At a Glance

A Colorado municipal real estate transfer tax is a one-time percentage charge on a property sale imposed by a home-rule mountain town, and it is entirely separate from the tiny statewide documentary fee that applies to nearly every sale. The statewide documentary fee is so small it barely registers at closing; the real cost surprise in Colorado comes from local transfer taxes in certain home-rule municipalities.

Denver does not charge one. Neither do Aurora, Colorado Springs, or Lakewood.

The towns that do charge one are resort communities where voters approved the tax before 1992. The state constitution's Article X, Section 20, known as TABOR, prohibits any new or increased real estate transfer tax rates, but municipalities that already had transfer taxes on the books when TABOR passed in 1992 were allowed to keep them, and twelve Colorado towns currently collect transfer taxes grandfathered in before TABOR.

Rates are steep where they apply.

Rates above should be confirmed against each town's current municipal code before you rely on them for a specific transaction.

Which Colorado towns charge a real estate transfer tax?

Which Colorado towns charge a real estate transfer tax? Twelve home-rule mountain and Western Slope municipalities do, and no Front Range city, including Denver, is among them.

For twelve mountain communities, voters approved these real estate transfer taxes in the 1970s and 1980s, before the passage of the 1992 Colorado Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR. The commonly cited group includes Aspen, Avon, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Frisco, Gypsum, Snowmass Village, Telluride, Vail, and Winter Park, with Ophir and Minturn rounding out the list. This is not a Denver-area concern: metro neighborhoods such as Cory Merrill, Platt Park, Bonnie Brae, Washington Park, Cherry Creek, Lone Tree, Cherry Hills Village, and Greenwood Village sit in municipalities that have no local transfer tax, so a purchase there triggers only the statewide documentary fee. The reason the list is exactly twelve and cannot grow is constitutional. All the towns on the list are home-rule municipalities that adopted their transfer taxes under their Article XX constitutional authority as a matter of local concern, which explains why only municipalities, not counties, have legacy transfer taxes that predate the TABOR prohibition.

If you want to understand the ownership-structure side of these transactions, how title insurance and legal review work on higher-value Denver transactions is a useful companion read.

Which resort municipalities impose a transfer tax and their rates

Breckenridge sits at the lower end. One local wrinkle worth naming:

Aspen is more complicated because it stacks two separate levies.

Telluride and Crested Butte are the ceiling.

The categorical point is this: a RETT is not the statewide documentary fee, and it is not a county tax. Unlike the documentary fee, which is trivial and near-universal, a RETT applies only inside a handful of town boundaries and runs hundreds of times larger. Before you quote any of these rates in a live deal, confirm the current number directly with the town finance department, because a town code can be amended by ordinance. Each town within Summit County can change the transfer tax amounts and the areas they apply to at any time.

How the transfer tax changes cash-to-close

On the Front Range, the transfer cost is negligible.

Aspen's exclusion softens its number on lower-priced deals. So a buyer weighing a Snowmass Village condo against an Aspen one should run both town rates against the actual price, not assume the higher-priced town costs more in tax.

The practical planning step: if you are buying in a RETT town, budget the tax as its own line item in your cash-to-close well before you write the offer, because unlike a rate lock or an inspection credit, this number does not move. If you are buying in metro Denver, this line effectively disappears. For buyers structuring a mountain purchase as a second home in Colorado, the transfer tax is one of several carrying costs worth modeling upfront.

Who pays it and how to negotiate it in the contract

Who pays the transfer tax in Colorado is negotiable in most towns and specified right on the standard state contract, though a few towns assign the burden by ordinance. It is negotiable who pays the transfer tax, and on the Colorado Residential Contract to Buy and Sell there are three options: seller pays, buyer pays, or the two parties split the cost.

Breckenridge is the notable exception where the code names a party. In Breckenridge, the burden of the tax is the responsibility of the property buyer or grantee. Even there, market custom and contract language interact.

You can also carve up the split unevenly.

The exemptions matter as much as the split, because a transaction that looks like a "transfer" may owe nothing. In Summit County it is common practice to impose a transfer tax when a property changes owners, including moving a property from an individual's name into a business name, or when a parent transfers title into a trust or into a child's name. But those often qualify for exemption. You must claim it correctly and on time. All transactions for real property within Breckenridge in which no transfer tax is due must have an exemption application approved by the Finance Department. Note a recent change:

If your purchase involves a trust or estate structure, the interplay with a RETT exemption is worth mapping early. See how a Colorado beneficiary deed compares to a revocable trust for a home and broader estate planning considerations for Denver real estate.

Decision Matrix

Use this to figure out whether a transfer tax touches your specific purchase and what to do about it.

What To Verify

Verify the transfer-tax picture through three primary sources rather than a calculator or blog, because rates and exemption rules are set by each town and change by ordinance.

First, pull the property record. For a Denver-area purchase, the Denver Assessor's Office and the Denver Clerk and Recorder hold the record; for suburban neighborhoods like Lone Tree, that is the Douglas County Assessor, and for Greenwood Village and Cherry Hills Village it is the Arapahoe County Assessor. Read the record for taxable value, any special district levies, and recorded liens. These offices confirm there is no municipal transfer tax on the Front Range parcel you are considering.

Second, for a mountain purchase, go straight to the town finance department. The Town of Breckenridge Finance Department, City of Aspen, and Town of Telluride each publish current RETT rates and exemption forms. In Breckenridge, the tax must be received by the town before the deed is recorded with the Summit County Clerk and Recorder's Office.

Third, confirm the constitutional backdrop if you are curious why the list never grows. TABOR does not allow communities to raise RETT collections or create a new RETT, so there have been no communities approving taxes on property sales since 1992. The Colorado Constitution Article X, Section 20 text, the documentary fee statute at Colorado Revised Statutes 39-13-102, and the exemptions statute at 39-13-104 are the authoritative primary sources; verify current text against the Colorado General Assembly or Justia before relying on a specific figure.

This guide was reviewed against current municipal and statutory sources as of July 2026.

Field Notes

The most common version of this question I hear in Denver is a worry that turns out to be a non-issue.

The trade-off shows up when the same buyer also owns or is shopping a mountain place. A primary home in Greenwood Village or Cherry Hills Village and a ski condo in Breckenridge or Telluride carry completely different closing math, and the mountain side needs the transfer tax modeled as a fixed cost, not a negotiable one.

The subtle mistake I watch for is the "harmless" title change. Moving a mountain property into an LLC or a trust reads like paperwork, but in a RETT town it can trip the tax unless you file the exemption first. On a Front Range home there is no municipal RETT to trip, which is one more reason the two markets should not be planned with the same checklist. If you are weighing tax structure on a purchase, tax strategies to consider when buying real estate is worth reviewing alongside your attorney's advice.

Work With Rick Janson

Rick Janson is a Denver real estate agent with Compass Real Estate serving Cory Merrill, Platt Park, Bonnie Brae, Washington Park, Cherry Creek, Hilltop, Crestmoor, Sloans Lake, Lone Tree, Cherry Hills Village, and Greenwood Village. The transfer-tax question is one piece of a larger closing-cost picture, and it looks very different on the Front Range than it does at 9,000 feet.

If you're comparing a Denver-area home against a mountain property and want the actual cash-to-close math on both, including whether a municipal transfer tax touches either one, email me at [email protected] or text 303-589-2320 with the two addresses and I'll send the line-item breakdown. It's a quick way to see the real difference before you write an offer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Denver charge a real estate transfer tax?

No. A voter-approved provision in the Colorado Constitution (TABOR) prohibits any new local transfer taxes enacted after 1992, and Denver did not have one in place beforehand. Buyers and sellers in Denver still pay the statewide documentary fee, but there is no separate municipal transfer tax on a typical Denver sale.

Which Colorado towns charge a real estate transfer tax and how much?

A limited number of Colorado municipalities have a real estate transfer tax (RETT) because they adopted it before the 1992 constitutional cutoff and were grandfathered in. The specific towns and rates vary, and rates are generally expressed as a percentage of the sale price. Because these are locally administered and can be adjusted through local processes, confirm the current rate and applicable town directly with the municipality's finance department before closing.

What is the difference between Colorado's documentary fee and a municipal RETT?

A municipal RETT is a separate, locally imposed tax that exists only in certain grandfathered towns and is typically charged at a higher percentage. In short, the documentary fee is minor and universal, while a RETT is larger and location-specific.

Who pays the real estate transfer tax in Colorado, the buyer or the seller?

Responsibility depends on the individual town's ordinance and on what the parties negotiate in the purchase contract. Some municipal codes assign the obligation to the buyer, others to the seller, and in practice the allocation can be shifted through the contract terms. Clarify who is responsible in writing during contract negotiation so the closing statement reflects the agreed split.

Are any real estate transfers exempt from a Colorado municipal transfer tax?

Yes, most municipalities with a RETT define exemptions in their ordinances, which commonly cover transfers such as gifts, transfers between spouses, certain estate or trust transfers, and government-related conveyances. The exact list and any qualifying conditions differ by town. If you think a transaction may qualify, review the specific municipal code and how the exemption is claimed at recording.