Colorado Employer Compliance Kit 2027: State Checklist, Deadline Calendar and Excel Tracker

Who it is for

Owners, office managers and bookkeepers who run payroll for employees working in Colorado, from the first hire to the year-end forms.

Not the right fit if

Your employees work outside Colorado: get that state's kit, or the 2027 Employer Compliance Bundle for several states. Not a payroll service, and not a legal review of your policies.

Why it is different

• Built only from our Colorado data files, checked November 2026 against 14 official pages, among them CDLE MyUI Employer: Create an Employer User Account; CDLE: UI Premiums and Wages FAQ; Colorado Department of Revenue: DR 0004 Colorado Employee Withholding Certificate; Official page; Colorado Department of Labor and Employment: Posters; CDLE: Colorado minimum wage will increase to $15.71/hour in 2027; U.S. Department of Labor: State Minimum Wage Laws (updated November 5, 2026); U.S. Department of Labor: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (revised July 1, 2026), plus NCSL (a vetted secondary source, marked in the kit) where no official page could be read.
• 1 item the official pages didn't state is left out of the checklist and put on a short look-up list with the page to check, never guessed.
• The workbook recalculates with zero formula errors and dates the Colorado new-hire steps for you.

What is inside

• Start here. How to use the kit, the 18 confirmed Colorado rules at a glance and the 1 items to confirm, each with the official page to check: breaks for workers under 18 (Colorado CDLE: COMPS Order #39, 7 CCR 1103-1).
• Colorado 2027 checklist. Eight steps from unemployment tax registration to year-end filing, each confirmed rule with its source link and check date, from Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), Colorado State Directory of New Hires, Colorado Division of Workers' Compensation (CDLE). What it confirms: open a state unemployment tax account: CDLE's MyUI Employer page: create an employer user account to register a new business; taxable wage base for 2027: Not announced yet when we checked in November 2026; taxable wage base for 2026 (the latest published): $30,600 per employee in 2026; new employer tax rate: 1.53% for a new employer; quarterly wage reports and payments: Wage reports and premiums are due the last day of the month after the quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31; a weekend or holiday moves it to the next business day (CDLE FAQ); state income tax withholding: State income tax applies; report each new hire to the state: Within 20 calendar days of the hire; e-Verify for private employers: No state law requires private employers in Colorado to use E-Verify: NCSL's State E-Verify Action summary (secondary source, checked November 2026) lists Colorado among the states that require it of most public employers, not among the nine that require it of all employers; minimum wage now (2026): $15.16 an hour; minimum wage change in 2027: Rises to $15.71 an hour on Friday, January 1, 2027; tipped employees: Cash wage of at least $12.69 an hour in 2027 ($12.14 in 2026), with tips making up the rest; paid sick leave: Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA); meal breaks for adults: An uninterrupted, duty-free 30-minute meal period when the shift is longer than 5 consecutive hours, ideally at least an hour after the start and an hour before the end; rest breaks for adults: A paid 10-minute rest period for each 4 hours of work or major fraction: one for a shift over 2 hours, two over 6, three over 10, four over 14; workers' compensation insurance: Every business with employees, whatever the number, including part-time workers and family members; final pay when you let someone go: Immediately when the employer ends the employment; final pay when an employee quits: On the next regular payday; state copies of W-2s and 1099s: The Department's annual reconciliation FAQ says to send only 1099 statements that list Colorado withholding.
• 2027 deadline calendar. 11 dates our Colorado files state: 4 quarterly due dates from Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE); January 1, 2027: minimum wage rises to $15.71 an hour; 1 state W-2 and 1099 filing dates from Colorado Department of Revenue, with weekend dates flagged and a month-by-month planner for your own.
• New hire and pay change checklist. One page per hire, with the report to Colorado State Directory of New Hires (new hires reported in 20 days) and the I-9 steps, and one per pay change against the $15.71 minimum wage from January 1.
• Colorado compliance workbook (Excel). The Colorado dates in a deadline tracker with days left and status, a new-hire sheet that dates each step from the start date (new hires reported in 20 days), and a pay-change sheet that flags any rate below the 2027 floor.