What is Use Tax?
The use tax is a complement to the sales tax. Use tax is remitted to the City by the person storing, using, distributing or consuming the tangible personal property or taxable service within the City of Fort Collins. You must remit a use tax when a Colorado municipal sales tax of 3.0% has not been paid. The use tax is intended to equalize competition between vendors located in the City who collect Fort Collins sales tax and those located outside the City who do not charge Fort Collins sales tax. It is an incentive to make local purchases.
Use tax is levied upon retail purchases from out-of-state vendors and is generally noted as “sales” tax on the vendor’s invoice. If the out-of-state vendor does not specifically charge the use (or “sales”) tax, then the Arizona purchaser is responsible for remitting the tax to the ADOR. The purchaser may obtain a license to remit the use tax on retail purchases that were not taxed. If the sales tax has been paid in the State of purchase at a rate equal or greater than the Arizona use tax rate, the Arizona purchaser has no further liability.
Use Tax is a complementary tax to the sales tax and is applied at the same rate. Use tax applies to the purchase of tangible personal property by an individual or business not taxed at the time of purchase for storage, use or consumption in North Dakota. If North Dakota sales tax has been assessed on the purchase, use tax does not apply. Out-of-state retailers who have a North Dakota sales tax permit and make retail sales here also are collecting use tax.
