Colorado transfer tax: the $0.01 per $100 documentary fee

What is the documentary fee?

The documentary fee is a state fee that the county clerk and recorder collects when a deed is recorded. The statute says it is “measured by the consideration paid or to be paid” for the transfer, and it is in addition to the ordinary recording fee (C.R.S. § 39-13-102(1)).

The legislature wrote the law for a different reason than raising money. Its declaration says the fee exists to create a continuing record of sale prices, so county assessors can compare properties when they set values (§ 39-13-101). Each assessor must review the recorded documents every year and note the price on which the fee was paid (§ 39-13-107). The fees are paid to the county treasurer for crediting “in the manner prescribed by law” (§ 39-13-108).

How much is it?

The rate is set by statute (§ 39-13-102(2)):

• $0 when the total consideration is $500 or less.
• One cent for each $100, or major fraction thereof, when it is more than $500.

“Consideration” includes the amount of any lien or encumbrance on the property and the charges required to make the transfer. For residential property, the amount is the one listed on the deed, unless it is blank or $500 or less and a transfer declaration shows a sales price (§ 39-13-102(5)(a)). A deed is treated as residential unless it carries a conspicuous statement that it is not (§ 39-13-102(5)(d)).

The Denver Clerk and Recorder states the same rule in its own terms: “Per $1,000: $0.10,” with no fee below $500, for “all real estate grants and conveyances” (as of October 2026). In addition, Denver charges a flat $43 recording fee per real estate document. A 2024 law, HB24-1269, replaced per-page county recording fees with a flat $40 fee, effective July 1, 2025; Denver’s page lists $43 per document. Our Colorado closing costs guide adds up the whole bill.

Who pays it?

The statute names the person who must pay, not the buyer or the seller. The fee is imposed on “every person offering for recording” the deed (§ 39-13-102(1)), and the clerk may not record the deed until it is paid (§ 39-13-105).

The Colorado Real Estate Commission’s standard residential contract (CBS1, mandatory from January 1, 2026) has no line for the documentary fee. Section 15.1 says buyer and seller each pay “their respective closing costs,” and the closing statement shows whose column carries the fee. Check your contract’s additional provisions and ask the closing company before you sign.

The same contract has a separate line, § 15.4, for any “Local Transfer Tax,” which the parties assign to the buyer, the seller, half each, or “N/A.” Denver’s recording fee page lists the documentary fee and the recording fee for real estate conveyances and no local transfer tax. For another city or county, read its own fee schedule.

Why can’t Colorado cities add transfer taxes?

Section 20 of Article X of the Colorado Constitution, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, says: “New or increased transfer tax rates on real property are prohibited” (§ 20(8)(a)). The sources read for this article do not say how that rule applies to any tax a local government had before the amendment took effect, so ask the county or city if the contract shows a local transfer tax.

Which transfers are exempt?

Section 39-13-104 lists transfers that do not owe the fee. Among them:

• a deed where the United States, Colorado or a political subdivision is the grantor or grantee (with an affidavit of the price);
• a gift deed;
• a public trustee’s deed, a treasurer’s deed or a sheriff’s deed;
• an instrument that confirms or corrects a deed already recorded;
• a document that secures a debt, such as a deed of trust;
• a court order or decree that determines or vests title;
• a document that transfers title because an owner died;
• leases, easements and rights-of-way.

You must claim an exemption “at the time a deed or instrument is offered for recording” (§ 39-13-104(2)).

What else must be filed with the deed?

Every deed that owes the fee must come with a transfer declaration, a form prescribed by the property tax administrator, signed by the seller or the buyer (C.R.S. § 39-14-102). If it is missing, the assessor can penalize the buyer the greater of $25 or 0.025% of the sale price, which is $156.25 on $625,000, each year until it is filed. The clerk does not record the declaration; it goes to the assessor.

Reciting a price greater or less than the real one to the clerk is unlawful and carries a fine of $50 to $500 (§ 39-13-106). The price on your deed also feeds your Colorado property tax value later, since assessors use it as a comparison.