Colorado Vending Machine Permits and Licenses

Vending permits and licenses by state · Colorado

We found no general state license for vending machines in Colorado. Most operators need a state sales tax license, plus a separate license from each self-collecting home-rule city, like Denver or Colorado Springs, where a machine sits. Colorado taxes vending food its own way: food sold through machines is exempt from the 2.9% state tax, but candy and soft drinks are not, and local taxes may still apply. Food that needs refrigeration can add a local health license. Below is each requirement and the law it comes from.

Colorado vending requirements at a glance

$16Sales tax license, plus a $50 deposit

2.9%State sales tax

ExemptVending food from state tax, except candy and soft drinks

$56,000Business property exempt per county (2026)

Required

Sales tax license

From the Department of Revenue if you sell anything taxable. $16, plus a $50 deposit that counts toward your tax.

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Recommended

Resale certificate

Buy stock tax-free with your Colorado license number, or the home-rule cities' standard Affidavit of Exempt Sale.

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Depends

Home-rule city tax

Machines in Denver, Colorado Springs and other self-collecting home-rule cities need that city's own tax license.

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Depends

Tax on vending food

Exempt from the 2.9% state tax, except candy and soft drinks. Local taxes may still apply.

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Depends

Food license

Not needed for sealed shelf-stable food, or food and drinks only in bottles, cans or cartons.

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Not required

Trading card license

Pokémon cards need only your state and any home-rule city sales tax licenses.

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Required

Machine labels

Each machine shows what it sells, the net quantity, and your name, address and phone number.

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Depends

Business personal property

Declare machines to the county assessor if your property there tops $56,000 (2026).

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Last reviewed: October 28, 2026  ·  Sources: Colorado Revised Statutes, Colorado Department of Revenue rules (1 CCR 201-4), Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Division of Property Taxation, Colorado Secretary of State, City and County of Denver, City of Colorado Springs, City of Aurora, federal regulations (full list at the bottom)  ·  General information, not legal advice.

• Requirements and laws
• Do you need a license?
• Sales tax
• Food and drinks
• Cards, mystery and toys
• Federal rules
• Business setup
• FAQ
• Sources

Colorado requirements and the laws behind them

Do you need a license to run a vending machine in Colorado?

We found no general state license for vending machines in Colorado. A search of the Colorado Revised Statutes for "vending" finds rules for tobacco, schools, blind vendors, labels and sales tax, but no license for snack, drink, card or toy machines. You need a sales tax license, plus a license from each home-rule city that collects its own tax. Two state rules reach the machines themselves:

• Labels: every vending machine that sells packaged goods must show what the product is, its net quantity, and the name, address and phone number of the vendor or the person responsible. The package itself or a notice on the machine can cover identity and quantity (C.R.S. 35-14-115).
• Machine ID numbers: the sales tax law has vendors list every machine with the Department of Revenue within 60 days of starting and each January 1, and get an ID number for each machine at 10 cents a machine. It ties those steps to the exemption for items sold at 15 cents or less, but it also lets the Department seize an unregistered machine and charge a $25 penalty for each one (C.R.S. 39-26-714(1)). We found no current Department rule on it, so ask the Department whether your machines need ID numbers.
• State buildings: licensed blind vendors get priority for vending on state property, which excludes colleges and universities (C.R.S. 8-84-202 and 8-84-203).

Food that needs refrigeration can add a retail food license, and cities and counties may require a business license or zoning approval.

Sales tax on vending sales in Colorado

The Colorado sales tax license

It is unlawful to sell at retail in Colorado without a sales tax license from the Department of Revenue (C.R.S. 39-26-103; 1 CCR 201-4, Rule 39-26-103). If your machines sell anything taxable, apply before your first sale through the Department's sales tax license page.

• Cost: $16, plus a $50 deposit that is credited against the sales tax you send in. The fee is prorated for licenses issued after June 30.
• Term: through December 31 of the year after it is issued, then $16 for each two-year renewal.
• Machine locations: the law requires a separate license for each place of business but has retailers register all locations under one account (C.R.S. 39-26-105(1)(d)(II)). It does not say whether a machine on someone else's property is a place of business, and a license's location code sets the local taxes it covers (C.R.S. 39-26-103(2.5)). Ask the Department how to list your machine sites.
• Returns: due by the 20th of each month, or quarterly if your average tax is under $1,100 a month and yearly at $50 or less (Rule 39-26-109).
• No vendor fee: since January 1, 2026, retailers may not keep any part of the state tax to cover collection costs (HB 25B-1005).

Local sales tax and home-rule cities

The Department collects county and city sales taxes adopted under state law on the same return as the state tax (C.R.S. 29-2-106), along with RTD and district taxes where they apply. Many home-rule cities collect their own tax instead, with their own license and return.

• Examples: Denver and Colorado Springs each collect their own sales tax and charge no fee for their tax license. Aurora sets its own rate and takes its own returns.
• Where tax is due: a sale is sourced to the seller's business location if the buyer receives the item there, and otherwise to where the buyer receives it (C.R.S. 39-26-104(3)(a)). For a vending sale, either way that is the machine.
• SUTS: the Department's online Sales and Use Tax System (SUTS) also takes returns for participating home-rule cities, including Denver and Colorado Springs.

You collect the tax, so buy your inventory tax-free

A sale to a retailer for resale is a wholesale sale, not a taxed retail sale (C.R.S. 39-26-102(9) and (19)). You collect the tax when the item sells, so do not also pay it on your stock.

• Your Colorado license number: the Department's rule makes the supplier get your sales tax license number "or other satisfactory proof" that you are buying for resale, and treats a buyer without a valid license as the end user (Rule 39-26-102(19)). Get your license before you buy stock.
• How suppliers check: a supplier verifies your license through Revenue Online or keeps a copy, and need not re-check it until it expires. If in doubt, it can ask you to complete the Department's Affidavit of Exempt Sale (Rule 39-26-105-3).
• Home-rule cities: Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs use the Standard Municipal Home Rule Affidavit of Exempt Sale. You check "purchase for resale" and give your state license number and any local license number.
• Multistate forms: the rule lets suppliers accept the Multistate Tax Commission certificate from out-of-state buyers and does not mention the Streamlined certificate. Colorado operators should give their Colorado number.

The exemption covers products you resell, not the machines. If no sales tax was paid on something you use, you owe use tax on it directly (Rule 39-26-202; C.R.S. 39-26-202). Inventory you bought tax-free and then take for your own use is taxed at its cost when you pull it from stock (Rule 39-26-713-3).

Sales tax rates

The state rate is 2.9%, and no state tax is due on a sale of 17 cents or less (C.R.S. 39-26-106(1)(a)(II)). Local taxes go on top and vary by address: Denver lists a 9.15% combined general rate and Colorado Springs 8.20%.

How Colorado taxes vending sales

Colorado has its own vending rules (C.R.S. 39-26-714):

• State tax: food sold through vending machines is exempt, except candy and soft drinks, which have been taxed since May 1, 2010. Candy means sweets in bars, drops or pieces, and sweets made with flour do not count. Soft drinks are sweetened drinks, but not drinks with milk, soy or rice, or more than 50% juice.
• Also taxable: the law's definition of food leaves out chewing gum, carbonated water, cold sandwiches, prepared salads, and drinks in unsealed cups vended by machines (C.R.S. 39-26-102(4.5)).
• Local tax on vending food: a county or city whose tax the state collects charges it on vending food unless it adopted the exemption (C.R.S. 29-2-105(1)(d)(I)(D); Rule 39-26-102(4.5)). Home-rule cities set their own rules. Denver taxes food and drinks from machines at its 4% food and drink rate, and other items at its general rate (Denver Tax Guide Topic 84).
• Tax-included prices: a vendor selling through "coin-operated vending machines" may build the state tax into the price, if it never advertises that tax is not included (C.R.S. 39-26-106(2)(b)). Otherwise the tax must show separately, on the receipt or at checkout or on a sign (Rule 39-26-106-1). The statute does not define coin-operated, so if your machines take only cards, get the Department's answer in writing before you set prices.
• Location contracts: unless the contract says otherwise, a vending contract that sets the selling price is read as that price plus any sales tax.

Everything that is not food is taxable at state and local rates: trading cards, sealed Pokémon product, mystery items, toys and general merchandise.

Food and drinks: when you need a retail food license in Colorado

A retail food establishment needs a license before it operates (C.R.S. 25-4-1606), but most vending machines fall outside that definition. The law excludes (C.R.S. 25-4-1602(14)):

• Vending operations ("automated food merchandising enterprises") that supply only prepackaged food or drink that is not potentially hazardous, or food or drink only in bottles, cans or cartons.
• Operations that dispense only chewing gum or salted nuts in the shell.
• Establishments that handle only prepackaged food that is not potentially hazardous, meaning food that will not grow harmful bacteria when stored without refrigeration.

Anything else, like sandwiches, salads or cut fruit, can make the operation a retail food establishment. CDPHE's food rules, which adopt the FDA 2022 Food Code, do not apply to the excluded operations (6 CCR 1010-2).

• Who licenses: CDPHE licenses directly only in Clear Creek, Dolores, Gilpin, Moffat, Ouray, Park, Pitkin (except Aspen), Rio Blanco and San Juan counties (CDPHE licensing). Everywhere else, apply to the local public health agency, and CDPHE says to get a sales tax license first (Retail Food Program). Denver may license retail food by its own ordinance (C.R.S. 25-4-1606(5)).

Colorado rules for trading cards, mystery products and toys

Pokémon and other trading cards

Colorado has no special license for selling trading cards. They are taxable merchandise, so your state sales tax license and any home-rule city license cover you. The legal questions with card machines are about intellectual property, not state permits: stock authentic product, and keep Pokémon characters and logos off the machine itself. Our guide to the legal side of trading card vending machines covers both, and the Pokémon vending machine guide covers the business.

Mystery products and toys

We found no special Colorado license for selling mystery products, such as blind boxes, mystery bags and capsule toys, from a machine. They are taxable merchandise at state and local rates, like trading cards and toys, so your state sales tax license and any home-rule city license cover them.

Plush and stuffed toys

We found no Colorado law that registers stuffed toy makers or sellers; a statute search for "stuffed toy" returns nothing. Plush is taxable like any other toy.

Federal rules that apply in Colorado and every other state

ADA reach ranges

Where vending machines are provided, at least one of each type has to meet the operable parts rules in the 2010 ADA Standards (sections 228.1 and 309). The parts a customer operates, like the screen, card reader and pickup door, have to sit within reach: between 15 and 48 inches above the floor for an unobstructed reach (section 308).

Calorie labeling for food

If you own or operate 20 or more vending machines that sell food, federal rules require calorie information for any item whose Nutrition Facts label the buyer cannot see before buying (21 CFR 101.8). In glass-front machines, packages that show calories on the front in large enough type can meet the rule.

Schools

Machines that sell food to students during the school day may stock only items that meet the USDA's Smart Snacks nutrition standards. The school day runs from midnight until 30 minutes after the official school day ends (7 CFR 210.11).

Setting up the business in Colorado

• Entity: form an LLC with the Colorado Secretary of State online. Articles of Organization cost $50, a trade name statement $20, and the yearly periodic report $25 (fee schedule; new business checklist).
• Business personal property: your machines are business personal property. If your personal property in a county is worth more than $56,000 for 2026, file a declaration schedule with that county's assessor by April 15 (filing requirements; declaration schedules). A 2026 law sets the exemption at $58,000 starting in 2027 (SB 26-116).
• Local rules: check zoning and any local business license with the city or county where each machine sits. Denver notes that its sales tax license is not a license to do business in the city (Denver Tax Guide Topic 47).

Colorado vending permit and license FAQ

Do I need a license to put a vending machine in Colorado?

We found no general state vending license. If you sell taxable items, you need a Colorado sales tax license ($16 plus a $50 deposit) and a license from each self-collecting home-rule city, like Denver, where a machine sits. Each machine must show your name, address and phone number. Ask the Department of Revenue whether your machines need state ID numbers.

Do I need a food license for a snack vending machine in Colorado?

Not if the machines supply only prepackaged food that needs no refrigeration, or food and drinks only in bottles, cans or cartons (C.R.S. 25-4-1602(14)). Sandwiches, salads or other perishable food can require a retail food license from the local public health agency, or from CDPHE in nine counties.

Is vending machine food taxed in Colorado?

Food sold through vending machines is exempt from the 2.9% state sales tax, but candy, soft drinks, gum and cup drinks are taxed (C.R.S. 39-26-714 and 39-26-102(4.5)). Local taxes may still apply: Denver, for example, taxes it at 4%.

Do I need a license to sell Pokémon cards from a vending machine in Colorado?

No special license. Trading cards are taxable merchandise, so collect state and local sales tax under your state license and any home-rule city license. Stock authentic product and keep Pokémon characters and logos off the machine itself.

How much does a Colorado sales tax license cost?

$16, plus a $50 deposit that is credited against the sales tax you send in (C.R.S. 39-26-103). Renewal is $16 every two years. Denver and Colorado Springs charge no fee for their city tax licenses.

Do I pay sales tax on inventory I buy for my vending machines in Colorado?

Not if you buy it to resell. Give suppliers your Colorado sales tax license number, and in home-rule cities the Standard Municipal Home Rule Affidavit of Exempt Sale. Inventory you take for your own use is taxed at its cost.

Do I need a separate license for machines in Denver or other home-rule cities?

Yes, in home-rule cities that collect their own tax, such as Denver and Colorado Springs. You register and file with each one where a machine sits. Both also take sales tax returns through the Department of Revenue's SUTS system.

Sources

1. Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 39: 39-26-102 to 39-26-106, 39-26-202, 39-26-714 (vending) and 39-3-119.5
2. HB 25B-1005 (2025), ending the state vendor fee and SB 26-116 (2026), business personal property exemption
3. Colorado Department of Revenue, 1 CCR 201-4 Sales and Use Tax rules
4. Colorado Department of Revenue, how to apply for a sales tax license, SUTS information and Revenue Online
5. C.R.S. Title 29: 29-2-105 and 29-2-106, local sales taxes
6. City and County of Denver, Business Taxes, Tax Guide Topic 84, vending machine sales, Topic 47, licenses and Standard Municipal Home Rule Affidavit of Exempt Sale
7. City of Colorado Springs, Sales Tax
8. City of Aurora, Sales Tax
9. C.R.S. Title 25: 25-4-1602 and 25-4-1606, retail food establishments
10. CDPHE, 6 CCR 1010-2 Colorado Retail Food Establishment Regulations
11. CDPHE Retail Food Program, licensing and local public health agencies
12. C.R.S. 35-14-115, machine vended commodities; C.R.S. 8-84-202 and 8-84-203, blind vendors
13. Division of Property Taxation, filing requirements and declaration schedules
14. Colorado Secretary of State, business fee schedule and checklist for new businesses
15. 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design and U.S. Access Board guide to operable parts
16. 21 CFR 101.8, calorie labeling of food in vending machines
17. 7 CFR 210.11, competitive food standards (Smart Snacks)