Does Colorado Have an Inheritance Tax? (2026)

Collecting a Colorado estate by affidavit

The Colorado limit rises with inflation, so the figure that applies depends on the year of death. It is measured after subtracting liens and encumbrances.

• Up to $88,000 for a 2026 death. Under C.R.S. 15-12-1201, the person entitled to the property can collect it with the court's affidavit form (JDF 999) when the estate is worth no more than $88,000 for a death in 2026. The limit was $86,000 for 2025 deaths, $82,000 for 2024 and $80,000 for 2023. At least 10 days must pass after the death. (source)
• Personal property only. The affidavit cannot transfer real estate. If the person owned a house or land in their own name, you most likely need to file with the court. Real estate held in joint tenancy or with a recorded beneficiary deed passes outside probate and does not count. (source)
• Cars go through the DMV form. The Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles will not accept JDF 999. Vehicles, motorcycles and motor homes are transferred with the DMV's own affidavit, form DR 2712. (source)
• Accounts that skip probate. Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, jointly owned accounts, and life insurance or retirement accounts with a named beneficiary are not counted toward the limit. A will controls only what the person owned in their own name. (source)

Colorado probate timing

• Lodge the will within 10 days. Whoever has the will must lodge it with the district court where the person was domiciled within ten days of the death, whether or not anyone plans to open probate. (source)
• Informal or formal. Most uncontested estates use informal probate, an application to the registrar. A formal petition to the court is for contested estates or a questionable will. The court cannot act on either until 120 hours after the death. (source)
• The creditor notice. Unless a year has already passed since the death, the personal representative publishes a notice to creditors in a county newspaper once a week for three weeks. Claims must be presented by the date in the notice, which is four months after the first publication or one year after the death, whichever comes first, or they may be barred. (source)

The senior property tax exemption after a death

• Surviving spouses can keep it. Colorado's senior exemption covers 50% of the first $200,000 of a home's actual value, when the state budget funds it. The surviving spouse of a senior who met the age, ownership and occupancy rules can qualify if the spouse has not remarried and still lives in the same home. (source)
• Children who inherit start over. To qualify on your own, you must be 65 by January 1 and have owned and lived in the home as your primary residence for the previous 10 consecutive years. Applications are due July 15; the assessor accepts late ones through August 15. (source)

Your basis in inherited Colorado property

• Stepped up to date-of-death value. Property you inherit generally takes a basis equal to its fair market value when the owner died, or on the alternate valuation date if the estate elects it. Gains during the owner's lifetime are not taxed to you. (source)
• Colorado couples. Colorado is a common law state, not a community property state. For a house a married couple held jointly, the survivor's basis is the cost of their own half plus the date-of-death value of the half that was included in the estate. (source)

Colorado income tax on an inherited IRA

• A flat rate. Colorado taxes income at a single rate that changes by year: 4.25% for 2024 and 4.4% for 2025. Withdrawals from an inherited traditional IRA that are in your federal taxable income are part of your Colorado taxable income too. (source)
• Beneficiaries can subtract up to $20,000. The pension and annuity subtraction is normally for people 55 or older, but a taxpayer under 55 who receives pension or annuity income because of the death of the person originally entitled to it can subtract up to $20,000 a year. The cap is $20,000 through age 64 and $24,000 at 65 or older. Certain IRA distributions reported on line 4b of the federal return qualify. (source)
• Only if it is paid to you directly. Death benefit income qualifies only when it is paid directly to you. Money paid first to an estate, trust or other entity and then passed on does not, and distributions treated as premature for federal purposes do not qualify. (source)

If the person who died lived in another state

Colorado's lack of a death tax does not travel. If your parent was domiciled in another state, or owned a ski condo, ranch or rental there, that state's rules decide what is owed on it, and heirs of someone from an inheritance-tax state can owe that tax while living in Colorado.

• Kentucky inheritance tax
• Maryland inheritance tax
• Nebraska inheritance tax
• New Jersey inheritance tax
• Pennsylvania inheritance tax

What matters is where the person who died lived and where their real estate is, not where you live. Compare inheritance tax by state to see who pays and how much.