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Denver, CO Tax Help: IRS & State Back Taxes, Levies, Audits (2026)
Tax help in Denver: who this guide is for
If you live or run a business in Denver and the IRS or the Department of Revenue has started writing to you, this page explains what actually happens next, where the local offices are and what they can and cannot do, and how cases from City and County of Denver get resolved without anyone taking a day off to sit in a federal building.
I am an Enrolled Agent, federally licensed to represent taxpayers before the IRS, and my firm handles back taxes, levies, audits and unfiled returns for clients across Denver and its suburbs, including Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, Centennial and Boulder. Everything here is general information, not individual advice; the last section explains how to get a free review of your own notices.
Your IRS office in Denver, and what it can actually do
The IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center serving Denver is the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, Denver, at 1999 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202. By appointment only; call 844-545-5640. irs.gov's general weekday TAC hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and this office was also open on several of the IRS's special Saturday dates in 2026. Confirm hours and services in the IRS office locator. Other offices in the area include Colorado Springs Taxpayer Assistance Center (named by the IRS; address not confirmed on an official page) and Grand Junction Taxpayer Assistance Center (named by the IRS; address not confirmed on an official page).
It helps to know what a Taxpayer Assistance Center is for. It can verify your identity, take a payment, give you transcripts and answer account questions. It does not negotiate: nobody at the counter can settle a balance, release a levy on their own authority or decide an audit. Those decisions sit with collection, examination and appeals units that work by mail, phone and fax, which is why most representation happens without a visit to the office at all.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service is different. It is an independent office inside the IRS that steps in when normal channels have stalled or a levy is causing hardship. The local office for Denver: Taxpayer Advocate Service, Denver office, 1999 Broadway, MS 1005 DEN, Denver, CO 80202, (303) 603-4600. It is a genuine safety valve, but it is not a shortcut around filing the missing returns or answering the notice in front of you.
The Colorado side: Colorado Department of Revenue
Colorado taxes individual income at a single flat rate applied to federal taxable income, so there are no brackets. Denver taxpayers can face a Department of Revenue balance on top of city-only obligations, because Denver is a home-rule city and county that administers several of its own taxes, including sales tax, separately from the state.
Colorado Department of Revenue local office: Denver Regional Service Center, 1351 5th St., Suite 100, Denver, CO 80204, (303) 238-7378, appointment required through Revenue Online.
Federal and state collection are separate tracks: an IRS installment agreement does nothing to stop a Colorado garnishment, and a state payment plan does not pause the IRS. Every Denver case we take is mapped across both agencies before anything is negotiated. Our Colorado state page covers the state side in detail.
Denver taxes people forget about
Beyond the IRS and the Department of Revenue, Denver has local obligations that show up as surprise bills, usually when a business or a rental has been running for a few years without them:
Denver's own sales and use tax: as a home-rule city and county, Denver licenses and collects its own sales and use tax separately from the state through its eBiz Tax Center, so a retailer doing business in Denver needs both a state sales tax license and a separate city one.
Occupational Privilege Tax, Denver's head tax: the city collects a business portion for every qualifying owner, partner, manager and employee, plus a separate employee portion withheld from paychecks once a worker earns enough in a month to be taxable; the employer files and remits both parts, usually monthly or quarterly depending on headcount.
Lodger's Tax and short-term rentals: hosts need a Denver lodger's tax account in addition to any state sales tax obligation, and the city separately requires that a short-term rental be the operator's primary residence before it can be licensed, which rules out renting out an investment property or second home as a short-term stay.
Business personal property: owners of furniture, fixtures, equipment and other business personal property used in Denver file an annual declaration with the Assessor, separate from the real property tax roll.
Property tax: the Denver Assessor values real property and the Treasury Division bills and collects it, since Denver operates as a single consolidated city and county government rather than a city sitting inside a separate county.
The Denver tax problems we see most
Every metro has its own pattern of tax trouble, because it has its own mix of work. In Denver the cases that reach us most often look like this:
Energy, oil and gas workers: Royalty payments and working interests come with their own reporting, and a boom-and-bust income pattern makes it easy to fall behind on quarterly estimated payments during a strong year and then owe a large balance when things slow down.
Tech and aerospace employees with stock compensation: Options and restricted stock vesting across several employers over a career create basis-tracking problems that surface years later as an IRS notice, often after shares were already sold and spent.
Cannabis business owners: Federal law disallows most ordinary business deductions for a marijuana business, while Colorado allows a state-level subtraction instead, so the state and federal pictures of the same business rarely match without careful separate accounting.
Restaurant, brewery and hospitality workers: Tips and seasonal staffing produce W-2 mismatches, and payroll tax deposits are often the first thing that slips when a restaurant or bar is short on cash, which the IRS pursues hardest.
Construction, trades and real estate professionals: Contractors paid on 1099s skip estimated payments in good years, and a property sale by a nonresident seller can trigger a Colorado withholding requirement that catches people off guard at closing.
Short-term rental hosts across metro Denver: Denver's primary-residence licensing rule, combined with the lodger's tax, the occupational privilege tax and ordinary rental income reporting, means a single property can touch several different filings at once.
Three things to know about Denver cases
Denver runs its own sales tax system separate from the state's, so a retailer needs two licenses and two sets of returns, and can face two different audits over the same sale.
The Occupational Privilege Tax is Denver's head tax: the city collects a flat monthly amount from the business for every qualifying owner and employee, on top of whatever income tax any of them separately owes.
Colorado lets a cannabis business subtract certain expenses the federal government disallows, which means the state and federal numbers for the same marijuana business rarely match without careful separate accounting.
How we work with Denver clients
The process is the same whether you are in Aurora, Lakewood and Arvada or overseas. You sign IRS Form 2848, which lets us speak to the IRS for you and pulls the notices to our office instead of your mailbox; for state matters we file the state's own power-of-attorney form. We then pull your IRS account and wage transcripts and the state account history, so the first conversation is about real numbers rather than guesses.
From there the order is almost always the same: stop any active levy or garnishment, file whatever returns are missing (a return the IRS prepared for you is usually far higher than the real liability), and only then negotiate the balance through a payment plan, an offer in compromise, penalty relief or currently-not-collectible status, depending on what the financials support. Meetings are by phone or video, documents move through a secure upload link, and signatures are electronic. You never need to visit an office, and neither the IRS nor the Department of Revenue requires an in-person meeting for the vast majority of cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to go to the IRS office on Broadway to resolve my problem?
No. The Denver Taxpayer Assistance Center works by appointment through 844-545-5640 for tasks like identity verification and payments. Collection cases, audits and payment arrangements are handled by phone, mail and online, and a representative can do that work for you.
Colorado has a flat income tax rate. What kind of state problem could I even have?
A flat rate does not prevent a balance from building up if withholding or estimated payments fall short, and Denver layers its own obligations on top, including a city sales tax account separate from the state's and the Occupational Privilege Tax on businesses and their workers. We map the state and city pieces together before anything is negotiated.
I rent my place out on Airbnb in Denver. What does the city actually require?
Denver requires a short-term rental license, but only for a host's primary residence, plus a lodger's tax account and, depending on your situation, an occupational privilege tax registration if you treat the activity as a business. The rental income also has to be reported on your federal and Colorado returns regardless of whether the platform collects any tax for you.
I run a cannabis business in Denver. Can you help with the tax side?
We can help you understand where your federal and Colorado numbers diverge, since federal law disallows many ordinary deductions for a marijuana business while Colorado allows a state-level subtraction instead. We do not promise any particular outcome, but mapping both sides accurately is usually the first step toward resolving back taxes or penalties.
Can you handle both the IRS and the Colorado Department of Revenue?
Yes. As an Enrolled Agent I am federally licensed to represent taxpayers before the IRS and before state tax agencies, including Colorado's. We file IRS Form 2848 for the federal side and Colorado's own power-of-attorney form for the state side, and coordinate both so a plan with one agency does not leave the other unresolved.
Related Reading
Talk to an Enrolled Agent
This article is general information, not individual tax advice. If you want to talk through your own IRS or Colorado notices, book a free 15-minute review or call or text us directly.
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