City of Loveland Special Event Sales Tax: Rate, Filing, and Deadline

If you sell at a festival, craft fair, or other temporary event inside city limits, the Loveland special event sales tax is 3%, and you remit it directly to the city on a special event form by the 20th of the month after the event. The full rate you charge customers at the register is 6.95%, because state and county tax ride on top of the city’s share. Loveland is a home-rule city and collects its own tax, so the city’s 3% goes to Loveland and the remaining 3.95% goes to the Colorado Department of Revenue on a separate filing.¹

Who Has to Collect It

Every retailer selling taxable goods or services at a Loveland special event is responsible for collecting and remitting the city’s 3%. It doesn’t matter whether you have a storefront in town, drive in from out of state, or only set up at one event a year. For the duration of the event, the city treats you as its tax collection agent.²

Loveland typically does not require a city sales tax license for special event vendors. The exceptions are mobile vendors, food trucks, and vendors under contract with the city. If none of those describe you, skip the city license step and work from the special event form directly.¹ The state has its own license requirement, covered below.

How the 6.95% Breaks Down

The combined rate charged on a Loveland sale has three layers:³

City of Loveland: 3.0%, filed and paid directly to the city
State of Colorado: 2.9%, filed with the Colorado Department of Revenue
Larimer County: 1.05%, filed through the state’s system

You cannot bundle everything into one return. The city’s 3% travels to Loveland on its special event form, and the state and county pieces go to the Colorado Department of Revenue separately.¹ Vendors who file with the city and forget the state portion often get a delinquency notice from the Department of Revenue months later.

Filing the Loveland Special Event Form

Instead of the monthly return licensed businesses file, special event vendors use a two-part form split into a before-event step and an after-event step.

Before the Event

Download a blank special event form from the City of Loveland Finance Department website. Fill out the top portion with your legal name, mailing address, the event name, and the event date. Display that completed top portion in your booth during the event. It serves as proof that you are collecting tax on the city’s behalf, so it needs to be visible to customers and to any city representative passing through.¹

After the Event

Once the event closes, fill in the bottom portion with your total sales, calculate 3% of your net taxable sales, and send that amount to the address printed on the form.¹ Net taxable sales means gross sales minus any legitimately exempt transactions, such as sales to verified tax-exempt organizations. Keep a receipt log or short ledger during the event so you’re not reconstructing figures from memory later.

The Math

Multiply your net taxable sales by 0.03. Sell $1,000 with no exempt transactions and you owe the city $30. If $200 of that went to a tax-exempt buyer with proper documentation, the taxable base drops to $800 and you owe $24.³ At the register, charge the full 6.95% combined rate, then split the collection on the back end. On the Loveland form you only report and remit the 3% city share.¹

Loveland follows Colorado’s exemption framework in Title 39, Article 26, Part 7, with two carve-outs: the city does not exempt electricity, coal, wood, gas, fuel oil, or coke, and does not exempt machinery or machine tools.⁴ For most craft, food, and consumer-goods vendors, these rarely come into play.

Deadline and Late Payment

Payment is due by the 20th of the month following the event. A festival that runs June 14–16 means your return and payment must reach the city by July 20. If the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.¹

You can file and pay through the city’s online portal using ACH debit or eCheck.⁵ If you mail the form, include a check or money order payable to the City of Loveland and keep the cancelled check as proof. Vendors with delinquent accounts can face difficulty participating in future Loveland events, and the city can assess interest that compounds monthly on the unpaid balance.

Don’t Forget the State and County Filing

The Loveland form only covers 3% of the 6.95% total. The remaining 3.95% (2.9% state and 1.05% county) must be reported separately to the Colorado Department of Revenue.³

Colorado requires anyone making retail sales at a special event to obtain a state special event license unless the event organizer has already obtained one that covers all participating sellers. Under state rules, a special sales event is one where more than three sellers make retail sales at a location other than their normal business, and the event takes place no more than three times per calendar year. To apply, download the Special Event Sales Tax Application (Form DR 0589) from the Colorado Department of Revenue and submit it with applicable fees and a copy of your government-issued photo ID before the event. Keep your completed DR 0589 as a temporary license until the official one arrives.⁶

If an event is held three or more times a year, you need a full retail sales tax license from the state rather than the special event license.⁶ Larimer County’s 1.05% flows through the state’s system, so filing your state return typically covers the county portion. The county has focused compliance efforts on food trucks and mobile vendors, requiring delinquent filers to settle outstanding returns before participating in events.⁷

Records to Keep

Keep detailed records of every sale during the event: individual transaction amounts, tax collected, and any exempt sales with supporting documentation. The IRS recommends retaining business records for at least three years and employment-related tax records for at least four.⁸ Because you’re filing with both the city and the state, one clean set of records that supports both returns saves time if either jurisdiction asks questions.

A simple spreadsheet or ledger with each day’s gross sales, exempt sales, and tax collected is usually enough. Photograph or scan your completed special event form before mailing it, and save the confirmation receipt if you pay online.

1
City of Loveland. Special Events
2
City of Loveland CivicWeb. Loveland Municipal Code – Ordinance No. 6354
3
City of Loveland. General Information
4
City of Loveland. Definitions and Exemptions
5
City of Loveland. Forms
6
Colorado Department of Revenue. Special Event License
7
Larimer County. Sales and Use Tax
8
Internal Revenue Service. Taking Care of Business: Recordkeeping for Small Businesses