Colorado Form DR 1094 W-2 Withholding: Filing, Amending, Penalties

Colorado Form DR 1094 is the W-2 Wage Withholding Tax Return that employers use to report and pay the Colorado income tax they withheld from employee wages for a given period. Despite the name, it works like a payment voucher: you enter the tax withheld, subtract any prior overpayment credit, add penalty and interest if you are late, and remit the total. You file it quarterly, monthly, or weekly through the Department of Revenue’s Revenue Online portal or by mail.

How Often You File

Your filing frequency depends on how much Colorado income tax you withhold in a year:¹

Quarterly if annual withholding is under $7,000. Periods end March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, and each return is due by the last day of the following month.
Monthly if annual withholding is $7,000 to $50,000. Each return is due by the 15th of the following month.
Weekly if annual withholding is over $50,000. Each week runs Saturday through Friday, and the return is due by the third business day after that Friday.

The Department of Revenue sets your initial frequency from the estimate you gave when you opened your wage withholding account. If your actual withholding in a calendar year exceeds that estimate, you move to a more frequent schedule starting the following January 1.¹

One scope note: the DR 1094 covers W-2 wage withholding only. Colorado tax withheld on 1099 payments goes on a separate form, the DR 1107.²

What to Gather Before You Start

You need three things in front of you:

Your eight-digit Colorado Account Number (CAN). It appears on your sales tax license as the first eight digits of the Use Account Number, or you can look it up through Revenue Online. Do not substitute your FEIN or EFT number here.³
Your nine-digit Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
Payroll records showing the total Colorado income tax withheld across all employee paychecks for the specific week, month, or quarter you are reporting.

Filling Out the Six Lines

The form is short. In the header, enter your eight-digit Colorado Account Number, your FEIN, and your business name and address. Enter the filing period as MM/YY–MM/YY and the due date. Sole proprietors enter an SSN in the SSN field; everyone else leaves it blank.³

Line 1. Total Colorado income tax withheld from wages during the filing period. This should equal the sum of Colorado withholding across every paycheck you issued in the period.

Line 2. Overpayment credit. If you overpaid on an earlier period’s return within the same calendar year, enter the overpayment here to reduce what you owe now. You can only bring the current period down to zero, not below. If credit is still left over at year-end, request a refund on the DR 1093 instead.⁴

Line 3. Line 1 minus Line 2. This is the net tax due for the period.

Lines 4 and 5. Penalty and interest. Leave both blank if you are filing on time. If you are late, compute them as described below.

Line 6. Lines 3, 4, and 5 added together. This is what you owe. Sign, date, and include a phone number.

Filing Through Revenue Online

The Department of Revenue encourages electronic filing. To file your DR 1094 online, log in at Colorado.gov/RevenueOnline, scroll to your withholding tax (WTH) account, and click “File/Amend and View Returns/Payments” in the Account menu. You will see every filing period for that tax type with links to open any return that is due. After you submit, you receive a confirmation code once the submission is processed.²

Weekly filers (annual withholding over $50,000) must remit by Electronic Funds Transfer. An EFT payment completes both the DR 1094 return and the remittance in one step, so there is no separate form to file.¹

If your tax withheld for the period is zero, file a zero return through Revenue Online rather than mailing a paper form.

Filing on Paper

If you are not required to pay by EFT and prefer paper, download the DR 1094 from the Department of Revenue’s withholding forms page, complete it, write a check for the Line 6 total, and mail both to:³

Colorado Department of Revenue
Denver, CO 80261-0009

Fixing a Return After You File

If you overpaid for a period, take the credit on your next DR 1094 within the same calendar year by entering the overpayment on Line 2. You can do this through Revenue Online or on paper. If the year closes before you use the full credit, claim a refund on the DR 1093 for that year.⁴

If you underpaid, file another DR 1094 for the same period reporting only the additional tax owed. Do not refile the whole period; just report the shortfall.

Penalty and Interest if You File Late

Late filing or late payment triggers a penalty equal to the greater of $5 or a percentage of the unpaid tax. The percentage starts at 5% and increases by half a percent for each additional full or partial month the tax stays unpaid, capped at 12%.⁵

Interest also accrues on the unpaid balance. For calendar year 2026, the discounted rate is 8% and the regular rate is 11%. You qualify for the discounted rate if you pay before the Department of Revenue issues a notice of deficiency, or if you pay or agree to pay within 30 days of receiving one. Miss that window and the regular 11% rate applies.⁵

When filing late, calculate the penalty and interest yourself and enter them on Lines 4 and 5. The Department of Revenue publishes FYI General 11 with detailed instructions for computing late payment interest.

The Annual DR 1093 Is Separate

The DR 1094 handles your periodic payments throughout the year. By January 31 following the end of the calendar year, you have a separate obligation to give each employee a W-2 and file copies with the Department of Revenue.¹ Employers required to file 10 or more federal W-2s must file their Colorado W-2s electronically.

The annual transmittal form is the DR 1093, not the DR 1094. The DR 1093 totals compensation paid and tax withheld across all employees for the year and reconciles that against what you remitted on your DR 1094 returns. If you withheld more during the year than you remitted, the DR 1093 is where the difference gets settled. Failing to file the annual statements can bring a penalty of $5 to $50 per statement at the discretion of the executive director.⁶

1
Department of Revenue – Taxation. Withholding Tax Guide
2
Department of Revenue – Taxation. File Withholding Online
3
Department of Revenue – Taxation. Completing Colorado W-2 Wage Withholding Tax Return
4
Department of Revenue – Taxation. Amending a Withholding Return
5
Department of Revenue – Taxation. Tax Topics: Penalties and Interest
6
Justia. Colorado Code 39-22-604 – Withholding Tax