Commerce City, CO Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Under Sec. 9-3902(e) of the Commerce City Revised Municipal Code, every short-term rental unit license application, whether initial or renewal, must be accompanied by full payment of the required fees before the city will consider it complete; incomplete or unpaid applications are not approved. All application fees are non-refundable, and a license fee is refunded only when the license is denied, never when a license is later suspended, revoked or terminated. Fee amounts themselves are not printed in the code text but are set separately by resolution of city council, so operators must check the current fee schedule rather than the ordinance for the dollar figure.

Sec. 9-3904 shifts the tax burden squarely onto the property owner: the owner, not the booking agent or responsible agent, is ultimately liable for filing every tax return connected to the rental's operation with any taxing agency, including the city, and for paying whatever tax, interest or penalty that agency assesses. Sec. 9-3904(c) backs this with a hard operating bar: no short-term rental may be operated by a licensee who has not properly filed required tax returns or who is delinquent on any tax, fee, interest or penalty owed to a taxing agency.

Because Sec. 9-3909 makes a violation of any division provision grounds for license denial, suspension or revocation, unpaid taxes or fees can cost the license itself, not just trigger a fine. Enforcement then runs through the city's general civil infraction penalty schedule in Sec. 3-2103, which starts at a minimum $100 fine for a first violation of a code provision and escalates for repeat violations within twelve months.