File your Colorado Long Term Care Employer report

Colorado provides a refundable $1,200 tax credit for eligible direct care workers.  As an employer, you’re required to report your care workers’ hours by January 31 each year so that your employees can claim this credit on their personal tax returns. 

Reporting requirements and eligible employees

Reporting requirements

You’re considered a long-term care employer if you provide any of the following services in Colorado:

• Home and community-based services
• Care provided at a nursing facility
• Care provided by a certified home care agency

Eligible employees

You need to report hours for any of your direct care workers who: 

• Provide hands-on care and services, including personal care.
• Assist participants receiving long-term care in Colorado.
• Exclusion: Certified Nurses Aides (CNAs) are not included in this program. 

Required employee info 

For every eligible direct care worker, your report must include the following three data points for the previous calendar year:

Get your employee info from QuickBooks

QuickBooks Online Payroll

Step 1: Run the Payroll summary by employee report for hours worked. 

1. Go to Reports , then Standard reports (Take me there).. 
2. Search for Payroll summary by employee. 
3. From the date range, select This Year. 
4. Enter the dates for the year you want to report.
5. Select Apply. 
6. Find the hours for your qualified employees. Note: this report shows all employees. 

Step 2: Get your employee Social Security numbers.

You can find your employee info in one of these locations:

• Employee details report in QuickBooks
  1. From the reports menu, search Employee details. 
  2. From the tax section, select View next to the SSN. You’ll need to authenticate for each employee in order to view the info. 
• CO DR0004 form
• Federal forms W-4 or I-9

QuickBooks Desktop Payroll

1. To find hours worked, run the Payroll Summary report by employee. 
2. To find Social Security numbers, run the Employee contact list report. 

Check back for steps to run these reports. 

File your report

The report must be filed electronically using the Colorado Department of Revenue's online platform, Colorado Revenue Online.

Filing Process Steps

1. Download Template: Get the official spreadsheet template from the DOR website. (The link to this site will be available in January 2026).
2. Enter Data: required Name, SSN/ITIN, and Total Hours Worked for each qualifying employee into the template.
3. Upload & Submit: Upload the completed spreadsheet at Colorado.gov/RevenueOnline by the January 31 deadline.

System Access

• If you already file year-end withholding returns (W-2s) with the DOR: You will automatically have access to submit this new report.
• If you DO NOT file year-end withholding returns: You must request access to the filing system specifically for this report.

For questions call the Colorado Discovery Section at 303-205-5252 or visit their website here.