Colorado · rules verified
Colorado Overtime Calculator
Colorado’s overtime rule has three triggers — over 40 hours in a workweek, over 12 in a workday, or over 12 consecutive hours — and pays whichever produces the most. On taxes, Colorado gave the federal overtime deduction for 2025 and takes it back from 2026.
Colorado workweek
Bonus, shift pay & state options
$1,293.75
42 h worked · 6 h at 1.5×
| Straight-time pay (all hours + bonus) | $1,207.50 |
|---|---|
| Overtime premium at 1.5× | $86.25 |
| Double-time premium at 2× | $0.00 |
| Total for the week | $1,293.75 |
Your no-tax-on-overtime deduction
Colorado (2026): taxes all overtime — no state deduction. The federal deduction is added back.
COMPS Order #40
The Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order, effective February 1, 2026, sets overtime in Rule 4.1 and says in 4.1.2 that “whichever of the three calculations … results in the greater payment of wages shall apply.” Hours in different workweeks can never be averaged.
Rule 2 carries Colorado’s many partial exemptions: agricultural employees have their own weekly thresholds that vary by employer size and peak season, ski-area workers have a modified daily rule, and 24-hour medical transport shifts are exempt from the 12-hour daily trigger. A twelfth-hour shift that runs past midnight can trigger the consecutive-hours rule across two calendar days, which a day-by-day grid cannot show.
The add-back from 2026
Colorado starts from federal taxable income, so the federal overtime deduction reduced 2025 Colorado tax automatically. HB 25-1296 then required taxpayers to add back overtime compensation deducted federally beginning with tax year 2026. A special-session bill to repeal the add-back, HB 25B-1020, was lost.
Wages and claims
The state minimum rose from $8.31 in 2016 to $15.16 in 2026 and will be $15.71 in 2027; Denver announced $19.84 for 2027 locally, and Edgewater, Boulder County and the City of Boulder set their own rates too. The Division of Labor Standards and Statistics takes wage claims through an online claim portal.
Example week
Three 14-hour days at Colorado’s $28.75 median make the 12-hour rule bite even though the week is only 42 hours.
| Day | Hours | Regular | 1.5× | 2× |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| Tue | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| Wed | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
Minimum wage path
| 2016 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 | Now | 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.31 | 10.20 | 12.02 | 12.56 | 14.42 | 15.16 | 15.71 |