The Community Food Access program strives to increase access to and lower prices for healthy food in low income, low access areas of the state by supporting small food retailers and small family farms.
Small Food Retailers and Small Family Farms - your costly equipment purchases may be eligible for a refundable income tax credit equal to 85% of the amount you spent. Equipment must help to increase access to or lower prices for healthy food in low income, low access and underserved areas of the state.
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Tax Credit Guidelines
A printable version of the information on this webpage is available in the Tax Credit Guidelines below. The Grant Guidelines are available in English and Spanish. Additional language translations will be made available upon requests made up to 10 days before the application deadline.
Guía para crédito fiscal
Una versión imprimible de la información en esta página de internet está disponible en las directrices de crédito aquí. La Guía de Crédito está disponible en inglés y en español. Se pondrán a disposición traducciones de idiomas adicionales con previa solicitud realizada hasta 10 días antes de la fecha límite de solicitud.
Step 1: Find out if your business is eligible
Small Food Retailers and Small Family Farms are eligible for the CFA Tax Credit.
Small family farms are:
- Colorado-owned and Colorado-operated and have an annual gross revenue below $350,000.
Small food retailers are:
- An independent, Colorado-owned, and Colorado-operated small food retail business, defined as a food retailer with less than ten thousand square feet of retail space that carries at least three categories of federally defined staple foods, and be located in or provide food to local, state, or federally defined low-income, low-access neighborhoods; or
- A farmer's market or farm-direct operation that is already OR demonstrates an intent to become SNAP and WIC -authorized where allowed.
Find out more about eligibility in the Tax Credit Frequently Asked Questions.
Step 2: Find out if your purchase is eligible
Costly equipment purchases that will increase access to or lower prices for healthy foods in low income, low access areas are eligible for the tax credit.
What does "costly equipment" mean?
Many types of equipment are eligible for a tax credit. Applicants will need to demonstrate how the equipment is increasing access to or lowering prices for healthy food in LILA communities. For more information, visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.
If you aren’t sure if equipment you plan to purchase would be eligible for a CFA tax credit, you can submit an eligibility request form (Español) to CDA before purchasing. The department will process these applications and issue Letters of Eligibility on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Submitting an eligibility request form is not a requirement to apply for a tax credit and does not guarantee that CDA will issue a tax credit upon application.
What are Low Income, Low Access (LILA) Communities?
Small Food Retailers and Small Family Farms must be located in or serve a low income, low access (LILA) community in Colorado to be eligible to receive a tax credit. These communities are determined by census information. Please see the Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.
Step 3: Apply for the Tax Credit
Gather your eligibility documentation, your proof of purchase documentation, and a letter of support (only required for small family farm applicants) and fill out the application below. We will request additional documentation if necessary.
In your application answers, please demonstrate the impact of your equipment by highlighting how you're reaching LILA communities and / or reducing the cost of healthy food.
Read more about this on the Tax Credit FAQ page.
Tax credit applications will be accepted year round (while funds are available), but reviewed and awarded after three deadlines during the year. The next deadline is October 31, 2024 at 3pm MST.
Please note: there may be less than three application periods in a given year depending on funding availability.
Don't forget to submit required documentation on box.com. Combining all the required documentation into a single zip file or packet is strongly encouraged. Documents must be titled with the legal business name of the applicant. Unlabeled documents will not be accepted.
Instructions for submitting your application are provided here in English and Spanish.
Step 4: CDA will process and evaluate your application
Tax credit applications will be accepted year round (while funds are available), but reviewed and awarded after three deadlines during the year. The deadlines in 2024 are August 30th, October 31st, and December 31st.
During each review period, applications received during the period will be organized according to their priority grouping, and reviewed and awarded in that order. In each group, rural applications will be reviewed and awarded before urban applications, and applications with the highest impact will be reviewed and awarded before lower impact applications.
- First priority grouping: Equipment applications from businesses who have never received a CFA tax credit
- Second priority grouping: Applications from businesses who have not received a CFA tax credit this calendar year
- Third priority grouping: All other applications, in order of smallest dollar request to largest
For more information about priority grouping, see the rules pertaining to this program on the Secretary of State's website.
Step 5: Receive your certificate
If your business and expenses are eligible, and funds are available, CDA will issue a certificate to your business stating the value of your tax credit. This tax credit will be applied toward the taxes you owe to the State of Colorado.
The tax credit amount will be 85% of the purchase price of your equipment in 2024. In subsequent years, the amount will change to 75% of the purchase price.
You will also be asked to sign an attestation stating your understanding of program goals and proper use of the equipment.
Step 6: File your taxes
Include the tax credit certificate when you file your state business taxes (the Colorado Department of Revenue will already have this information on file, from the Colorado Department of Agriculture).
The amount of the credit will be deducted from your taxes owed to the State of Colorado.
If your tax credit amount exceeds what you owe the State of Colorado in taxes that year, the difference will be paid to you by the Department of Revenue. For more information on filing a Colorado income tax return, visit the Department of Revenue's website at Tax.Colorado.gov.
Watch the Community Food Access Information Session of September 27, 2024 recording to listen to the team talk about program goals, eligibility, and how to apply for Community Food Access tax credits.
Mire la grabación de esta sesión informativa sobre acceso comunitario a alimentos del 27 de septiembre de 2024 para escuchar al equipo hablar sobre los objetivos del programa, la elegibilidad y cómo solicitar créditos fiscales del acceso comunitario a alimentos.
Keep in touch
CDA wants to know how these tax credits are helping to create more opportunities for Coloradans living on a low income to buy healthy groceries.
CDA will send you a short survey six months to one year after your tax credit certificate has been issued, asking how your capacity to sell, distribute, or grow healthy food to low income Coloradans has increased.
For some tax credit awardees, CDA staff will perform site visits to ensure equipment is being used properly.
You can sign up for updates here about the Tax Credit Program.
Other important information
A maximum of $10 million in tax credits will be issued each year for this program between 2024 - 2030.
Once $10 Million in tax credits have been issued in a calendar year, no more credits will be issued that year.
To be eligible, equipment must be purchased in the calendar year for which the certificate will be issued.
CDA will display a Tax Credit Tracker on this website so that businesses may understand how much of each year’s fund has been allocated so far. This can help you determine your chances of receiving the tax credit, based on the amount of funds remaining for each year.