What do I need to know about moving from Colorado to Florida?

The Colorado Department of Revenue's 2025 filing guide sets the subtraction by age. At 65 or older, all the Social Security included in federal taxable income comes off, and pension and annuity income can come off up to $24,000, less the Social Security already subtracted. If the Social Security amount is more than $24,000, no pension subtraction is left. From 55 to 64 the pension limit is $20,000, also less the Social Security subtracted. Starting with tax year 2025, people 55 to 64 can subtract all their taxable Social Security when federal adjusted gross income is no more than $75,000 for a single filer or $95,000 on a joint return; above those amounts the cap stays at $20,000. The Department says certain IRA distributions can qualify, but not those treated as premature distributions for federal tax purposes. So a retiree 65 or older living mostly on Social Security pays Colorado little already, and Florida's lack of an income tax makes more difference on wages, larger pensions and larger IRA withdrawals.

Colorado decides whether you have left by domicile. Its Individual Income Tax Guide describes domicile as the permanent place of abode to which a person intends to return whenever away, and says it continues until the person establishes domicile in another state. No single fact settles it. The evidence the Department lists includes your resident state tax return, driver license, vehicle registration, voter registration, and where your spouse and dependents live.

Keeping a Colorado home matters too. Someone not domiciled in Colorado is still taxed as a resident if they keep a permanent place of abode there and spend, in all, more than six months of the tax year in Colorado. The guide says a person who changes domicile during the year generally is not treated that way.

For the year of the move you file as a part-year resident, using Form DR 0104PN with the Colorado return, Form DR 0104. Colorado taxes all the income you had while domiciled there, and after that only income from Colorado sources. Leaving partway through a year also has a cost: the 2025 filing guide says the TABOR State Sales Tax Refund is open only to full-year Colorado residents. The Department's call center is 303-238-7378, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and its TTY line is 800-659-2656.

The weather on arrival is warmer and wetter. For Denver International Airport, the National Weather Service gives an estimated 1991 to 2020 normal of 47.0 inches of snow a season, an average January temperature of 31.7 degrees with 0.38 inches of precipitation, and an average July temperature of 75.1 degrees with 2.14 inches. Denver's record at all its locations, 1882 to 2025, averages 56.6 inches of snow a season. Orlando's normals for 1991 to 2020 are an average January temperature of 60.6 degrees with 2.48 inches of rain, and an average July temperature of 82.6 degrees with 7.46 inches of rain. The Orlando July normals are a high of 92.0 degrees and a low of 73.2.

For the Florida side of the move, such as the driver license, car registration and homestead exemption, see the site's answers on each.

Where to go from here.