Case Study

How Longmont, CO Modernized Tax Filing to Empower Staff and Serve Its Growing Community

Before adopting GovOS, the City relied on a manually intensive tax filing process that required printing, entering, and scanning every return, often requiring days of staff time.

“The legacy system wasn’t user-friendly and made it difficult to reconcile returns,” explained Eastis. “We rarely had time to do much else, and with quarterly and year-end filings, you can end up with a massive amount of returns, so it could get very busy. I definitely wanted to improve that.”

The homegrown system also lacked the convenience and transparency expected in today’s service environment.

In 2020, the Sales Tax Division implemented the GovOS Tax & Compliance Suite. The launch included integration with Colorado’s centralized Sales & Use Tax System (SUTS) and expanded online access for filers.

In addition to sales tax, the City collects specialty taxes within the system, including:

• Lodger tax (supporting Visit Longmont and tourism efforts)
• Bag fee returns (funding environmental services)

To support the launch of the new system, Eastis and his team produced online resources, including educational videos to support business owners and improve taxpayer education across sales and use tax, lodger tax, and special retail marijuana tax programs. “We enjoy being able to help the public and wanted to provide 24/7 access to resources that answer the most common questions,” said Eastis.

With more than two-thirds of businesses now filing online and tax data flowing directly into Longmont’s internal systems, the City can reconcile payments daily, track compliance in real time, and respond quickly to taxpayer inquiries. “We went from spending days on manual processes to just hours,” said Eastis. “Now, we have more time to focus on things that were always on the back burner.”

Serving the Community

The City made it easier for businesses to file and pay taxes online, while directing revenue toward key community priorities like affordable housing, environmental programs, and tourism. Automated email notifications have reduced the need for paper letters and in-person visits. “If we have non-filers or people with an account balance, notifications are automatically sent to them,” Eastis explained.

Empowering City Staff

The Sales Tax Division reduced manual data entry by more than 50% and now performs daily reconciliation with real-time visibility into tax revenue. These gains allow staff to focus on other priorities, such as revenue forecasting and responding to increased voluntary disclosure agreement inquiries from remote sellers under evolving economic nexus rules. “Less manual data entry also meant we were able to transition one of our employees to a more substantial role,” said Eastis.

Improving Data and Reporting

The ability to download clean, consistent data has strengthened Longmont’s budgeting, audit, and compliance workflows. With daily reconciliation reports and streamlined month-end processes, the team maintains financial accuracy while reducing administrative burden. “By the time the end of the month comes around, we’re pretty much already done,” said Eastis. Monthly sales and use tax reports are available on the City’s website.

Looking Ahead

Eastis described the transition to the new system as seamless. Once historical data was migrated and the platform was live, his team fully retired the legacy tax system within 60 days. “The GovOS team was very good about explaining what was happening throughout the transition,” he noted. “When looking at upgrading to a new system like this, it’s important to consider what you’re doing today versus what you want to be able to do.”

Now, the City is focused on further innovation—exploring new features, improving reporting, and continually enhancing the user experience.

By investing in digital infrastructure with a cloud-native system built to improve compliance, empower staff, and enhance government service delivery, Longmont has created a foundation for fiscal resilience and community advancement.