The population of Colorado is less than 6 million residents, which should generate no more than 2-3 million state returns throughout the entire filing season. Federal statistics show that only about 10% of taxpayers file returns as early as the first week of February, so the supposed state backlog should total no more than whatever percentage of that two to three hundred thousand returns were prepared and filed electronically by individuals, which federal statistics indicate should be around 35%, yielding about 70,000. If Colorado really needs weeks to simply accept (not fully process, which is something else altogether) 70,000 electronic returns, then it would be unable to get through its 2-3 million total returns until months after the filing date. That does not seem reasonable, and it is not a rational explanation for the current delay in accepting returns.
