Yes, in the file I am working on now..I'm not sure it's possible. Have you seen this done?
I use Excel 2003 and there is no option fill color.. Could it be that it is only available for older versions?right click the sheet tab and you can see the fillcolor ( I think it is available for excel version after 2000 ).
The tab color only underlines the sheetname.hhhmmm. I think that was xp or 2002.
for 2003, Format > Sheet > Tab Color.