New Mexico State Tax Rulings
Free plain-English summaries of state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued in New Mexico, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Does New Mexico's motor vehicle excise tax exemption for a vehicle 'acquired for subsequent lease' apply to someone who is not in the business of leasing vehicles?
No. New Mexico's motor vehicle excise tax exemption for a vehicle 'acquired for subsequent lease' (NMSA 1978, Section 7-14-6(F)) reaches only a person who holds or leases vehicles in the ordinary cour…
Are a cell-tower company's receipts from site agreements with wireless carriers deductible from New Mexico gross receipts tax as receipts from leasing real property?
No. Three cell-tower companies sought roughly $6.17 million in gross receipts tax refunds, arguing their tower-site agreements with wireless carriers were leases of real property deductible under NMSA…
As a New Mexico part-year resident, can I claim a credit for taxes paid to another state on income I already allocated to that other state?
No. When part-year residents allocate part of their income to another state (here Virginia) on a New Mexico PIT-B return, that income is not allocated to New Mexico, so the tax paid to the other state…
If a satellite TV (or similar) company's equipment and operations are all out of state, are its subscription fees exempt from New Mexico gross receipts tax as a service performed outside the state?
No — the refund is denied and the receipts are taxable. DIRECTV sought about $26.27 million in gross receipts tax (GRT) refunds on New Mexico subscription fees, arguing its satellite service is 'perfo…
When I register a trailer that carries a big piece of equipment, does New Mexico's motor vehicle excise tax apply to the whole package, or just the trailer?
Yes — the taxpayer won a refund. Prestige Equipment Rental bought four trailer-mounted generators (used to supply power at remote oilfield sites) and paid New Mexico's 4% motor vehicle excise tax on t…
I overpaid New Mexico gross receipts tax because a marketplace provider also remitted it on my short-term rentals — can I still get a refund years later?
No — those refund claims are time-barred. Inn of the Laughing Llama, a Santa Fe short-term rental, paid gross receipts tax on bookings that its third-party marketplace providers were also required to …
I overpaid my New Mexico gross receipts tax — how long do I have to claim a refund before it's too late?
No — the refund is time-barred. Battery Systems paid its 2019 gross receipts tax on time, then later realized some sales were exempt and filed a refund claim in 2023. The Department refunded the perio…
I overpaid New Mexico gross receipts tax but only asked for the refund a few years later — is there a deadline that can bar my claim?
No — the claim was too late. EthosEnergy Light Turbines paid gross receipts tax in December 2018 (for the November 2018 period) and asked the Department for a refund on December 2, 2022. New Mexico re…
New Mexico levied my bank account for unpaid gross receipts tax I never protested — can I get the money back by arguing my work was really out of state?
No — the protest was denied. Darlene Krueger never protested or paid four 2007–2010 gross receipts tax assessments ($79,786.93), so she became a 'delinquent taxpayer' and the assessments became final;…
Can a New Mexico dialysis provider (an end-stage renal disease facility) claim the Section 7-9-93 gross receipts deduction for managed-care payments?
Yes. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the taxpayers and reversed the Department's refund denials. ISD Renal, Inc. and Total Renal Care, Inc. — DaVita subsidiaries that op…
Could Roswell Hospital Corporation claim New Mexico's practitioner deductions for hospital gross receipts?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Roswell Hospital Corporation's protest of a $1,600,006 gross receipts tax refund denial for 2013–2014. The …
Can a New Mexico hospital deduct receipts under the health-care-practitioner provisions in Sections 7-9-93 or 7-9-77.1?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Roswell Clinic Corporation's refund protest. Roswell Clinic, treated as a hospital in the coordinated cases…
Could Lea Regional Hospital claim New Mexico's practitioner deductions for its hospital gross receipts?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Lea Regional Hospital's refund protests. The 2013–2015 claims involved denials of $938,140 and $563,338 and…
Can a New Mexico hospital claim the gross receipts tax deductions for health-care services (Sections 7-9-93 and 7-9-77.1)?
No — the protest was denied. Mimbres Memorial Hospital/Nursing Home claimed refunds of gross receipts tax for 2013–2015, arguing it could take the deductions in Section 7-9-93 (payments from managed-c…
Could Carlsbad Medical Center use New Mexico's practitioner deductions to recover gross receipts tax paid on hospital revenue?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Carlsbad Medical Center's consolidated refund protests. The hospital sought refunds of $1,738,000 for 2013–…
Could Alta Vista Regional Hospital use New Mexico's practitioner deductions to recover gross receipts tax?
No. In the lead case for a group of coordinated hospital protests, the Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Alta Vista Regional Hospital's refund claims…
New Mexico wrongly told me my out-of-state services were taxable, I overpaid gross receipts tax for years, and my refund claim started as amended returns and a letter — did I file it in time?
Partly yes. The Administrative Hearings Office granted William Watson's refund protest in part and denied it in part. Watson, a forensic-science consultant selling services to out-of-state customers, …
Can a New York resident recover New Mexico wage withholding for 2013 when the refund claim was filed about six months after New Mexico's three-year deadline?
No. Roy Charletta's employer mistakenly withheld both New Mexico and New York income tax beginning in 2013. New Mexico granted refunds for 2014–2016, but his June 2018 claim for 2013 was about six mon…
Does federal protection for a Colorado resident's retirement income override New Mexico's three-year deadline for refunding pension tax withheld by mistake?
No. Kimmet Holland moved from New Mexico to Colorado in 2012, but New Mexico PERA continued withholding New Mexico tax from his retirement payments because he notified PERA by phone and did not submit…
Can a used-car dealer recover New Mexico motor vehicle excise tax when customers later return titled vehicles under private rescission agreements?
No. Drivetime's customers signed retail installment contracts, gave consideration, received possession, and obtained certificates of title for 175 used vehicles. Those events completed taxable sales a…
Could a New Mexico grandmother claim four grandchildren as dependents without a formal custody order when they lived with her full time and she provided all their support?
Yes. Candice Dubois proved that her four minor grandchildren were her qualifying dependents for 2019 even though she did not produce a formal custody order or a parental affidavit agreeing to the tax …
Was a 2016 gross receipts tax refund claim timely when the application was hand-delivered on December 30, 2019 but stamped January 3, 2020 and supplemented in April?
Yes. Copper Canyon sought $10,023.51 of gross receipts tax refunds for March 2016 through February 2017. The Department paid $2,011.95 for later periods but denied $8,011.56 for 2016 solely as untimel…
Did the Department's request for documents turn an untimely refund claim into an audit that allowed older overpayments to be refunded?
No. Desire.Sante filed its refund claim on February 21, 2020, after the December 31, 2019 deadline for payments due and made in 2016. The Department's request for documents supporting that claim did n…
Can a rural health care practitioner claim a New Mexico income tax credit refund after the three-year statute of limitations has run, if the eligibility certificate came in late?
No. Loretta Garrett, a rural health care practitioner, learned after filing her 2015 New Mexico return that she qualified for the rural health care practitioner tax credit. She obtained a certificate …
Could a grandmother claim grandchildren who lived with and were supported by her when New Mexico flagged another taxpayer's duplicate dependent claim?
Partly. Lisa Chavez showed that grandchild C.C. met the qualifying-child tests in 2016 and that the child's mother did not claim dependents that year, supporting Chavez's dependent exemption and Worki…
Could Elite Well Services use a refund claim to revive a $3.29 million High-Wage Jobs Tax Credit after missing the 90-day protest deadline for the credit denial?
No. The Department denied Elite Well Services' $3,287,058.23 High-Wage Jobs Tax Credit application on June 27, 2017. Elite did not protest within 90 days, so the denial became indisputable. Filing a r…
Could a home-health agency deduct federal EEOICPA payments because its patients were Medicare beneficiaries, or exclude services involving Navajo Nation members?
No. Four Corners Healthcare received its payments from the U.S. Department of Labor under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, not under Medicare Title 18. Section 7-9-7…
Can a customary one-way hauler claim New Mexico's reduced weight distance tax rate when its logs show total trip miles but not separate empty and loaded miles?
No. Star Paving's trucks customarily hauled material one way, but the reduced rate also required proof that at least 45% of each qualifying vehicle's annual New Mexico mileage was traveled completely …
Could a New Mexico salon deduct its independent contractors' weekly booth and room payments as receipts from leases of real property?
No. Solutions Salon did not prove that it surrendered exclusive dominion and control over its booths and rooms. Contractors could use assigned spaces only for salon services, generally only during bus…
Could a physical-therapy practice seek administrative costs and professional fees in a new refund claim after receiving its tax refund and unconditionally withdrawing the original protest?
No. Rio Rancho Physical Therapy received its full gross receipts tax refund plus interest, then unconditionally withdrew the protest without requesting or reserving administrative costs and profession…
Did The GEO Group prove entitlement to 2011 and 2012 New Mexico corporate income tax refunds based on net operating losses from entities included in combined or consolidated returns?
No. GEO's multiple original and amended returns inconsistently claimed the net operating losses, often left the required CIT-1 line 5 blank, and sometimes omitted the mandatory Federal Form 1120. The …
Could a New Mexico business recover gross receipts tax overpayments discovered during audits when its refund filings and later challenges missed statutory deadlines?
No. Inner Works discovered that it had overpaid gross receipts tax by failing to deduct qualifying sales of services to out-of-state purchasers. Its July 2015 claim for 2009 qualified for a special on…
Could Halliburton deduct gross receipts from hydraulic-fracturing chemicals as sales of chemicals in lots over 18 tons?
No. Halliburton used the products while performing hydraulic-fracturing services; it did not sell them to well operators merely because contracts discussed goods or invoices stated product amounts sep…
Could New Mexico eliminate the payroll factor from Discover Bank's special financial-institution apportionment formula merely because payroll was less than 3% of income?
No. Discover Bank used New Mexico's prescribed property-payroll-receipts formula for financial institutions. The Department deleted payroll because its everywhere payroll averaged 1.69% of income, inc…
Could a taxpayer revive a missed 90-day protest deadline for a denied New Mexico High-Wage Jobs Tax Credit by later claiming the same denied amount as a refund?
No. Precheck applied for $186,140.03 of High-Wage Jobs Tax Credit, received approval for $7,798.57, and did not protest the $178,341.46 partial denial by the September 11, 2017 deadline. Filing a refu…
Could an assisted-living facility calculate its deductible real-property rent by subtracting service costs from bundled resident charges without proving fair rental value?
No. SSC was entitled to deduct receipts attributable to leasing real property, but it had to use a reasonable method to separate rent from taxable assisted-living services. SSC subtracted its costs fo…
Could Kenneth White's estate recover a valid $1,000 income tax overpayment after waiting until 2016 to pursue the Department's inaction on the 2007 refund claim?
No. White's timely 2006 PIT-1 return made a valid $1,000 refund claim, and the Department had no apparent reason for failing to act. But the estate did not protest or sue within 210 days of the Octobe…
Was Roswell Hospital Corporation's protest timely when the Department generated a refund-denial notice but could not prove that it mailed it?
Yes. Roswell Hospital filed its protest on February 21, 2017, exactly 210 days after submitting its refund claim. The Department's system had generated a September 19 denial, but no witness had person…
Could Peabody deduct trainload coal sales as chemicals sold in lots over eighteen tons when an Arizona power plant burned the coal to generate electricity?
No. Although Peabody sold coal in lots far exceeding eighteen tons and combustion involved a chemical reaction, the AHO held that Section 7-9-65 was not intended to restore a repealed coal-sale deduct…
Could Donald Krumrey recover a $21.76 estimated-tax underpayment penalty because he did not understand the New Mexico PIT instructions to require 2015 payments?
No. Krumrey's Social Security and pension income lacked New Mexico withholding, so he had to make estimated payments for 2015. The 2014 PIT packet contained instructions stating who must pay estimated…
Could an oncology practice recover gross receipts tax on medication receipts when its refund records combined authentic FDA-approved drugs with counterfeit nonapproved drugs?
No. Section 7-9-73.2 did not cover counterfeit, non-FDA-approved drugs, and the practice did not separate receipts for authentic qualifying medications from receipts for counterfeits. Although the rec…
Did Mosaic earn interest from the date it filed a $1.7 million compensating-tax refund form without explaining the factual and legal basis or providing invoices?
No. Mosaic's July 2015 filing stated only that compensating tax had been overreported and supplied amended returns plus a summary spreadsheet. It did not explain why the payments were erroneous or pro…
Could a USPS Highway Contract Route courier recover $179,732.03 of New Mexico gross receipts tax without its contract, route logs, receipts, or delivery-point records?
No. A Highway Contract Route was the modern name for a star route and fell within New Mexico's specific mail-contractor apportionment rule. Diamond T might have qualified for an interstate-commerce or…
Could a contractor recover gross receipts tax on depreciable equipment and systems incorporated into a county-owned fire station?
No. Weil Construction's remaining claimed equipment, piping, cabling, electrical systems, signage, and other items were incorporated into a county fire-station project, making them taxable constructio…
Was natural gas used to generate electricity exempt from compensating tax as chemicals bought in 18-ton lots or as a manufacturing ingredient?
No. Natural gas qualified as chemicals or reagents and each invoice exceeded eighteen tons, but Tucson Electric did not prove how the gas was sold and delivered as a discrete 'lot.' Its alternative in…
Could MANS Construction obtain a gross receipts tax refund after it mistakenly included separately stated tax in reported receipts?
Yes, in part. MANS Construction proved that an October 2012 White Sands billing included $66,407.66 of separately stated gross receipts tax that it mistakenly left in reported receipts. The AHO ordere…
Could for-profit hospital HealthSouth use New Mexico's managed-care health-service gross receipts deduction despite regulations excluding hospitals?
Yes. Section 7-9-93 limited the source and nature of deductible managed-care payments, but did not restrict which taxpayer could claim them. The AHO held that regulations excluding hospitals added a l…
Could John and Susan Grazier receive 2008-2010 income-tax refunds claimed in 2015 because hardship and Department conversations delayed their returns?
No. The Graziers filed their 2008, 2009, and 2010 personal income tax returns on November 19, 2015, after each three-year refund deadline had expired. Job loss, illness, inability to afford a preparer…
Could the Greigs recover a $1,610 income-tax overpayment when their timely 2010 refund claims went unanswered but they waited until 2015 to act again?
No. The Greigs timely filed two 2010 claims for a $1,610 2008 income-tax overpayment, but the Department neither granted nor denied them. After 120 days, they had 90 more days to protest or sue, or th…
Could the Kuriyans recover a $14,957 income-tax refund after two timely claims went unanswered when they did not protest or sue within 210 days of either filing?
No. The Kuriyans timely requested a $14,957 refund on their October 2010 return and again on a December 2013 application the Department sent them. The Department acted on neither claim within 120 days…
Could Christina Evaro use New Mexico's one-year late-payment refund rule after filing her missing 2010 return in 2015 when wage withholding had paid the tax in 2010?
No. Evaro said she mailed a 2010 return claiming $595 in April 2011, but the Department had no record of it; even assuming receipt, she did not challenge the ensuing inaction within 210 days. Her Marc…
Could Irasema Cervantes Pettibone preserve a timely 2008 refund claim after Department inaction when she missed the 210-day challenge deadline because of disability and lack of notice?
No. Pettibone filed her 2008 return and refund claim on December 24, 2012, before the general deadline, but the Department did not act within 120 days and she did not protest or sue by July 21, 2013—t…
Could Strategic Consulting recover 2006-2008 gross receipts tax in 2014 by relying on oral Department advice that out-of-state consulting receipts were taxable?
No. Strategic Consulting filed its $5,693.42 refund claim on October 28, 2014 for 2006 through March 2008 payments. Even the last period's claim was due by December 31, 2011, so the Department lacked …
Could Lynda Giang obtain 2008 and 2009 personal-income-tax refunds when serious medical issues delayed her returns until 2014?
No. Section 7-1-26(D) required Giang's 2008 refund claim by the end of 2012 and her 2009 claim by the end of 2013. She filed both returns and claims in 2014. Although serious, extended medical issues …
Could CSW deduct pond-liner sales to an industrial-revenue-bond project as government sales after buying the liners tax-free with a Type 6 construction-material NTTC?
No. CSW bought the pond liners tax-free using a Type 6 NTTC, which identified them as construction material intended to become an ingredient or component of Intrepid's solar solution mine project. Sec…
Was GEO selling the Town of Clayton a license for resale when it built, managed, and operated a town-owned jail housing state prisoners?
No. GEO's agreement required it to provision, manage, and operate Clayton's jail and supply staffing, security, food, health care, programming, maintenance, and other core services. Accreditation was …
Was a private prison operator selling a license for resale when a county paid it per inmate to operate a county-owned correctional facility?
No. Cornell Corrections managed and operated Bernalillo County's correctional center, supplying staffing, security, food, medical care, maintenance, programming, and other essential services for a per…
Could a joint account holder undo a New Mexico tax levy when she supplied all the money but had given her deceased brother withdrawal rights?
No, not through the levy protest. Elaine Lopez opened the accounts and made every deposit, but she added her brother Richard as a joint owner and authorized him to withdraw funds. After his death, she…
Were a franchise regional developer's shares of monthly royalty fees taxable commissions, and which local gross-receipts rate applied?
The commissions were taxable, but the Department used the wrong local rate. BBCB received a share of franchisees' monthly royalty fees only while it remained obligated to inspect and report on the New…
Did a tax preparer's fax of an unsigned federal return prove that a 2010 return was filed and require New Mexico to recalculate a 1099-based assessment?
No. Guidance Tax Services faxed Melinda Schramm's 2010 return to the IRS, but the IRS rejected it because it needed an original signed return. Her wage-and-income transcript showed only Form 1099-MISC…
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These are official tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued by New Mexico's revenue authority in response to questions from specific taxpayers about how the tax law applies to their facts. A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who requested it and cannot be relied on by anyone else, but it is strong evidence of how the state reads the law. Every ruling above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original source.