N.M. Stat. § 7-1-26 — NM Code / Chapter 7 / Article 1 / Section 7-1-26
§ 7-1-26. Disputing liabilities; claim for credit, rebate or refund
Status: in_force

A. A person who believes that an amount of tax has been paid by or withheld from that person in excess of that for which the person was liable, who has been denied a credit or rebate claimed or who claims a prior right to property in the possession of the department pursuant to a levy made pursuant to the authority of Sections 7-1-31 through 7-1-34 NMSA 1978 may claim a refund by directing to the secretary, within the time limitations provided by Subsections F and G of this section, a written claim for refund that, except as provided in Subsection K of this section, includes:

(1) the taxpayer's name, address and identification number;

(2) the type of tax for which a refund is being claimed, the credit or rebate denied or the property levied upon;

(3) the sum of money or other property being claimed;

(4) with respect to a refund, the period for which overpayment was made;

(5) a brief statement of the facts and the law on which the claim is based, which may be referred to as the “basis for the refund”, which may include documentation that substantiates the written claim and supports the taxpayer's basis for the refund; and

(6) if applicable, a copy of an amended return for each tax period for which the refund is claimed.

B. A claim for refund that meets the requirements of Subsection A of this section and that is filed within the time limitations provided by Subsections F and G of this section is deemed to be properly before the department for consideration, regardless of whether the department requests additional documentation after receipt of the claim for refund.

C. If the department requests additional relevant documentation from a taxpayer who has submitted a claim for refund, the claim for refund shall not be considered incomplete provided the taxpayer submits sufficient information for the department to make a determination.

D. The secretary or the secretary's delegate may allow the claim in whole or in part or may deny the claim. If the:

(1) claim is denied in whole or in part in writing, the person shall not refile the denied claim, but the person, within ninety days after either the mailing or delivery of the denial of all or any part of the claim, may elect to pursue only one of the remedies provided in Subsection E of this section; and

(2) department has neither granted nor denied any portion of a complete claim for refund within one hundred eighty days after the claim was mailed or otherwise delivered to the department, the person may elect to treat the claim as denied and elect to pursue only one of the remedies provided in Subsection E of this section.

E. A person may elect to pursue only one of the remedies provided in this subsection. A person who timely pursues more than one remedy is deemed to have elected the first. The person may:

(1) direct to the secretary, pursuant to the provisions of Section 7-1-24 NMSA 1978 , a written protest that sets forth:

(a) the circumstances of: 1) an alleged overpayment; 2) a denied credit; 3) a denied rebate; or 4) a denial of a prior right to property levied upon by the department;

(b) an allegation that, because of that overpayment or denial, the state is indebted to the taxpayer for a specified amount, including any allowed interest, or for the property;

(c) a demand for the refund to the taxpayer of that amount or that property; and

(d) a recitation of the facts of the claim for refund; or

(2) commence a civil action in the district court for Santa Fe county by filing a complaint setting forth the circumstance of the claimed overpayment, denied credit or rebate or denial of a prior right to property levied upon by the department alleging that on account thereof the state is indebted to the plaintiff in the amount or property stated, together with any interest allowable, demanding the refund to the plaintiff of that amount or property and reciting the facts of the claim for refund. The plaintiff or the secretary may appeal from any final decision or order of the district court to the court of appeals.

F. Except as otherwise provided in Subsection G of this section, a credit or refund of any amount of overpaid tax, penalty or interest may be allowed or made to a person if a claim is properly filed:

(1) only within three years after the end of the calendar year in which the applicable event occurs:

(a) in the case of tax paid with an original or amended state return, the date the related tax was originally due;

(b) in the case of tax paid in response to an assessment by the department pursuant to Section 7-1-17 NMSA 1978 , the date the tax was paid;

(c) in the case of tax with respect to which a net-negative federal adjustment, as that term is used in Section 7-1-13 NMSA 1978 , relates, the final determination date of that federal adjustment, as provided in Section 7-1-13 NMSA 1978;

(d) the final determination of value occurs with respect to any overpayment that resulted from a disapproval by any agency of the United States or the state of New Mexico or any court of increase in value of a product subject to taxation pursuant to the Oil and Gas Severance Tax Act, the Oil and Gas Conservation Tax Act, the Oil and Gas Emergency School Tax Act, the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act or the Natural Gas Processors Tax Act; or

(e) in the case of a claim related to property taken by levy, the date the property was levied upon as provided in the Tax Administration Act;

(2) in the case of a denial of a claim for credit pursuant to the Investment Credit Act, Laboratory Partnership with Small Business Tax Credit Act or Technology Jobs and Research and Development Tax Credit Act 1 or for the rural job tax credit provided by Section 7-2E-1.1 NMSA 1978 or similar credit, only within one year after the date of the denial;

(3) in the case of a taxpayer under audit by the department who has signed a waiver of the limitation on assessments on or after July 1, 1993 pursuant to Subsection F of Section 7-1-18 NMSA 1978 , only for a refund of the same tax paid for the same period for which the waiver was given, and only until a date one year after the later of the date of the mailing of an assessment issued pursuant to the audit, the date of the mailing of final audit findings to the taxpayer or the date a proceeding is begun in court by the department with respect to the same tax and the same period;

(4) in the case of a payment of an amount of tax not made within three years of the end of the calendar year in which the original due date of the tax or date of the assessment of the department occurred, only for a claim for refund of that amount of tax and only within one year of the date on which the tax was paid; or

(5) in the case of a taxpayer who has been assessed a tax on or after July 1, 1993 pursuant to Subsection B , C or D of Section 7-1-18 NMSA 1978 and an assessment that applies to a period ending at least three years prior to the beginning of the year in which the assessment was made, only for a refund for the same tax for the period of the assessment or for any period following that period within one year of the date of the assessment unless a longer period for claiming a refund is provided in this section.

G. No credit or refund shall be allowed or made to a person claiming a refund of gasoline tax pursuant to Section 7-13-11 NMSA 1978 unless notice of the destruction of the gasoline was given to the department within thirty days of the actual destruction and the claim for refund is made within six months of the date of destruction. No credit or refund shall be allowed or made to a person claiming a refund of gasoline tax pursuant to Section 7-13-17 NMSA 1978 unless the refund is claimed within six months of the date of purchase of the gasoline and the gasoline has been used at the time the claim for refund is made.

H. If, as a result of an audit by the department or a managed audit covering multiple periods, an overpayment of tax is found in any period under the audit and if the taxpayer files a claim for refund for the overpayments identified in the audit, that overpayment may be credited against an underpayment of the same tax found in another period under audit pursuant to Section 7-1-29 NMSA 1978 .

I. A refund of tax paid under any tax or tax act administered pursuant to Subsection B of Section 7-1-2 NMSA 1978 may be made, at the discretion of the department, in the form of credit against future tax payments if future tax liabilities in an amount at least equal to the credit amount reasonably may be expected to become due.

J. For the purposes of this section, “ oil and gas tax return ” means a return reporting tax due with respect to oil, natural gas, liquid hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, helium or nonhydrocarbon gas pursuant to the Oil and Gas Severance Tax Act, the Oil and Gas Conservation Tax Act, the Oil and Gas Emergency School Tax Act, the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act, the Natural Gas Processors Tax Act or the Oil and Gas Production Equipment Ad Valorem Tax Act.

K. The filing of a fully completed original income tax return, corporate income tax return, corporate income and franchise tax return, estate tax return, special fuel excise tax return or annual insurance premium tax return that shows a balance due the taxpayer or a fully completed amended income tax return, an amended corporate income tax return, an amended corporate income and franchise tax return, an amended estate tax return, an amended special fuel excise tax return, an amended oil and gas tax return or an amended insurance premium tax return that shows a lesser tax liability than the original return constitutes the filing of a claim for refund for the difference in tax due shown on the original and amended returns.

L. In no case may a credit or refund be claimed if the related federal adjustment is taken into account by a partnership in the partnership's tax return for the adjustment year and allocated to the partners in a manner similar to other partnership tax items.