New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 22 - COURTS › Chapter 600 - ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS OFFICE › Part 3 - HEARINGS UNDER THE TAX ADMINISTRATION ACT › Section 22.600.3.24 - EVIDENCE AT HEARING

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A.
				Every party shall have the right of notice, cross-examination, presentation of
				evidence, objection, motion, argument and all other rights essential to a fair
				hearing.
B. The taxpayer shall have
				the burden of proof, except as otherwise provided by law. Because the taxpayer
				must overcome the presumption of correctness or otherwise establish entitlement
				to the claim or relief sought during the protest, the taxpayer will ordinarily
				present their case first, followed by TRD, except as otherwise provided by law
				or as otherwise ordered by the hearing officer for good cause. The party with
				the burden in the case shall have an opportunity to make a final rebuttal
				argument at the hearing. However, in the event closing argument is submitted
				after the hearing in writing, the hearing officer may require that each side
				submit simultaneous written closing arguments in the matter without an
				opportunity for rebuttal argument.
C. The New Mexico rules of evidence and New
				Mexico rules of civil procedure shall not apply in any matter before the
				administrative hearings office unless otherwise expressly and specifically
				prescribed by statute, regulation, or order of the hearing officer. Relevant
				and material evidence shall be admissible. Irrelevant, immaterial, unreliable,
				or unduly repetitious evidence may be excluded. Immaterial or irrelevant
				portions of an otherwise admissible document shall be segregated or redacted
				and excluded so far as is practicable. The hearing officer shall consider and
				give appropriate weight to all relevant and material evidence admitted in
				rendering a final decision on the merits of a matter.
D. Reliable hearsay evidence is admissible
				during the protest proceeding.
E.
				An adverse party, or an officer, agent or employee thereof, and any witness who
				appears to be hostile, unwilling or evasive may be interrogated by leading
				questions and may also be contradicted and impeached by the party calling that
				person.
F. The parties may agree
				to, and the hearing officer may accept, the joint submission of stipulated
				facts relevant to the issue or issues. The hearing officer may order the
				parties to stipulate, subject to objections as to relevance or materiality, to
				uncontested facts and to exhibits. The hearing officer may also order the
				parties to stipulate to the admissibility of basic documents concerning the
				controversy, such as audit reports of TRD, assessments issued by TRD, returns
				and payments filed by taxpayer, correspondence between the parties, and to
				basic facts concerning the identity and business of a taxpayer, such as the
				taxpayer's business locations in New Mexico and elsewhere, the location of its
				business headquarters and, if applicable, the state of its incorporation or
				registration.
G. The hearing
				officer may take administrative notice of facts not subject to reasonable
				dispute that are generally known within the community, capable of accurate and
				ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot be reasonably
				disputed, or as provided by an applicable statute. Administrative notice may be
				taken at any stage in the proceeding whether or not requested by the parties. A
				party is entitled to respond as to the propriety of taking administrative
				notice which shall include the opportunity to refute a noticed fact.
H. Parties objecting to evidence shall timely
				and briefly state the grounds for the objection. Rulings on evidentiary
				objections may be addressed on the record at the time of the objection, or
				reserved for ruling in a subsequent written order.
I. Formal exception to an adverse ruling is
				not required.
J. When an objection
				to admission of an exhibit or to a question propounded to a witness is
				sustained, the proponent may make a specific offer of what the representative
				expects to prove by introduction of the exhibit or by the answer of the
				witness, or the hearing officer may, with discretion, receive and have reported
				the evidence in full. Excluded exhibits, adequately marked for identification,
				may be retained in the record so as to be available for consideration by any
				reviewing authority.
K. In general,
				documentary evidence should be no larger than 8.5 inches by 11 inches unless
				expressly allowed by the hearing officer. The hearing officer may admit a
				documentary exhibit presented at hearing which exceeds 8.5 inches by 11 inches
				or which cannot be folded, provided the proponent of such exhibit provide the
				administrative hearings office a copy of the exhibit reduced to 8.5 inches by
				11 inches. After the hearing at which the exhibit was admitted, the reduced
				copy shall be substituted for the larger exhibit and made part of the record of
				the hearing. The administrative hearings office may permit the proponent of a
				large exhibit to make arrangements to obtain a reduced copy, provided that a
				failure by the proponent to provide a reduced copy shall be construed as a
				withdrawal of the exhibit. For the purposes of maintaining an adequate record
				for submission to the Court of Appeals upon an appeal of either party, the
				hearing officer may request or require the submission of electronic copies of
				all tendered exhibits either in addition to or in lieu of the physical copies
				of tendered exhibits.
L. Objects
				introduced as exhibits shall be returned to the proponent at the conclusion of
				the hearing unless otherwise ordered by the hearing officer. In lieu of the
				object itself, the hearing officer may require the moving party to submit a
				photograph, video, or other appropriate substitute such as verbal description
				of the pertinent characteristics of the object for the record. If an object is
				retained for the record, it may be returned to the proponent no less than 45
				days after a final decision and order is rendered on the merits of a protest
				provided that a party has not filed a notice of appeal.