Taxpayer had receipts from a contract with the New Mexico State Library to coordinate the production of a manual for the statewide reading program. Under the contract the Taxpayer was to purchase materials and services necessary to produce the manual. The compensation under the contract included reimbursement for the materials and services purchased. The contract further provided that the Taxpayer was an independent contractor and any expenses incurred were the responsibility of the Taxpayer. The Taxpayer protested the assessment of gross receipts tax on that portion of her receipts under the contract which represented reimbursement for the expenses incurred in the purchase of materials and services on the grounds that they were not gross receipts under Regulation 3 NMAC 2.1.19.3.1 because they represented the reimbursement of expenses incurred in the capacity of a disclosed agent. While the Taxpayer presented evidence that the vendors were aware that the materials and services purchased were for the State Library, she did not establish that those expenses were incurred as an agent for the State Library. Under the Taxpayer’s contract, the Taxpayer had the sole discretion to select the vendors and the expenses were incurred by the Taxpayer in her individual capacity in fulfillment of her own obligations under her contract with the State Library. The Taxpayer also presented evidence that many of the vendors charged her gross receipts tax and she argued that the imposition of gross receipts tax upon her reimbursement receipts constituted illegal double taxation. There was no double taxation in this case, nor is double taxation inherently illegal. There were separate taxpayers and separate taxable transactions. Protest denied.
Ellen Berkovitch
03/15/2000