Academy Leasing

03-23

The taxpayer filed three identical claims for refund of gross receipts taxes overpaid for reporting periods October 1996 through October 1998.  The first claim was filed in October 1999, the second in May 2000, and the third in April 2001.  The Department did not act on any of the taxpayer’s three refund claims, and the taxpayer failed to protest the Department’s inaction as required by NMSA 1978, § 7-1-26.  On October 22, 2002, the taxpayer filed its claim for the fourth time.  Three days later, the Department denied the claim because all the reporting periods covered by the refund claim were now outside the statute of limitations.  The taxpayer then filed a timely protest, citing the Department’s failure to act on its three previous refund claims.  The taxpayer’s protest was denied because the taxpayer failed to file timely protests against the Department’s inaction on the first three refund claims and the statutory limitations on refund claims prohibited the Department from approving the taxpayer’s fourth refund claim.