St. Mary Land & Exploration Company

12-14

The Taxpayer timely filed a corporate income tax return on September 15, 2006.  On June 24, 2009, the Taxpayer filed an amended corporate income tax return to reflect changes in apportionment percentages and to include New Mexico income tax withheld from oil and gas proceeds.  This amended return included a request for refund.  The Department partially granted the refund, but denied a portion of it claiming it needed more information.  The Taxpayer had already provided the Department with the information it was requesting.  The Taxpayer failed to protest the partial denial of the refund.  The Taxpayer believed that it had resolved the document issue when it spoke with Department personnel regarding the reason for the partial denial.  The Taxpayer filed a second amended return on April 28, 2010, requesting the partial refund it had been denied.  The amended return was filed outside of the statutory period for claiming a refund for the tax year at issue.  The Taxpayer filed a protest to the partial denial of the refund at this time.  The Hearing Officer found that the Department properly denied the claim for refund as they did not have authority to grant a refund after the statute of limitations had passed.  The Taxpayer’s protest was denied.