05/21
On December 11, 2019, the Department issued an assessment to the Taxpayer for gross receipts taxes in periods from 2012 through 2019. On January 10, 2020, the Taxpayer filed a timely written protest of the assessment. The Taxpayer provided information management and technology services on two air force bases in New Mexico. The Taxpayer argued that it was entitled to take a deduction from the receipts from performing services as a government contractor since it was allowed by the Department to issue Type 15 nontaxable transaction certificates. However, this certificate is intended to be issued by the seller to the buyer in order to support a deduction by the buyer, and being allowed to issue certificates to others does not mean that the seller may take the deduction. Further, the deduction it supports is not for sale of services. For the receipts in question, the Taxpayer provided services directly to one of the air force bases and so the sale was not deductible. Because the Taxpayer was relying on the advice of a CPA, the Hearing Officer ordered that the penalty be abated, but the tax assessed by the Department was ordered to be paid.