Ethosenergy Light Turbines

23-14 

On December 8, 2022, the Department issued the Taxpayer a partial denial of refund of gross receipts tax for periods from 2018 to 2020. On January 12, 2023, the Taxpayer filed a timely protest of the denial. The Department denied a portion of the refund from 2018 because this year was beyond the statute of limitations. The Taxpayer explained that the position in their organization responsible for handing taxes was vacant for a while and the overpayment of tax for this period was overlooked until 2022. Under statute, a claim for refund must be made within three years from the end of the year in which the tax was originally due, which, for a tax period ending in 2018, would be December 31, 2021. Since New Mexico state law places the responsibility for making timely claims for refund on the taxpayer, and the Taxpayer admitted that their claim for the periods in 2018 was made in 2022, the Hearing Officer determined that the Department had correctly denied the refund in this period and denied the protest.