Precheck Inc

18-29

On November 17, 2017, the Department notified the Taxpayer that it reviewed and denied its claim for CRS refund in the amount of $178,341.46 for periods in years 2011 to 2015. On November 20, 2017 the taxpayer submitted a formal written protest of the Department’s refund denial. On October 24, 2017 the Taxpayer had applied for a refund that requested the amount of the High Wage Jobs Tax Credit which had been previously only partially approved. The Taxpayer had sought a credit for $186,140.03 for the same periods and was only partially approved in the amount of $7,798.57. Though the Taxpayer had received notice of the partial denial of the tax credit on June 12, 2017, the Taxpayer did not protest the denial within the 90 days after the date of the notice as required by Section 7-1-24, NMSA 1978. Instead, the Taxpayer filed an application for refund to claim the remaining amount of the High Wage Jobs Tax Credit and then protested the denial. The sequence of these events was key to the decision of the Hearing Officer. After having failed to protest the partial denial, the Hearing Officer determined that the Taxpayer was claiming the same credit again only to later protest the decision. Though Section 7-1-26 NMSA 1978 refers to protesting the claim for “a credit,” this does not specifically mean a credit like the High Wage Jobs Tax Credit and is not intended to offer a second opportunity to protest the same denied credit. Because of these conclusions, the Hearing Officer ordered that the Taxpayer did not file a timely written protest of Department’s refund denial and the claim for refund is denied.