Unique Dental Laboratory LLC

13-1

The Taxpayer was a small dental laboratory that provided services to local dentists. The Taxpayer did not invoice for gross receipts taxes on the services she provided to local dentists. The Taxpayer apparently possessed that requisite Nontaxable Transaction Certificates that would have allowed for a deduction of these receipts as sales of a service for resale. However, from December 2003 through January 2007, the Taxpayer claimed that in error it calculated, reported, and paid gross receipts taxes on the otherwise deductible transactions. Upon obtaining an accountant, Taxpayer learned of its reporting error. On February 22, 2008, the Taxpayer submitted a claim for refund for gross receipts taxes from December 2003 through January 2007. The Department requested invoices in support of the deductions underlying the claim for refund both by letter and through telephone conversation with Taxpayer. The Taxpayer did not submit the requested invoices.  The Department took no action to approve or deny the claim for refund within 120-days. The Taxpayer did not file a formal protest of the Departments inaction within 210-days of filing its claim for refund, meaning under the statute that the Department lacked the authority to either grant or deny the February 22, 2008 claim for refund. The Taxpayer filed no other claim for refund before December 31, 2010, three years from the end of the calendar year in which the Taxpayer’s January 2007 CRS taxes were due. On May 12, 2012, the Taxpayer filed another claim for refund for the same period. On May 21, 2012, the Department denied the claim for refund as it was outside the three year statute of limitations under Section 7-1-26 NMSA 1978.  The Taxpayer protested the denial of the refund asking that the statute of limitations be waived.  The Hearing Officer found that the Department has no statutory authority to grant a refund after the statute of limitations has passed.  The Taxpayer’s protest was denied.