HealthSouth Rehabilitation

16-16

In late 2014 and early 2015, the Taxpayer applied for refunds of gross receipts tax for three tax periods.  The Department denied two of these refunds on the basis that the Taxpayer was a hospital and failed to meet the definition of “health care provider” for purposes of Section 7-9-93 NMSA 1978, which provides the deduction the Taxpayer used as their basis for the refund claims.  The Department did not act on the third application for refund.  The Taxpayer protested each of the denials, as well as the inaction, which were eventually consolidated into one protest.  The Taxpayer operates an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in New Mexico, which is staffed by physicians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, speech-language pathologists, and others.  The Taxpayer has receipts from payments for services performed by these professionals.  The Department conceded that the Taxpayer is entitled to the deduction for receipts from payments by federal Medicare administrators, and therefore entitled to some of the refund that it applied for.  The Hearing Officer found that the Taxpayer met the requirements found in Section 7-9-93 NMSA 1978, and that the Section does not prohibit a for-profit hospital from taking the deduction, though the Department had promulgated regulations to that effect which limited the availability of the deduction.  The Taxpayer’s protest was granted.