New Mexico State Tax Rulings
Free plain-English summaries of state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued in New Mexico, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Does an oilfield water-delivery company owe New Mexico gross receipts tax at its office city's rate, or at the rate where it actually delivers the water?
At the delivery locations — the company won, and roughly $1.17 million in assessments was abated. Select Water Solutions sells and delivers water through connected pipeline and hose systems to oil-and…
Are a cell-tower company's receipts from site agreements with wireless carriers deductible from New Mexico gross receipts tax as receipts from leasing real property?
No. Three cell-tower companies sought roughly $6.17 million in gross receipts tax refunds, arguing their tower-site agreements with wireless carriers were leases of real property deductible under NMSA…
My out-of-state company provides back-office administration and insurance coverage to independent oilfield contractors who work in New Mexico — do I owe New Mexico gross receipts tax on the fees I earn from them?
The company won — its fees were exempt from New Mexico gross receipts tax, and a $1.92 million assessment (plus penalty and interest) was abated. DTC Energy Group, a Colorado corporation based in Nort…
If a satellite TV (or similar) company's equipment and operations are all out of state, are its subscription fees exempt from New Mexico gross receipts tax as a service performed outside the state?
No — the refund is denied and the receipts are taxable. DIRECTV sought about $26.27 million in gross receipts tax (GRT) refunds on New Mexico subscription fees, arguing its satellite service is 'perfo…
During COVID I paid my New Mexico gross receipts tax on time but filed the returns late — can the state still charge me a late-filing penalty?
Yes — the late-filing penalties stand. Trane US Inc. paid its New Mexico gross receipts tax on time for June through September 2020, but its accountant couldn't file the CRS-1 returns because a depart…
I'm an independent contractor paid by an out-of-state company for work I actually do in New Mexico — do I owe New Mexico gross receipts tax?
Yes — the gross receipts tax and penalty stand, but interest was cut off. Dr. Mohammed Abdul Muqeet Adnan, a physician doing a New Mexico fellowship, moonlighted as an independent contractor at two Ne…
Can I get late-filing penalties waived if COVID disruption and unanswered calls to the tax department kept me from filing my gross receipts tax returns on time?
No — the penalties and interest stand. Two related dental-practice companies (6588 East Main Street Farmington Professional and 3501 North Butler Avenue Farmington Professional) failed to file their N…
I overpaid New Mexico gross receipts tax because a marketplace provider also remitted it on my short-term rentals — can I still get a refund years later?
No — those refund claims are time-barred. Inn of the Laughing Llama, a Santa Fe short-term rental, paid gross receipts tax on bookings that its third-party marketplace providers were also required to …
I overpaid my New Mexico gross receipts tax — how long do I have to claim a refund before it's too late?
No — the refund is time-barred. Battery Systems paid its 2019 gross receipts tax on time, then later realized some sales were exempt and filed a refund claim in 2023. The Department refunded the perio…
I'm a commissioned sales rep — do I owe New Mexico gross receipts tax on commissions from sales between manufacturers and retailers?
Yes, on this record. Thomas Richards, a commissioned rep connecting western-wear manufacturers with retailers, was assessed $33,309.03 in gross receipts tax, penalty, and interest for 2016-2019 after …
The employee who handled my New Mexico taxes underreported and took my records — how much of the gross receipts tax assessment can I actually beat?
Partly. Lobo Tech, a New Mexico plumbing subcontractor, was assessed $64,973.13 in gross receipts tax, penalty, and interest for 2015-2018 after an employee underreported and then left with the compan…
Can New Mexico assess me for gross receipts tax based on a criminal tax-fraud plea agreement and a restitution order?
Yes. After William Gardner pleaded no contest to two counts of tax fraud and agreed to pay $162,534.06 in restitution ($139,431.98 in unpaid tax plus $23,102.08 in interest), New Mexico could assess h…
I never protested my New Mexico tax assessment in time and the state levied my bank account — can I still argue the tax was wrong and get all my money back?
No. Enrique Arroyo, a New Mexico framing contractor, was assessed gross receipts tax for 2013-2016 after a Schedule C mismatch but never protested within the 90-day window, so he became delinquent and…
Can a dialysis company — not just an individual doctor or nurse — deduct its managed-care and insurer payments from New Mexico gross receipts tax?
Yes. Home Dialysis of New Mexico, an LLC owned by kidney-care physicians and nurses, could deduct its managed-care and insurer receipts under Section 7-9-93, so the Administrative Hearings Office gran…
New Mexico lets me deduct the rent portion of my receipts, but how do I split bundled rent-and-services charges — and what happens if I can't back up my method with records?
Gemini Las Colinas lost. The company runs Las Colinas Village, an Albuquerque senior-living community that bundles services (dining, housekeeping, transportation) into a single monthly 'rent.' New Mex…
I'm a self-employed contractor who filed my federal taxes but never filed New Mexico gross receipts tax — do I still owe the tax, penalty, and interest?
Yes on the tax and penalty; the interest was partly frozen. Jimmy Lopez, a self-employed home and building inspector in Santa Teresa, filed federal Schedule C business income for 2016–2019 but never r…
If the New Mexico tax department abates my assessment, can I recover my attorney fees and costs?
No. William C. Gardner, DDS — a dental professional corporation — had its New Mexico gross receipts tax assessments abated by the Department, but the Administrative Hearings Office refused to award it…
If the New Mexico tax department delays my hearing for years, can I get my penalty cancelled?
No — the penalty stood. Herbalife protested only the $130,068.40 negligence penalty in a 2018 New Mexico gross receipts tax assessment (it had already paid the $650,292.40 tax and $95,379.75 interest)…
If I file my New Mexico gross receipts tax return on time but pay the tax late by mistake, can I get the penalty waived?
No. Tucker Midstream filed its August 2022 New Mexico gross receipts tax return on time but paid the tax late, and the Administrative Hearings Office refused to waive the resulting penalty and interes…
If a New Mexico tax helpline gives me wrong information and I file late, can I get the penalty waived?
No. Stronghold Construction filed its June 2022 New Mexico gross receipts tax return and paid the tax about two weeks late, and the Administrative Hearings Office refused to abate the resulting $5,254…
A for-profit company took in a non-profit medical cannabis producer's revenue as 'management fees' — does it owe New Mexico gross receipts tax on that money?
Yes — the protest was denied and the full assessment stood. Aspen Management Company was a for-profit corporation set up by the owner of a non-profit medical cannabis producer (New Mexico required pro…
I overpaid New Mexico gross receipts tax but only asked for the refund a few years later — is there a deadline that can bar my claim?
No — the claim was too late. EthosEnergy Light Turbines paid gross receipts tax in December 2018 (for the November 2018 period) and asked the Department for a refund on December 2, 2022. New Mexico re…
The state changed its tax form but I never got the notice and kept using the old one — can I be penalized for filing late when I had to re-file on the new form?
No penalty — the taxpayer won. Mary Feldblum had filed her monthly New Mexico gross receipts tax (GRT) returns on the paper CRS-1 form for years. The Department switched most taxpayers to a new form (…
Does New Mexico gross receipts tax apply to loan proceeds, a refunded investment, and affiliate credit-card reimbursements that a management company receives?
Partly. Warriors Management LLC, which provides shared services to a family's assisted-living facilities, was assessed New Mexico gross receipts tax on three categories of money it received, and the A…
My New Mexico business shipped custom orders out of state, but a flood destroyed the records — can I still prove those sales weren't subject to gross receipts tax?
Yes — the taxpayer won a complete abatement. Trader Barbs Old Town LLC, Barbara Pratt's jewelry store in Old Town Albuquerque, was assessed $42,595.90 in gross receipts tax, penalty, and interest for …
My medical staffing agency is based out of state and only recruits out of state — do I still owe New Mexico gross receipts tax on placements at New Mexico hospitals?
Yes — the protest was denied in full. Vista Staffing Solutions, a Utah-based medical (locum tenens) staffing agency with no New Mexico office or employees, was assessed about $2.9 million — $2,090,515…
New Mexico levied my bank account for unpaid gross receipts tax I never protested — can I get the money back by arguing my work was really out of state?
No — the protest was denied. Darlene Krueger never protested or paid four 2007–2010 gross receipts tax assessments ($79,786.93), so she became a 'delinquent taxpayer' and the assessments became final;…
Can a New Mexico dialysis provider (an end-stage renal disease facility) claim the Section 7-9-93 gross receipts deduction for managed-care payments?
Yes. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the taxpayers and reversed the Department's refund denials. ISD Renal, Inc. and Total Renal Care, Inc. — DaVita subsidiaries that op…
Could Roswell Hospital Corporation claim New Mexico's practitioner deductions for hospital gross receipts?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Roswell Hospital Corporation's protest of a $1,600,006 gross receipts tax refund denial for 2013–2014. The …
Can a New Mexico hospital deduct receipts under the health-care-practitioner provisions in Sections 7-9-93 or 7-9-77.1?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Roswell Clinic Corporation's refund protest. Roswell Clinic, treated as a hospital in the coordinated cases…
Could Lea Regional Hospital claim New Mexico's practitioner deductions for its hospital gross receipts?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Lea Regional Hospital's refund protests. The 2013–2015 claims involved denials of $938,140 and $563,338 and…
Can a New Mexico hospital claim the gross receipts tax deductions for health-care services (Sections 7-9-93 and 7-9-77.1)?
No — the protest was denied. Mimbres Memorial Hospital/Nursing Home claimed refunds of gross receipts tax for 2013–2015, arguing it could take the deductions in Section 7-9-93 (payments from managed-c…
Could Carlsbad Medical Center use New Mexico's practitioner deductions to recover gross receipts tax paid on hospital revenue?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Carlsbad Medical Center's consolidated refund protests. The hospital sought refunds of $1,738,000 for 2013–…
Could Alta Vista Regional Hospital use New Mexico's practitioner deductions to recover gross receipts tax?
No. In the lead case for a group of coordinated hospital protests, the Administrative Hearings Office granted summary judgment to the Department and denied Alta Vista Regional Hospital's refund claims…
Can I recover attorney fees after New Mexico fully abates a gross receipts tax assessment it knowingly issued to the wrong spouse?
Yes. The Administrative Hearings Office awarded Harry Barnes $3,451.66 in administrative and attorney costs after the Department fully abated a $17,258.28 gross receipts tax assessment issued to him. …
If I consign my artwork to a gallery and the gallery makes the sale, who owes New Mexico gross receipts tax — me or the gallery?
The artist owes it. The Administrative Hearings Office denied Dennis Champlin's protest. Champlin, a Santa Fe painter, consigned paintings to a Ruidoso gallery that sold them in 2018 and sent him 50% …
New Mexico wrongly told me my out-of-state services were taxable, I overpaid gross receipts tax for years, and my refund claim started as amended returns and a letter — did I file it in time?
Partly yes. The Administrative Hearings Office granted William Watson's refund protest in part and denied it in part. Watson, a forensic-science consultant selling services to out-of-state customers, …
When can a payroll or staffing company exclude the money that flows through it as a 'disclosed agent,' and can reliance on a CPA erase a negligence penalty?
Partly each way. The Administrative Hearings Office denied the core claim but granted two smaller ones. Talbridge Corporation, which handled payroll and HR for self-employed engineers doing research w…
If the state assesses gross receipts tax years late, and I had a bad accountant, can I at least get the penalty and interest waived?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office denied On-Site Case Management's protest. The owner, a case-management provider, had charged customers '7% sales tax' but never filed or paid New Mexico gross re…
Do erroneous SSA Forms 1099 create New Mexico gross receipts tax when an employee attorney never received the reported fees?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office fully abated an $18,929.08 gross receipts tax assessment based on Social Security Administration Forms 1099-MISC that incorrectly reported more than $200,000 of …
Are rocking chairs built in New Mexico subject to gross receipts tax when the maker transports them to Texas and completes every sale there?
No. The Administrative Hearings Office fully abated a $16,450.19 gross receipts tax assessment against Emmett McIntyre's furniture business for 2013–2016. McIntyre built rocking chairs at his High Rol…
Are fees earned by a New Mexico consultant taxable when some work is done from an Albuquerque home office and separate speaking engagements occur out of state?
Partly. David Baldridge reported $15,750 of 2017 Schedule C income but filed no New Mexico gross receipts tax returns. The Administrative Hearings Office held that $13,050 paid by a Maryland nonprofit…
Did New Mexico's COVID-19 relief or force majeure excuse a hotel from penalty when furloughed staff filed its gross receipts tax return 84 days late?
No. Inn of the Anasazi closed temporarily and furloughed staff during the COVID-19 emergency, then filed its March 2020 CRS-1 gross receipts tax return and paid on July 20, 2020—about 84 days after th…
Do confusion, missed communications, and hope for a managed audit excuse gross receipts tax penalty and interest after the taxpayer misses the audit deadlines?
No. Daniel Dawes of Lighthouse Entertainment sought a managed audit after learning that gross receipts tax was overdue for 2012–2016, hoping to avoid penalty and interest. The Department rejected the …
Does a food-delivery driver in New Mexico owe gross receipts tax on delivery fees and tips, and does the state's delay in scheduling a hearing wipe out the bill?
Partly. Ronald Duncan, an independent contractor delivering restaurant food for Delivered Dish (later Grubhub), was assessed $3,114.85 in New Mexico gross receipts tax, penalty, and interest for 2014-…
Does paying gross receipts tax through New Mexico's online 'make a payment' option excuse penalties when the taxpayer does not file the required CRS-1 returns?
No. Slapfish Restaurant timely paid gross receipts tax online for two quarters but used TAP's 'make a payment' option and did not file the corresponding CRS-1 returns until July 5, 2019. The payments …
May a staffing company exclude client payments for employee wages and benefits from gross receipts as disclosed-agent reimbursements?
No, not under ITSQuest's contracts. The staffing company employed and paid workers, while clients reimbursed wages and benefits plus a service fee. ITSQuest reported gross receipts tax only on its mar…
Can a company that employs nurses and contracts them out to government health clinics take New Mexico's health-practitioner gross receipts tax deduction, or is that only for individual practitioners?
Yes. Robison Medical Resource Group, an LLC that supplies its employed nurses to Indian Health Service and Department of Veterans Affairs clinics in New Mexico, could take the Section 7-9-93 gross rec…
Were IT services sold directly to a New Mexico Air Force base deductible when the contractor obtained the wrong NTTC after the audit deadline?
No. Invictus Technical Solutions performed IT services directly for Cannon Air Force Base, the ultimate consumer, so the receipts were not deductible as services sold for resale. Its Department-issued…
Could an independent registered nurse deduct payments from a developmental-disabilities service company under New Mexico's health-practitioner or Medicare gross receipts rules?
No. Mary Johnson was a registered nurse, but her receipts came from The Tungland Corporation under her independent-contractor agreement—not directly from a proven managed health care provider, health …
Was a 2016 gross receipts tax refund claim timely when the application was hand-delivered on December 30, 2019 but stamped January 3, 2020 and supplemented in April?
Yes. Copper Canyon sought $10,023.51 of gross receipts tax refunds for March 2016 through February 2017. The Department paid $2,011.95 for later periods but denied $8,011.56 for 2016 solely as untimel…
Could a locum-tenens psychiatrist deduct staffing-company payments when he treated patients for a provider with government health funding but could not trace the payer or program?
No. Dr. James Benvenuti treated children for Open Skies Healthcare, but his only contract was with Staff Care, Inc., a locum-tenens staffing agency that paid him $115 per hour and issued his Forms 109…
Could a California contractor deduct military-range cleanup services because the Air Force command accepted contract deliverables in Virginia?
No. Timberline performed demilitarization and range-debris removal at the Oscura and Melrose ranges in New Mexico. Although Air Combat Command was an out-of-state buyer and the contract designated Lan…
Is a soccer coach who reports his pay as self-employment business income on Schedule C liable for New Mexico gross receipts tax, or is he an exempt employee?
He is liable. Bryan Huskisson, a longtime soccer coach paid by clubs on a per-lesson basis, reported his coaching pay as self-employment business income on federal Schedule C-EZ and New Mexico's PIT-B…
Could the Department reconstruct a law firm's taxes from bank deposits and impose 50% penalties after years of known nonfiling and nonpayment?
Mostly yes. The Behles Law Firm stopped filing gross receipts and withholding returns in 2010, filed no relevant corporate income returns, and paid no workers' compensation fees, despite prior filing …
Were per-diem receipts for housing state prisoners at privately operated county prisons deductible as licenses sold for resale?
No. GEO's contracts with Guadalupe and Lea Counties predominantly required operating secure correctional facilities—staffing, training, security, food, health care, transportation, and programming—not…
Did White Sands military R&D and testing qualify for New Mexico's transformational acquisition program gross receipts deduction after DOD reorganized the named office?
Yes. TEST and EWA Warrior performed research, development, test, and evaluation work at White Sands Missile Range under a post-2005 Department of Defense acquisition contract. Their war games, simulat…
Could a sole proprietor defeat a gross receipts tax assessment by arguing that income reported on federal Schedule C was not necessarily business income?
No. Marduk Consultants was a registered New Mexico sole proprietorship, had originally provided computer-repair or consulting services, and reported income on federal Schedule C for 2012–2016 while fi…
Could a medical-billing company avoid New Mexico gross receipts tax by treating part of its revenue as software licensing and the rest as services performed outside the state?
No. PST Services supplied billing and accounts-receivable services to ABQ Health, including access to Flowcast software. The evidence did not show that fewer than all 525 licenses were employed in New…
Could a film company claim credits for a late 2015 application and a timely 2016 application supported by paid invoices but no matching canceled checks?
Only for 2016. Working Boy Productions' last 2015 qualified invoices were paid December 7, 2015, making December 7, 2016 the mandatory one-year application deadline. Its documented October 9, 2017 fil…
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These are official tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued by New Mexico's revenue authority in response to questions from specific taxpayers about how the tax law applies to their facts. A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who requested it and cannot be relied on by anyone else, but it is strong evidence of how the state reads the law. Every ruling above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original source.