CORE

17-03

On May 17, 2016, the Department assessed the Taxpayer for gross receipts tax, penalty, and interest for periods from March 31, 2010 through October 31, 2015. The taxpayer filed a timely protest letter July 28, 2016. During the tax periods at issue, the Taxpayer was providing educational services in New Mexico. For the periods they outsourced payroll and corporate filings to a corporate services provider which at the time of the hearing it was not found that the service provider was a competent tax counsel or an accountant capable of providing tax advice. At no time did the Taxpayer consult with any New Mexico taxing authority or tax professional to determine if the Taxpayer was in compliance with New Mexico Law. The Taxpayer stated that it was unaware of New Mexico’s “unique gross receipts tax for services” and that the Taxpayer was never given notice by the Department of GRT tax obligation during the periods at issue. However, the Taxpayer acknowledged the Registration Certificate dated in 2008 that refers to “Gross Receipts, County Gross Receipts, Municipal Gross Receipts, Compensating, and Withholding Taxes.” In 2014, a non-filers notice was acknowledged by the Taxpayer for the same CRS number in which the Registration Certificate was issued to. No evidence or documents were provided to the Department for the periods at issue supporting the Taxpayer of being tax-exempt from gross receipts tax or support their finding that the transactions during the periods were exempt or subject to a deduction. Under New Mexico’s self-reporting tax system, “every person is charged with the reasonable duty to ascertain the possible tax consequences” of his or her actions. The Taxpayer filed Corporate Income Tax returns for the time periods and concluded that it owed gross receipts tax and interest, but disputed the amount of penalty owed to the Department due to the statute of limitations and the earliest periods being assessed by the Department. With review of the statute of limitations based on the non-filer status of the account under 7-1-18 (C) NMSA 1978 the Department may asses at any time within seven years from the end of the calendar year in which the tax was due. Based on the information above the hearing officer determined that the Department properly assessed the Taxpayer and that the gross receipts tax, penalty, and interest is due. The Taxpayer’s protest is Denied.