A. Every corporation deriving income from any business transaction, property or employment within this state, that is not exempt from tax under the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act and that is required by the laws of the United States to file a federal income tax return shall file a complete tax return with the department in form and content as prescribed by the secretary. Except as provided in Subsection C of this section, a corporation that is required by the provisions of the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act to file a return or pay a tax shall, on or before the due date of the corporation's federal corporate income tax return for the taxable year, file the return and pay the tax imposed for that year.

B. Every domestic or foreign corporation that is not exempt from tax under the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act, that is employed or engaged in the transaction of business in, into or from this state or that derives any income from property or employment within this state and every domestic or foreign corporation, regardless of whether it is engaged in active business, that has or exercises its corporate franchise in this state and that is not exempt from tax under the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act shall file a return in the form and content as prescribed by the secretary and pay the tax levied pursuant to Subsection B of Section 7-2A-3 NMSA 1978 in the amount for each corporation as specified in Section 7-2A-5.1 NMSA 1978. Returns and payment of tax for corporate franchise tax for a taxable year shall be filed and paid on the date specified in Subsection A or C of this section for payment of corporate income tax for the preceding taxable year.

C. A corporation that is required by the provisions of the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act to file a return or pay a tax and that is approved by the department to use electronic media for filing and paying taxes shall, if using electronic media for filing and paying taxes, file the return and pay the tax levied for that taxable year on or before the last day of the month in which the corporation's federal corporate income tax return is originally due for the taxable year. The due date provided by this subsection does not apply to corporations that have received a filing extension from New Mexico or an extension from the federal internal revenue service for the same taxable year.

History: 1978 Comp., § 7-2A-9, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 37, § 42; 1986, ch. 20, § 47; 1989, ch. 111, § 2; 2015 (1st S.S.), ch. 2, § 4; 2016, ch. 15, § 2.

The 2016 amendment, effective May 18, 2016, changed the due dates of income taxes to conform with due dates pursuant to federal law, and provided certain exceptions; in Subsection A, in the second sentence, after "on or before the", deleted "fifteenth day of the third month following the end of each taxable year" and added "due date of the corporation's federal corporate income tax return for the taxable year", and after "pay the tax", deleted "levied" and added "imposed"; and in Subsection C, after "taxable year on or before the", deleted "thirtieth" and added "last", after "day of the", deleted "third", and after "month", deleted "following the end of that year" and added the remainder of the subsection.

Applicability. — Laws 2016, ch. 15, § 3 provided that the provisions of Laws 2016, ch. 15, §§ 1 and 2 apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016.

The 2015 (1st S.S.) amendment, effective September 6, 2015, provided for corporations that are required to file a return or pay a tax pursuant to the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act to use electronic media for filing and paying the tax, and set a deadline for filing the tax return and paying the tax; in Subsection A, after "within this state", deleted "and" and added "that is", after "Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act", deleted "which" and added "and that", and after "prescribed by the secretary.", deleted "Corporations shall file such returns with the department on or before the fifteenth day of the third month following the end of each taxable year. The corporate income tax imposed on corporations under Subsection A of Section 7-2A-3 NMSA 1978 is due and payment is required on or before the fifteenth day of the third month following the end of the taxable year." and added the last sentence; in Subsection B, after the first occurrence of "foreign corporation", added "that is", after the first occurrence of "Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act", added "that is", after "from this state or", deleted "deriving" and added "that derives", after the second occurrence of "foreign corporation", added "regardless of", after "whether", added "it is", after "active business", deleted "or not, but having or exercising" and added "that has or exercises", after "in this state and", added "that is", after the second occurrence of "Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act", deleted "is required to" and added "shall", and after "Subsection A", added "or C"; and added Subsection C.

The 1989 amendment, effective June 16, 1989, in Subsection A substituted all of the language of the last sentence preceding "is due" for "The tax imposed on corporations under the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act", and in Subsection B substituted "is required" for "shall be required" near the middle of the first sentence, and inserted "for a taxable year" near the beginning of the second sentence while adding all of the language of that sentence following "this section".

Trustees in bankruptcy who have been appointed to conduct the business of a foreign railroad corporation are liable for the tax, since otherwise the franchise would be dissolved and could not be returned to the corporation when rehabilitation was complete. Lowden v. State Corp. Comm'n, 1938-NMSC-016, 42 N.M. 254, 76 P.2d 1139 (decided predecessor of 53-3-3 NMSA 1978, now repealed).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 71 Am. Jur. 2d State and Local Taxation §§ 266, 589 to 596.

Corporation in hands of receiver, 18 A.L.R. 700, 26 A.L.R. 426.

Forfeiture of charter for nonpayment of franchise taxes, 47 A.L.R. 1288, 97 A.L.R. 477.

Penalty for nonpayment of franchise taxes when due as affected by lack of notice to the taxpayer, 102 A.L.R. 406.

Amount in controversy in case involving franchise taxes, 109 A.L.R. 314.

85 C.J.S. Taxation §§ 1699, 1777 to 1778.