A. A taxpayer shall apply for approval for a credit within one year following the end of the calendar year in which the qualified equipment for the manufacturing operation is purchased or introduced into New Mexico.

B. A taxpayer having applied for and been granted approval for a credit by the department pursuant to the Investment Credit Act may claim an amount of available credit against the taxpayer's compensating tax, gross receipts tax or withholding tax due to the state of New Mexico; provided that no taxpayer may claim, except as provided in Subsection C of this section, an amount of available credit for any reporting period that exceeds eighty-five percent of the sum of the taxpayer's gross receipts tax, compensating tax and withholding tax due for that reporting period. Any amount of available credit not claimed against the taxpayer's gross receipts tax, compensating tax or withholding tax due for a reporting period may be claimed in subsequent reporting periods.

C. A taxpayer may apply by September 30 of the current calendar year for a refund of the unclaimed balance of the available credit up to a maximum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) if on January 1 of the current calendar year:

(1) the taxpayer's available credit is less than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000); and

(2) the sum of the taxpayer's gross receipts tax, compensating tax and withholding tax due for the previous calendar year was less than thirty-five percent of the taxpayer's available credit but more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

History: Laws 1979, ch. 347, § 8; 1983, ch. 206, § 7; 1988, ch. 123, § 1; 1990, ch. 3, § 9; 1997, ch. 62, § 1; 2000, ch. 45, § 1.

Cross references. — For withholding tax, see 7-3-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.

For gross receipts tax, see 7-9-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.

The 2000 amendment, effective May 17, 2000, inserted "except as provided in Subsection C of this section" in the first sentence of Subsection B and added Subsection C.

The 1997 amendment, effective June 20, 1997, redesignated the second sentence in Subsection A as the first sentence of Subsection B and rewrote the remainder of Subsection B.

The 1990 amendment, effective January 1, 1991, in the first sentence in Subsection A, substituted "following the end of the calendar year" for "after" and added "into New Mexico" at the end and rewrote Subsection B which read "A taxpayer having applied for and been granted approval for an investment credit pursuant to the Investment Credit Act may claim a refund in an amount equal to the investment credit upon evidence satisfactory to the secretary of taxation and revenue that the taxpayer has paid an element of the price denominated a gross receipts tax on the qualified equipment for which a claim for refund is made."

No offset for prior years investment credits. — A taxpayer was not entitled to an offset in the amount it owed for compensating taxes for investment credits it had made in previous years, because it had not claimed the credits within the one-year statute of limitations period. Although the taxpayer argued that it was entitled to an offset under the doctrine of equitable recoupment, a taxpayer is not entitled to seek a credit after the statute-of-limitations period has expired unless the state is imposing a tax on the same taxable event on a ground that is inconsistent with the original payment by the taxpayer. Vivigen, Inc. v. Minzner, 1994-NMCA-027, 117 N.M. 224, 870 P.2d 1382.