Teco Investments, Inc. v. Taxation & Revenue Department

OPINION

BOSSON, Judge.

{1} These consolidated cases involve a taxpayer, Chino Mines, who erroneously paid a tax it did not owe, a compensating use tax, and failed to pay a tax it did owe, a gross receipts tax. When it discovered the error, taxpayer invoked the doctrine of equitable recoupment and requested an offset of one tax for the other, as satisfaction in full, because the two taxes were identical in amount. The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department refused because fault for the mistake lay with the taxpayer and not the Department, a point which apparently is not in dispute. The…