New Mexico Register / Volume XXXI, Issue 11 / June 9, 2020
NOTICE OF PUBLIC
HEARING FOR REPEALING AND REPLACING 22.600.3 NMAC, RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR TAX
PROTESTS
The Administrative Hearings Office (“AHO”) will hold
a public hearing beginning on Friday,
July 29, 2020 at 10:00 am to consider repealing and replacing 22.600.3
NMAC governing the conduct and procedure of tax protests under Section 7-1B-8
NMSA 1978 of the Administrative Hearings Office Act. Proposed rules may be obtained at http://www.aho.state.nm.us
or upon request submitted to tax.pleadings@state.nm.us or by telephone to (505)
827-0466. No technical scientific
information was consulted in drafting any proposed rules.
Interested members of the public may attend the
public hearing by videoconference or telephone. To access the hearing by
telephone, call 346-248-7799 or 833-548-0276 (toll free). To access the hearing by videoconference, go
to https://zoom.us/j/92270281184?pwd=Y2xjWWZzVnRoUnpYVjF6blBJbE43Zz09 and
follow the onscreen instructions provided. If prompted to provide a Meeting ID (access
code) or Password, please refer to the following: Meeting ID (access code): 922 7028 1184;
Password (8675309).
The hearing will be conducted exclusively by videoconference
and telephone for reasons stated in Executive Order 2020-004 of the Governor of
the State of New Mexico (declaring a public health emergency) and the Public
Health Emergency Order to Limit Mass Gatherings Due to COVID-19, dated March
12, 2020.
The public hearing will be conducted in a fair and
equitable manner by an AHO hearing officer and shall be recorded. Interested members of the public attending in
the manner described will be provided a reasonable opportunity to offer public
comment, orally or in writing, including presentation of data, views, or
arguments, on the proposed rules during the hearing. Individuals with disabilities who need
auxiliary aid to attend or participate in the public hearing should contact
John Griego at john.griego1@state.nm.us.
AHO will endeavor to accommodate reasonable requests but cannot assure
accommodation of a request that is not received at least ten calendar days
before the scheduled hearing.
Written public comment, including presentation of
data, views, or arguments about the contemplated repeal or proposed replacement
rules, from any interested member of the public will also be accepted until
12:00 p.m. on July 17, 2020 by submitting them via email to tax.pleadings@state.nm.us
with the subject line “AHO Rulemaking R20-01,” or via first class U.S. Mail to
Administrative Hearings Office, ATTN Rulemaking R20-01, P.O. Box 6400, Santa
Fe, NM, 87502. Written comments received
after the deadline will not be considered.
Repeal and replacement of 22.600.3 NMAC (Hearings Under the Tax Administration Act) is proposed pursuant to
Section 7-1B-5 NMSA 1978 for tax protest hearings conducted under Section
7-1-24 NMSA 1978. The replaced rule is
intended to refine the procedures of the Administrative Hearings Office for the
conduct of tax protests and to implement amendments to the Administrative
Hearings Office Act enacted during the 2019 legislative session, including:
amendments to definitions of terms; implementing a revised procedure for
requesting hearings; addressing the preparation and filing of answers to
protests; exercising peremptory excusals of hearing officers; updating the
qualifications of authorized representatives; clarifying the effect of a
protest withdrawal; requiring parties to confer in good faith before seeking an
order compelling discovery; providing a timeline for the presentation,
consideration, and disposition of dispositive motions; implementing a process
for considering whether the accrual of interest should stop due to the taxing
authority’s failure to adhere to a statutory deadline; permitting the
protesting party to make a rebuttal closing as a matter of right; permitting
the request or requirement of submitting digital duplicates of previously
tendered evidentiary exhibits to facilitate submission of digital record proper
on appeal; establishing a process for consideration of requests for reasonable
administrative costs, litigation costs and attorney fees; refining the process
for requesting reconsideration. Other sections
not substantively revised will nevertheless be repealed, re-organized and
replaced among the new material summarized herein.