NMSA 7-1-83. Business and employee status during disaster response

7-1-83. Business and employee status during disaster response period. A. An out-of-state business that conducts operations within the state for purposes of performing disaster- or emergency-related work in response to a declared state disaster or emergency during the disaster response period shall not be considered to have established a level of presence that would require that business to register, file or remit state or local taxes or fees, including gross receipts taxes or property tax on equipment brought into the state temporarily for use during the disaster response period and subsequently removed from the state. For purposes of any state or local tax on or measured by, in whole or in part, net or gross income or receipts, all activity of the out- of-state business that is conducted in this state pursuant to this section shall be disregarded with respect to any filing requirements for such tax, including the filing required for a unitary or combined group of which the out-of-state business may be a part. For the purpose of apportioning income, revenue or receipts, the performance by an out-of-state business of any work in accordance with this section shall not be sourced to or otherwise impact or increase the amount of income, revenue or receipts apportioned to this state. B. An out-of-state employee shall not be considered to have established residency or a presence in the state that would require that person or that person's employer to file and pay income taxes or to be subjected to tax withholdings or to file and pay any other state or local tax or fee during the disaster response period. This includes any related state or local employer withholding and remittance obligations but does not include any transaction taxes or fees pursuant to Subsection C of this section. C. Out-of-state businesses and out-of-state employees shall be required to pay transaction taxes and fees, including fuel taxes or gross receipts taxes on materials or services consumed or used in the state subject to gross receipts tax, hotel taxes, car rental taxes or fees that the out-of-state affiliated business or out-of-state employee purchases for use or consumption in the state during the disaster response period, unless such taxes are otherwise exempted during a disaster response period. D. An out-of-state business or out-of-state employee that remains in the state after the disaster response period will become subject to the state's normal standards for establishing residency or presence or doing business in the state and will therefore become responsible for any business or employee tax requirements that ensue. E. As used in this section: (1) "critical infrastructure" means property, equipment and related support facilities that service multiple customers or residents, including real and personal property such as buildings, offices, lines, poles, pipes, structures and equipment that is owned or used by: (a) communications networks; (b) electric generation, transmission and distribution systems; (c) natural gas and natural gas liquids gathering, processing, storage, transmission and distribution systems; (d) crude oil and refined product pipelines; and (e) water pipelines; (2) "declared state disaster or emergency" means a disaster or emergency event for which: (a) a governor's state of emergency proclamation has been issued; (b) a presidential declaration of a federal major disaster or emergency has been issued; or (c) another authorized official of the state receives notification from a registered business of a disaster or emergency and that official designates the event as a declared state disaster or emergency, thereby invoking the provisions of this section; (3) "disaster- or emergency-related work" means repairing, renovating, installing, building, rendering services or conducting other business activities that relate to critical infrastructure that has been damaged, impaired or destroyed by a declared state disaster or emergency; (4) "disaster response period" means a period that begins ten days prior to the first day of the governor's proclamation, the president's declaration or the designation by another authorized official of the state of a declared state disaster or emergency and that extends sixty calendar days after the declared state disaster or emergency; (5) "out-of-state business" means a business entity that, except for disaster- or emergency-related work, has no presence in the state and that conducts no business in the state and whose services are requested by a registered business or by a state or local government for purposes of performing disaster- or emergency-related work in the state. "Out-of-state business" includes a business entity that is affiliated with a registered business in the state solely through common ownership and that has no registrations or tax filings or nexus in the state other than disaster- or emergency- related work during the tax year immediately preceding the declared state disaster or emergency; (6) "out-of-state employee" means an employee who does not work in the state, except for disaster- or emergency-related work during the disaster response period; and (7) "registered business in the state" means a business entity that is currently registered to do business in the state prior to the declared state disaster or emergency. History: Laws 2016, ch. 59, § 2.