New Mexico: a gross receipts tax on the seller, and a tax holiday in late July
New Mexico does not have a sales tax in the way most states do. It taxes the seller's gross receipts, and the Taxation and Revenue Department says it is common for a business to pass that tax on to the purchaser. The practical effect for a Shopify store is close to a sales tax: the rate depends on where the order is delivered, and the tax shows up on the invoice. The differences are where the planning is. The annual gross receipts tax holiday does not fall in August, it starts on the last Friday in July and runs three days, so the 2027 window computes to July 30 to August 1. Retailers may choose to take it, the price caps are per item, and an item normally sold as a set cannot be split to fit under a cap. This page sets out those rules, the delivery-address test for online orders, the single rate figures the Department published in July 2026, and a spend-and-get-gift plan that stays clear of the caps.
New Mexico gross receipts tax holiday
For three days, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the last Friday in July, retailers may deduct their gross receipts from sales of clothing and shoes under 100 dollars, computers and school supplies up to set prices, so shoppers are not charged the tax. The 2026 holiday ran from July 31 to August 2. By the Department's rule the 2027 holiday computes to July 30 to August 1, and the Department had not announced those dates when we checked. Participation is the retailer's choice.
- Clothing or shoes priced under 100 dollars each
- Computers up to 1,000 dollars, and monitors, speakers, printers, keyboards, microphones and mice up to 500 dollars
- School supplies such as notebooks, paper, pens and art supplies under 30 dollars per unit
- Backpacks, bookbags, maps and globes under 100 dollars, and handheld calculators under 200 dollars
Watch out: Caps are per item, accessories and special athletic or protective gear stay taxable, and an item normally sold as a set cannot be split and priced separately to fit under a cap. Online orders qualify when they are paid and accepted, or paid and delivered, during the holiday. The Department's documents we read do not say how a free gift is treated, so keep the qualifying items at their own prices. This is not tax advice; confirm with the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025)
A spend-and-get-gift plan around the late-July holiday
- Before the holiday, when you choose the qualifying items
List the clothing, shoes, school supplies and computers you sell and keep only those at or under the caps: under 100 dollars for clothing, shoes, backpacks and bookbags, under 30 dollars for general school supplies, and up to 1,000 dollars for a computer. The caps apply to each item, so check the price of each, not the total of the order.
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: press release, July 24, 2026
- When you set the dates
Plan the offer for Friday, July 30 through Sunday, August 1, 2027, which is the Department's last-Friday-in-July rule applied to 2027, and treat it as unconfirmed until the Department announces it. If the dates differ, move the offer; the tax treatment follows the Department's dates, not yours.
- When you build the offer
Use a spend-and-get-gift line that stays out of the way of the caps. Keep each qualifying item on its own line at its own price, and do not sell a pair or a set as separate pieces to fit under a cap, since the Department says items normally sold as a unit must stay a unit.
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025)
- On orders placed near the end of the window
An online order is covered when the customer orders and pays and you accept the order during the holiday, even if it ships later, and when it is paid and delivered during it. Tell shoppers the cutoff in your store's time zone, and accept orders for shipment so that Sunday night orders count.
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025)
- Before you advertise tax-free pricing
The tax is the seller's, and retailers may choose not to take the deduction, so state your own choice. If you do participate, say which items; if you do not, remember the Department says the tax must be separately stated on the bill or the bill must say it is included.
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025)
- For gift cards and exchanges
Do not sell a gift card as a way to carry the holiday forward: the Department says one redeemed after the holiday does not carry the deduction. Warn shoppers that an exchange for an item of a different price is taxed.
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025)
- Each January and July
Check your tax rates in the Department's rate map, since county, city and state portions can change in those months, and keep a record of New Mexico gross receipts: a seller with no physical presence is engaging in business once its taxable receipts reach 100,000 dollars in the previous calendar year.
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: Determining Nexus
Build it with the Spend X, get a gift template.
Questions merchants ask
- Does New Mexico have a sales tax?
- Not in the usual sense. The Taxation and Revenue Department says gross receipts tax is imposed on businesses and that it is common for a business to pass it on to the purchaser; since July 1, 2019 the tax must be separately stated on the bill or the bill must say it is included. The rate depends on the delivery address. This is not tax advice; confirm with the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.
- When is the New Mexico tax holiday in 2027?
- By the Department's rule it begins at 12:01 a.m. on the last Friday in July and ends at midnight on the following Sunday, which computes to July 30 to August 1, 2027. The Department had not published 2027 dates when we checked, so confirm them before you schedule an offer.
- Is there a Small Business Saturday deduction?
- The Department described one in a November 2024 release, for non-franchise small businesses and qualifying items under 500 dollars each, excluding gift cards. We could not confirm that it continues for 2026 or 2027, and a store without a New Mexico business may not qualify, so ask the Department before you plan around it.
- When must an online seller collect New Mexico tax?
- The Department's nexus page says a seller without a physical presence is engaging in business if, in the previous calendar year, its total taxable gross receipts from sales, leases and licenses of tangible personal property, sales of licenses and certain services sourced to New Mexico were at least 100,000 dollars. Receipts that are exempt or deductible do not count. Confirm your own position with the Department.
The year at a glance
Related reading
Dates to plan around
- Gross receipts tax holiday (computed: last Friday in July to Sunday; no 2027 notice yet)New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025) (2027 dates computed from its rule)
Shipping into the state
New Mexico covers 121,298 square miles of land and about 2.1 million residents, and the tax follows the delivery address. For goods, the Department's rule is that the reporting location is the address in the delivery instructions you hold, which is why a Shopify store needs the shopper's shipping address, not your own location, to find the rate. The Department's July 2026 release says rates run from 5.25 percent to 9.44 percent with a 7.11 percent average, and rate changes can take effect in January and July. The 275 square miles of dunes at White Sands National Park are one of the state's best-known landscapes. As planning advice, not a Department rule, quote delivery times by region and confirm your carrier's service to a destination before you promise a date.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau: State Area Measurements (2010)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau: Vintage 2025 state population estimates
Source: New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: press release, July 24, 2026
Facts and sources
The Department's FYI-203 says the annual gross receipts tax holiday is three days long, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the last Friday in July and running through midnight the following Sunday, under a deduction in Section 7-9-95 NMSA 1978 for retail sales of certain tangible personal property.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's July 24, 2026 release says the 2026 holiday ran from 12:01 a.m. July 31 through midnight August 2, covering clothing or shoes priced under 100 dollars, computers up to 1,000 dollars and computer accessories up to 500 dollars, general school supplies under 30 dollars, backpacks, bookbags, maps and globes under 100 dollars, and handheld calculators under 200 dollars.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: press release, July 24, 2026 (accessed October 10, 2026)
Applying the last-Friday-in-July rule to 2027 gives Friday, July 30 through Sunday, August 1, 2027 (computed by us); the Department had not published a 2027 notice when we checked, so confirm the dates before you schedule an offer.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025) (2027 dates computed from its rule) (accessed October 10, 2026)
FYI-203 says retailers are not required to take the deduction; those that do not participate pay tax on otherwise eligible sales and may recover their tax costs from customers, and the Department's 2026 release repeats that retailers are not required to participate.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
FYI-203 says items normally sold as a pair, set, box or package must continue to be sold as units during the holiday and cannot be broken down and priced separately to qualify; a retailer cannot sell a 180 dollar pair of shoes singly for 90 dollars each to get under the 100 dollar clothing cap.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
For internet, mail order and telephone sales to people with New Mexico billing addresses, FYI-203 says the receipts are deductible when the item is delivered and paid for during the holiday, or when the customer orders and pays and the retailer accepts the order during the holiday, even if delivery comes after it.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
FYI-203 says an item bought in the holiday and exchanged later for one of the same price stays deductible, an exchange for an item of greater or lesser value is taxed, and a gift certificate sold during the holiday does not carry the deduction if it is redeemed after the holiday ends.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-203, Gross Receipts Tax Holiday (rev. July 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
FYI-105 says that since July 1, 2019 the tax must be separately stated on the customer's bill, or the seller must give the customer a statement that the gross receipts tax is included in the billed amount.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-105, Gross Receipts and Compensating Taxes: An Overview (Aug. 11, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's gross receipts tax page says the tax is imposed on businesses and that it is common for a business to pass the tax on to the purchaser.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: Gross Receipts Tax (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's July 24, 2026 release says gross receipts tax rates range from 5.25 percent to 9.44 percent across New Mexico and that the average statewide rate is 7.11 percent, and points shoppers to its Gross Receipts Location Code and Tax Rate Finder Map.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: press release, July 24, 2026 (accessed October 10, 2026)
FYI-105 says county increments of the tax can take effect in January and July, municipal changes in January and under some circumstances July, and the state portion no more than once a year, usually in July, so the Department issues a new rate schedule each year and sends no separate notices of changes.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-105, Gross Receipts and Compensating Taxes: An Overview (Aug. 11, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
For the sale of property other than real property, FYI-105 says the reporting location is the seller's location if the buyer receives the goods there, otherwise the location indicated by the delivery instructions known to the seller, and it notes that the rules before July 1, 2021 were different.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: FYI-105, Gross Receipts and Compensating Taxes: An Overview (Aug. 11, 2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's nexus page says a seller without a physical presence is engaging in business in New Mexico if, in the previous calendar year, its total taxable gross receipts from sales, leases and licenses of tangible personal property, sales of licenses and certain services sourced to the state were at least 100,000 dollars, excluding receipts that are exempt or deductible.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: Determining Nexus (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's November 22, 2024 release described the Small Business Saturday tax holiday as a day when non-franchise small businesses can deduct sales of qualifying items under 500 dollars each, excluding gift cards; we could not confirm whether the deduction continues for 2026 or 2027.
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department: press release, Nov. 22, 2024 (accessed October 10, 2026)
The National Park Service says the dunes at White Sands National Park cover 275 square miles of the Tularosa Basin and form the world's largest gypsum dunefield.
National Park Service: White Sands National Park (accessed October 10, 2026)
New Mexico has 121,298 square miles of land area and 121,590 square miles in total.
U.S. Census Bureau: State Area Measurements (2010) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimate puts New Mexico's resident population at 2,125,498 on July 1, 2025.
U.S. Census Bureau: Vintage 2025 state population estimates (accessed October 10, 2026)
Cities in New Mexico
- AlbuquerqueThe Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta lists October 2 to 10, 2027. Organizer figures, a December parade and a gift-tier plan for a Shopify store's fall.
Not tax advice. Confirm current rules with the state revenue department before you rely on a date or an exemption.