Compliance reference
New Mexico Gift Card Laws: Escheatment, Dormancy and Statute
New Mexico merchants have two layers of gift card rules to satisfy: the federal CARD Act floor on expiration and fees, and whatever New Mexico adds on top — including any obligation to remit unredeemed balances to the state as unclaimed property.
Last reviewed: August 2026
Not legal or accounting advice
This page is a plain-language summary for merchants, not legal or accounting advice. Statutes change, and the rules that apply to you depend on where your customers live, where you are incorporated and how your program is structured. Confirm your obligations with counsel or your accountant in every state where you sell cards before acting on anything here.
The federal CARD Act baseline
The federal CARD Act of 2009 requires that funds remain valid for at least five years from the date of purchase or last load, limits inactivity fees to cards unused for at least twelve months, and requires that any fees and expiration terms be clearly disclosed on the card or packaging. State law sets the floor higher in many places, and adds escheatment — the requirement to remit unclaimed balances to the state as unclaimed property.
Escheatment in New Mexico
Escheatment is the requirement to report and remit unclaimed balances to the state after a dormancy period. Which state applies is generally determined by the card owner's address and, absent that, by the issuer's state of incorporation — so this page can apply to you even if you are not based here.
| Escheatment required | Yes |
|---|---|
| Dormancy period | Presumed abandoned 5 years after December 31 of the year in which the certificate was sold; 60% of face value if redeemable in merchandise only. |
| Amount remitted | 60% (merchandise-only) / 100% |
| RUUPA adopted | No |
| Who it applies to | Issuers and merchants holding unredeemed balances sourced to New Mexico, typically by the owner's last known address and otherwise by the issuer's state of incorporation. Confirm your specific position with counsel. |
What records a merchant needs to keep
You cannot answer a dormancy question, or defend a position in an audit, without card-level history. Keep these regardless of which state you sell in.
- Card number, activation date and initial load amount for every card issued.
- Every subsequent load, redemption and adjustment, with date, amount and location.
- Current outstanding balance per card and the date of last customer-initiated activity.
- The address or state associated with the card owner where you captured one, because escheatment is generally sourced to the owner's address and otherwise to the issuer's state of incorporation.
- The terms printed on the card or carrier at the time of sale, including any disclosed fees or expiration language.
- Final balance and activity reports from any prior gift card provider you migrated away from.
Statute citation and primary source
N.M. Stat. Ann. § 7-8A-2(A)(7); catch-all at § 7-8A-2(A)(15)
Arizona note: Arizona currently excludes gift cards and stored value cards from unclaimed property. SB 1336 (Laws 2026, ch. 224, § 23), signed June 22, 2026, strikes that exclusion effective September 12, 2026. Arizona DOR Ruling UPR 26-1 (July 31, 2026) reads the amendment narrowly and states the Department will not accept reports or remittances for these categories, while declining to rule on the enactment's constitutional validity. Holders with Arizona exposure should monitor this.
Which state actually receives the money. A state's dormancy rule does not decide which state a holder pays. Under Texas v. New Jersey, 379 U.S. 674 (1965), unclaimed property goes first to the state of the owner's last known address in the holder's records, and failing that to the holder's state of incorporation. Because gift cards rarely carry an owner address, a Delaware-incorporated retailer will generally report unredeemed balances to Delaware regardless of where the card was sold.
Dormancy is not a filing deadline. Each state layers due-diligence notice requirements, a report-year cutoff and its own filing date on top of the dormancy trigger. This page is a general reference, not legal advice. Verify against the current statute and your state's holder reporting manual before relying on it.