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In Puerto Rico, the treatment of manufacturer’s rebates and warranties affects the sales price of tangible personal property and its corresponding Sales and Use Tax (“SUT”). Despite the fact that the Puerto Rico Treasury Department published guidance on this matter, sellers and buyers had different views on how to treat the rebates and warranties when computing the sales price of a transaction, which in turn resulted in discrepancies over the accuracy of the seller's SUT calculation.

Excise taxes play a fundamental role in Puerto Rico's fiscal policy, impacting both individuals and businesses across various sectors. Understanding the complexities of these taxes, along with available exemptions and strategic management approaches, is essential for maintaining compliance and optimizing financial strategies. Excise taxes in Puerto Rico are specific taxes imposed on the sale, use, consumption, importation, or manufacture of certain goods. They are different from income taxes and sales and use taxes, focusing on targeted items. These items are detailed in Sections 3020.01 through 3020.12 of Subtitle C, Chapter 2. of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011, as amended, (“PR Tax Code”). All sections cited below are in relation to the PR Tax Code.

On May 11, 2021, the Puerto Rico Treasury Department issued Administrative Determination No. 21-05 and determined that, for taxable years that begin after December 31, 2018, taxpayers will be able to deduct 100% of the expenses incurred or paid to stockholders, related persons or entities not engaged in trade or business in Puerto Rico, as long as the expenses are based on a Transfer Pricing Study that has been issued and is available at the time of filing the tax return. This article will provide you with an explanation of what exactly is transfer pricing, and how a Transfer Pricing Study may benefit your business.

It’s been almost two years since Act 52-2022 introduced a noteworthy change to Puerto Rico's income tax regime by adopting the Disregarded Entity (DE) treatment. This change aligns Puerto Rico’s taxation treatment of single-member entities with the one established by the U.S. federal tax code for DE. Its purpose is to foster local parity for owners who have elected this option for their entities in the U.S. One key aspect to consider is that certain local rules for DEs may differ from the ones established in the U.S.

On October 31, 2016, the Department of the Treasury launched the Unified Internal Revenue System, better known as SURI. Since then, there have been multiple updates and improvements to SURI, all in efforts to integrate and streamline tax and revenue administration to drop the complexity of having multiple systems for the benefit of the Treasury and the taxpayer. Each year it is more common for the processing time of electronically filed returns to decrease significantly, in some cases, it can take less than a week. Therefore, notices are received quickly easing a Tax Audit for the Treasury. We believe that an effective way to start and/or prepare for the 2024 tax season is to know the implications of an audit and how to be prepared for it. It is important to know the requirements that the law demands of taxpayers to follow the provisions of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011. Although there are other types of audits in Puerto Rico, that are performed by the different governmental agencies in the Island, this article will cover tax audits by the Puerto Rico Treasury Department.

If you are planning to do business in Puerto Rico, download this guide with information on the legal, accounting and taxation framework to keep you on the right track.