2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 3 - Property Taxes (§§ 401 — 701-701-41) › Chapter 55 - Attachment, Sale, and Redemption of Property (§§ 501 — 522) › § 504 - Sale of personal property for taxes; exemptions

The sale of personal property for the payment of taxes shall be by public auction, and if said property is separable or divisible, there shall be sold such part or portion of said attachable personal property as is strictly necessary for the payment of all taxes, penalties or costs. An amount of property, the appraised value of which is sufficient together with the price of the award at a third auction, to cover the probable amount of the tax debt and the interest, surcharges, penalties and costs at said third auction shall be understood to fulfill the foregoing condition. Before initiating the sale at public auction of said personal property, the Secretary of the Treasury shall proceed to appraise said property. The sale of the personal property shall be by public auction, which shall not be held prior to thirty (30) days, nor after sixty (60) days after the attachment has been made, fixing as the minimum rate of award for the first auction, seventy-five percent (75%) of the appraised value fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury. If the first auction brings no sale or award, the minimum rate of award for the second auction held shall be sixty percent (60%) of the appraised value fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury for said personal property. If at said second auction there is no sale or award, and it should be necessary to hold a third or subsequent auction, the rate shall be fifty percent (50%) of the ad hoc appraised value that the Secretary of the Treasury has made of said personal property. If at any of these auctions there is no sale or award, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, through the Internal Revenue collector before whom the auction is held, may award to itself the attached personal property for the minimum appraised rate corresponding to the auction at which the property is to be awarded. In both cases, when the personal property being auctioned is awarded to a third person, and when it is awarded to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the proceeds of the sale of such property shall be applied to the payment of the tax debt. In case the property is awarded to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue and deliver a note of credit to the taxpayer for an amount equal to the difference between the price of the award and the tax debt under collection, which note of credit shall be sufficient for the cancellation, in an equal amount, of any future property tax debt of the same taxpayer. In case the award is made to a third person, the surplus, if any, shall be delivered by the Secretary of the Treasury to the taxpayer. If the amount obtained from the auction is insufficient to settle the tax debt, the Secretary of the Treasury may collect the amount of the tax, surcharges and interest that remains unpaid from said delinquent taxpayer as soon as he has knowledge that said delinquent taxpayer possesses and owns real or personal property subject to attachment, in which case, the attachment procedure for the collection of the remaining amount established in the Political Code shall be instituted against him; Provided, That the following personal property shall be exempt from sale for the payment of taxes: mechanics and artisans instruments and hand tools; cattle, not to exceed two (2) head, intended exclusively for ploughing or carting produce of the soil cultivated by the debtor, or two (2) work horses, or only one (1) of the following animals: milk cow, horse, mare, mule or donkey; and household furniture as follows: beds, dining tables, chairs and kitchen utensils actually in use by the family. The personal property listed in § 1130 of Title 32 shall also be exempted from attachment.
History —Political Code, 1902, § 337; May 9, 1945, No. 138, p. 466, § 1; June 14, 1957, No. 56, p. 125, § 4; June 28, 1969, No. 132, p. 384, § 2; May 27, 1976, No. 55, p. 152, § 5; June 4, 1978, No. 35, p. 131.