2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 7 - Municipal Property Tax (§§ 5001 — 6756) › PART I (§§ 5001 — 5252) › Chapter 243 - Tax Registry Survey, Classification and Assessment of Property (§§ 5051 — 5099b) › § 5065 - Personal and real property—Appraisal list, cards, and tax return forms

The appraisal of real property, such as it appears on the tax list for the preceding fiscal year, shall constitute the appraisal list for the following fiscal year after it has been corrected, amended and revised, as provided herein. As soon as possible after the first of January of each year, the Collection Center must prepare a return or appraisal card, listing separately and in detail each real estate property and the improvements thereto taxable in the same municipality, belonging by the first of January to every person whose taxable assets had not been previously appraised, or that in the judgment of the Collection Center or its authorized agent should be appraised, or the appraisal of which should be revised pursuant to § 5058 of this title, or the revision of which has been requested by the property owner, the municipal authorities of the district in which it is located, or any citizen of Puerto Rico in order to levy the corresponding tax. In those cases in which the same person owns taxable assets in more than one municipality, separate returns or cards shall be prepared for each municipality. In order to expedite any program or plan for appraisal revision, or for new property appraisal, after prior approval by the Governing Board of the Collection Center, the aforesaid may establish an appraisal return system through which the taxpayer will directly provide detailed information on the taxable property. To those ends, the Collection Center or its agent may deliver to any owner of taxable assets in its tax district or to any adult member of his/her family, or commercial establishment, the blank appraisal cards or returns in question, accompanied by the interrogatories it may deem necessary to ascertain the taxable assets and their value and it will require that this person issue the corresponding receipt for such a return or card, fill it out properly and return it within a term that shall not exceed ten (10) days. It shall be the duty of the person subject to taxation to provide on said return, form or interrogatory, a complete list and exact valuation of all taxable personal property that he/she owns in his/her own right, or that is in his/her possession, and deliver said returns, forms or interrogatories to the Collection Center or its agents, within the term indicated in § 5072 of this title. Every partnership, trustee, or depositary, administrator, tutor or guardian, agent and every person who has any equitable legal title, who owns any property in his/her own right, or who has, or claims to have as his/her own, for any other circumstance, any property that should be listed in said form, interrogatory, or return, shall be deemed to be subject to the provisions of this part and shall be bound to complete and deliver said return, form or interrogatory as provided herein. Whenever two (2) or more persons have, own or occupy any property as administrators, executors, trustees or depositaries, or as trustees or agents, either of said persons may take the oath required by § 5070 of this title, and every return, form or interrogatory corresponding to the assets of a partnership must be sworn to by at least one member of said partnership. However, the Collection Center or its agent, shall in no way rely on the list of assets nor on the value fixed on the taxpayer’s return; instead, it will proceed to appraise the real and effective property value in view of the reports thus acquired, or of the other data that it might be able to obtain, taking into consideration all the factors in matters of valuation or appraisal, including the market value, without taking into account a forced sale.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 83, § 3.15.