2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 8 - Additional Income and Internal Revenue Tax Provisions (§§ 1881 — 2272v) › PART II - Additional Taxes (§§ 2021 — 2272v) › Chapter 216 - Room Occupancy Rate Tax Act (§§ 2271 — 2272v) › Subchapter I - General Provisions (§§ 2271 — 2271c) › § 2271 - Definitions

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall be defined as follows:
(1) Entry. — Means the taxpayer deficiency or debt as determined by the Company once it has been registered in the Company’s accounting system.
(2) Supplementary short-term lodging. — Means every building or part of a building leased for a period of less than ninety (90) days, devoted to the lodging of people by means of payment, which building or part thereof is not a hotel, condohotel, all-inclusive hotel, motel, inn, hostelry, guesthouse and/or apartment hotel. Said term shall include, without limitation, houses, apartments, cabins and villas.
(3) Compulsory procedure. — Means the procedure the Company may use to compel the payment of the tax or the fulfillment of any other obligation including, without limitation, the filing of a civil action, the entry of an attachment order and/or the sale of the debtor taxpayer’s property.
(4) Audit. — Means the procedure by which the Company shall have the power to inspect the accounting books and the procedures of a lodging, such inspection to be carried out by a trained accountant, as defined in subsection (22) of this section, in order to verify the precision and integrity of the same.
(5) Authority. — Means the Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority, a public corporation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico created by §§ 6401 et seq. of Title 23, known as the “Puerto Rico Convention Center District Act.
(6) Bank. — Means the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, a public corporation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico created by §§ 551 et seq. of Title 7.
(7) Guesthouse. — Means every furnished building or part of a building, devoted to the lodging of persons for a fee, with or without meals, which building or part of a building is not a hotel, condohotel, motel or apartment hotel. The term guesthouse shall include, without limitation, a residential club, a furnished guesthouse, a boarding house or a private club.
(8) Room occupancy rate. — Means the rate collected or charged by a hotelier for the occupancy of any room of a lodging, valued in terms of money, whether received in cash or otherwise, including, without limitation, all the income in cash, manager’s check or credit. The definition of “room occupancy rate” shall include, without limitation, the money received by the lodging on account of paid but unused rooms, room penalties and any other charge, rate or additional tax (“fees,” “resort fees” and/or “taxes”) that a hotelier charges for a stay in a lodging.
(9) Rate for paid but unused room. — Means the rate that shall be charged by a hotelier when an occupant does not appear to claim his reservation to occupy the room.
(10) Center. — Means the Puerto Rico Convention Center which shall be developed and operated in the real property owned or leased by the Authority, or by the people or entities designated by the Authority, and which shall be suitable for the following purposes and events: congresses, conventions, conferences, trade shows, exhibitions, meetings and other business, entertainment, public assemblies, social, cultural, historic and scientific events.
(11) Room cost. — Means a reasonable estimate of the operating costs of the occupied room.
(12) Company. — Means the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, a public corporation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico created by §§ 671 et seq. of Title 23.
(13) National Parks Company. — Means the Puerto Rico National Parks Company, a public corporation and instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, created by virtue of §§ 501 et seq. of Title 15.
(14) Taxpayer. — Means an hotelier who is obligated to charge, retain and pay the tax.
(15) Declaration. — Means the tax form that shall be completed and filed by the taxpayer and includes any tax return, declaration, schedule or list, and any amendment or supplement to the same.
(16) Deficiency. — Means a debt, minus the amount paid by the taxpayer.
(17) Debt. — Means the room occupancy rate multiplied by the percentage rate of the applicable tax for the period of occupancy plus any fines, penalties, surcharges or interests owed by the hotelier.
(18) Director. — Means the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
(19) Mathematical or clerical error. — Means:
(a) An error in the addition, subtraction, multiplication or division that appears in the declaration.
(b) An entry of an item that is inconsistent with another entry of the same item of a declaration.
(c) Any omission of information that must be included in the declaration to evidence an entry in the same.
(d) An entry in the declaration of a deduction or credit that exceeds the imposed or authorized statutory limit.
(20) Room. — Means a room or lodging of any type in any part or section of a lodging that is offered or is available for use or possession for any purpose.
(21) Hotelier. — Means any natural or juridical person that operates a lodging in Puerto Rico including, without limitation, the owner, agent, proprietor, operator, lessee, mortgagor sublessee or the holder of the same. For purposes of this chapter, the term agent shall include those individuals including, without limitation, real estate brokers that collect the rent on account of a supplementary short-term lodging for the lodging of guests.
(22) Lodging. — Means every furnished building, commonly used and maintained open for the lodging of guests by means of payment of a rental rate, which derives its revenues from the rental of rooms, and that within its offerings provides rental rates computed daily, weekly, fractionally or by a global rent on account of an all-inclusive concept. The term “lodging” shall also include hotels, condohotels, all-inclusive hotels, motels, inns, short-term rentals, hostelries, guesthouses, apartment hotels and recreational facilities operated by the agencies or instrumentalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(23) All-inclusive hotel. — Means every furnished building, commonly used and maintained for the lodging of guests by means of payment of a rental rate, which derives its revenues from the rental of rooms and within its offerings, solely provides a global and grouped rental Rate, computed daily or weekly, based on the rental of rooms, the complementary services and the food and beverages.
(24) Tax. — Means the tax set forth in § 2271o of this title, unless otherwise provided in this chapter.
(25) Bureau. — Means the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau, the principal nonprofit organization in Puerto Rico devoted primarily and officially to the promotion of Puerto Rico as a destination for the holding of meetings, conventions, congresses, commercial fairs, sporting events and every type of group event.
(26) Notification. — Means the written communication sent by the Company to the taxpayer informing a deficiency or debt on account of the tax.
(27) Taxpayer identification number. — Means the number the Company shall assign to the lodging, and that must be used by said lodging in the declaration, as shall be established by this chapter or the regulations approved hereunder.
(28) Occupancy. — Means the period during which a guest uses or possesses, or has the right to use or possess, any room or rooms of a lodging, or the right to use or possess the services and facilities appertaining to the use or possession of a room.
(29) Guest. — Means every person who, by means of payment of a Rate and by virtue of any lease, concession, permit, right of access, license or under any other agreement or otherwise, uses, possesses, has the right to use or possess a room.
(30) Room penalty. — Means every rate per room charged by a lodging’s hotelier for the unused rooms in a contract that requires, as a condition to its perfection, the use of a minimum number of rooms.
(31) Review. — Means the procedure through which the Company shall have the power to examine the accounting books of a lodging as defined in subsection (22) of this section, the purpose of which is to verify the accuracy of the information the taxpayer provided.
(32) Rate. — Means the rate charged by a lodging in daily, weekly, fractional or monthly form, on account of the room occupancy rate and/or any other charge on account of the occupancy of a room, based on a nominal amount expressed in dollars or a percentage rate. Said concept shall include the global and grouped rate charged by an all-inclusive hotel.
(33) Daily average rate. — Means the daily average of a room, measured during a one (1) month period.
(34) Assessment. — Means the procedure through which the Company may determine the amount owed by the taxpayer for a debt or deficiency.
History —Sept. 9, 2003, No. 272, § 2; Mar. 12, 2008, No. 23, § 1.