2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 17 - Internal Revenue Code of 2011 (§§ 30001 — 33423) › PART IV - Excise Taxes (§§ 31601 — 31771) › Chapter 1035 - Retail and Wholesale Licensing fees for Certain Goods and Other Businesses or Activities (§§ 31711 — 31722) › § 31711 - License fees for wholesale or retail dealers of certain goods

(a) Any wholesale or retail dealer of any of the goods listed hereinafter, who sells the goods at a fixed place or as an itinerant merchant, shall pay an annual tax as a license fee at the rate established in the following table:
(1) For purposes of this section and the other provisions applicable to this part, the following terms shall have the meaning expressed herein below:
(A) Dealer.— Shall mean any person who is engaged in the business of selling or exchanging goods, whether at a fixed place or as an itinerant merchant, or who displays the goods to the public in a shop window, unless such goods, in a strictly indispensable number, do not have any other purpose than the exhibition of such goods, or that acquires goods in such amount over normal consuming needs. The term “dealer” does not include a person engaged in the financial leasing or daily rental of goods and who, incidental to said business or businesses, sells goods object of financial leasing or daily rental.
(B) Shall mean any person that sells to a dealer, regardless of whether he/she maintains stock of goods in the places where he/she deals or regarding such sale.
(C) Shall mean any dealer that sells exclusively for individual use and consumption, without intermediaries.
(D) Shall mean any person engaged in the business of selling or exchanging goods and whose characteristic is that said business does not have a fixed place from which to operate.
(b) For purposes of this section, a manufacturer who sells or disposes of goods at wholesale in and from his/her own plant, or exhibits them there without selling or disposing of them at retail prices, shall not be deemed to be a dealer, except for hydraulic cement manufacturers, who shall be deemed to be dealers for purposes of this part.
(c) The fees fixed in the preceding table shall apply separately for each of the goods dealt, and for each kept establishment.
(1) The Secretary shall determine the license category which must be obtained by every dealer according to the goods dealt, the form, manner and volume of sales.
(2) The license must be displayed in a place that is visible to the general public at the fixed or moving location in which the dealer sells the goods for which it is issued.
(3) If cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and auto parts and accessories (or two of these items) are sold in the same location, the license for “cigarette and alcoholic beverage retailer for a limited time only” may be requested, and all other requirements and permits for the sale of such goods shall also be met, and in order to qualify for this consolidated license, a turnover greater than five million dollars ($5,000,000) per natural year cannot be generated, and aggregate sales of the three activities covered by this consolidated license cannot exceed thirty percent (30%) of the total turnover of the facility to which the license is issued.
(d) In the case of itinerant dealers, each vehicle used in the sale or distribution of taxable goods is deemed to be a separate establishment. Every itinerant dealer who maintains a stock of goods in any place other than where he/she usually deposits the goods during inactive periods shall have the obligation of obtaining a fixed place dealer’s license for each place where he/she maintains a stock of taxable goods, in addition to the itinerant dealer license.
(e) Licenses shall be granted for the operation of cigarette vending machines to be placed or operated by the concessionaires.
(1) The licensing fees established herein shall be applied separately for each cigarette vending machine imported or distributed.
(2) The license shall be visibly displayed to the public in each machine to which it applies.
(3) Every cigarette vending machine operator shall, when requesting the appropriate licenses, inform the Secretary the location of every machine he/she operates or leases, specifying the name and address of the operator or lessor, the brand and serial number of said machines or devices, or the place or specific address in which each machine or device is operating. If¢ the operator wishes to relocate the machines or devices, he/she shall notify the Secretary beforehand in the form and terms that the Secretary establishes through regulations or any determination of public nature that he/she issues to such effects. Failure to notify the Secretary of the change in location of any machine operated under this Section, or the relocation of any of them to places not authorized by the Code or any special applicable law, shall entail the payment of a five hundred dollar ($500) fine per infraction.
(4) When the cigarette vending machine is located in a business or commercial establishment where admission is not restricted for persons under eighteen (18) years of age, it shall be the responsibility of the concessionaire to place the machine in an area to which minors do not have access. At the time of operating the machine, the owner or executor of the business or commercial establishment may require any person who does not appear to be over twenty-seven (27) years of age, a photo identification that is valid on its face that proves that the person is over eighteen (18) years of age. Failure to comply with the above required responsibility shall entail the suspension of the license fees as provided in § 31716 of this title, and a fine of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) nor greater than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) shall be imposed, depending on the nature of the noncompliance, to the owner or executor of the business or commercial establishment in which the cigarette vending machine is located or operated.
(f) Wholesale cigarette dealers carrying out operations from motor vehicles shall obtain, on an annual basis, a license from the Secretary for each motor vehicle. The fees to be paid for each license are established in subsection (a) of this section.
(g) The license for “Retail Dealer in Cigarettes and Alcoholic Beverages for a Limited Time Only” and the license for “Sale of Alcoholic Beverages, Cigarettes, and Auto Parts and Accessories — per location — Retail” provided in subsection (a) constitute the same type of license provided in § 32431(a) of this title; therefore, the dealers shall pay the applicable fees for only one (1) of such licenses.
(h) Except as provided in this Code, or that which is specifically established by a special law, no law that authorizes a tax exemption, or by virtue of which a tax exemption is granted shall apply, in whole or in part, to the taxes or license fees established in this part.
History —Jan. 31, 2011, No. 1, § 3050.01, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011; Dec. 10, 2011, No. 232, § 136; Sept. 19, 2014, No. 159, § 7.