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) › § 5091 - Taxes—Date for the payment; penalty for delay

Cases in which taxes may be collected before falling due the tax levied on the value of real property shall be payable in advance every semester to the Collection Center or its authorized representative on the first of July and January of each year. Said tax shall become overdue if not paid within ninety (90) days after its due date, and the collectors or authorized representatives shall also collect, in addition to said overdue tax and as a part thereof, the following surcharges and interest:
(a) A five percent (5%) surcharge on the total tax when payment is made after thirty (30) days from the date the tax should have been paid and without exceeding sixty (60) days.
Ten percent (10%) of the total tax when payment is made after sixty (60) days from the date the tax should have been paid.
(b) Interest on the total tax computed at a rate of ten percent (10%) per annum from the date fixed for payment.
Said additional sum shall be collected together with the principal of the tax that originates it, as well as the legal costs, if any. When the collectors or authorized representatives do not have the tax receipts in their possession by the first of July of each year, the stated term of ninety (90) days shall then be counted as of the date the receipts are in his/her possession and it is so announced. The part of the receipt corresponding to the second semester shall neither be collected nor paid if the amount for the first semester has not already been paid, and in case any taxpayer is found to owe taxes on the same property corresponding to more than one fiscal year and he/she wishes to pay a part thereof, said payment shall be applied by the collector or authorized representative to the taxes corresponding to prior years by strict date of expiration. When the property has been passed on to a third person, this order of payment shall apply to the taxes that said third person would be bound to pay on such a property. This provision shall not be interpreted in any way in the sense of it repealing, limiting or modifying any of the provisions of the laws by virtue of which the property tax payment has been deferred. Whenever the Collection Center believes that the collection of any property taxes will be compromised by a delay, or finds that the taxpayer intends to remove his/her properties from the Commonwealth or conceal his/her properties in Puerto Rico, or perform any act tending to impair or totally or partially annul collection of property taxes corresponding to any fiscal year, it shall immediately proceed to levy the taxes and issue the receipts based on the appraisal existing on January the 1st immediately prior to the fiscal year to which the taxes correspond, based on the tax rate in effect on said January 1st, if the fiscal year to which the taxes correspond has not commenced. As soon as such taxes have been levied and the corresponding receipts issued, they shall be payable on demand and the Collection Center, through its agents, shall immediately proceed to attach the taxpayer’s real and personal property in an amount sufficient to comply with the payment of the taxes levied and shall immediately notify the taxpayer does not wholly or partially agree with the taxes thus levied, he/she may request their review before the Court of First Instance in the manner, within the term and after compliance with the requirements provided in § 3.47 of Act Aug. 30, 1991, No. 83.
Should the taxpayer not request a revision of the taxes levied, as provided by law, the Collection Center shall proceed as soon as possible with the sale at public auction of the assets attached for the collection of taxes, including fees and legal costs, and interest and surcharges, after the thirty-first day from the date of notice. The sale shall be conducted as prescribed in §§ 5103 and 5105 of this title.
When the tax rate on the basis of which the tax would have been levied is greater than that used by the Collection Center to compute the taxes, the taxpayer shall be liable for the payment of the resulting difference and the Collection Center shall proceed according to law to collect said resulting tax. If, on the other hand, the tax rate is less than that used by the Collection Center to compute the taxes, then said official will reimburse the taxpayer or credit him/her with the amount collected in excess. The Collection Center is authorized to promulgate those rules not incompatible with the provisions of this section that it believes are necessary to execute its purposes.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 83, § 3.41; Aug. 6, 1992, No. 45, § 8.