2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 17 - Internal Revenue Code of 2011 (§§ 30001 — 33423) › PART VII - Administrative Provisions, Procedures, Interests, Penalties, and Additions to Taxes (§§ 33001 — 33423) › Chapter 1066 - Procedures for Demand for Payment, Attachment, and Sale of Taxpayer’s Property (§§ 33261 — 33280) › § 33261 - Tax lien certification; seizure and sale of debtor’s property

(a) In general.—
(1) If any person fails or refuses to pay any taxes, levies, fines, interest, surcharges, and penalties within the term established in this Code, the Secretary shall proceed to collect any such taxes, fines, interest, surcharges, and penalties owed to the Department by seizing and selling the property of such debtor that is not exempt from seizure in the manner provided further.
(2) The debt for unpaid taxes, plus fines, interest, penalties, and costs, shall constitute a lien in favor of the Government of Puerto Rico on all real and personal properties of the debtor. Before proceeding to attach and sell the property of such debtor as set forth in this Code, or simultaneously with such attachment, the Collector may file with the Property Registry of the place of residence of the debtor, or with those where the real property of the debtor is located, a Tax lien certification.
(3) The tax lien certification mentioned in clause (2) shall contain the following detailed information: the name and place of residence of the delinquent taxpayer, if known; the amount of taxes, fines, interest, surcharges, and penalties owed by such taxpayer, serial number of the notice, and the fact that the lien shall be valid in favor of the Government of Puerto Rico.
(4) The certification shall constitute a notice of lien on all real properties of such debtor located within the territorial delimitation of the Section of the Property Registry in which the same are located, for the amount of unpaid taxes, plus fines, interest, surcharges, penalties, and costs.
(5) A copy of the certification shall be sent to the debtor via certified mail with acknowledgment of receipt to his/her last known address.
(6) The Secretary is also empowered to require that any person in possession of any property, proprietary rights, credits, or money payable to the taxpayer on any grounds, including salaries, accounts receivable, or bank deposits belonging or payable to the taxpayer, which are not exempt from attachment, retain from such property or rights such amounts as the Secretary shall notify him/her in order to cover the outstanding tax debt.
(b) Any debtor whose personal property has been attached in order to collect taxes may resort, within the term established in the attachment notice, to the Court of First Instance to contest the same.
(c) Lien on property or rights.—
(1) The notice and demand made by the Secretary to the person in possession of the property or any requirement to pay to the taxpayer any amount of money on any grounds shall constitute a levy on such property or rights that the depositary shall be required to withhold until the amount owed is paid in full to the Secretary.
(2) The seizure of accounts receivable or income on any grounds which belong or are payable to the taxpayer, and which are not exempt from seizure, shall constitute a preferred continuing levy on such wages, salaries, accounts receivable, bank deposits, or income on any grounds to be earned until the amount owed is paid in full to the Secretary.
(3) The garnishment of wages and salaries belonging or payable to the taxpayer shall constitute a continuing levy until the notified amount is fully paid. Garnishment shall constitute a preferred continuing levy on twenty-five percent (25%) of the wage or salary of the taxpayer, after making the deductions required by law (social security, income tax, and mandatory contributions to retirement systems) as well as child support and the payment of any judgment. The payment authorization of other obligations to be deducted from the salary (loans, savings, etc.) shall have no priority over the garnishment.
(4) The garnishment of income payable to the taxpayer under a professional services contract shall constitute a preferential continuing levy until the total amount is fully paid to the Secretary. However, if these payments constitute the main source of income of the taxpayer, the Secretary shall have the authority to accept a payment in an amount lower than the garnished amount.
(5) The garnishment of bank accounts belonging to the taxpayer shall constitute a preferential levy and shall have effect only on the account’s balance available at the time of the notice, or the amount owed, whichever is less. Deposits made after the garnishment notice shall not be subject thereto.
(d) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the Secretary may postpone the sale of a real property subject to such proceedings on account of an assessed debt for elderly taxpayers or taxpayers suffering from a terminal illness or permanently disabled, and who present the medical certificate attesting to such circumstances, and when the following circumstances concur:
(1) The property in question is the only real property and permanent residence of the taxpayer, and
(2) the taxpayer does not have sufficient property or income to pay the assessed debt in full and is not able to avail him/herself of a payment plan.
(e) The term established to cancel writs of attachment on account of taxes in § 2469 of Title 31 of the Mortgage and Property Registry Law, shall be stayed until the death of the taxpayer or until the condition which warranted the postponement of the sale of the real property no longer persists.
(f) The Secretary shall adopt such rules and regulations as necessary to postpone the collection of the sale of the real property of the debtor in the cases provided in subsection (d) of this section, including the definition of the term “elderly” and the criteria on how to determine that a taxpayer does not have sufficient property or income to pay in full or for a payment plan, per the experience of the Department, and the procedures and terms to request and decree the sale of a property on account of the conditions established above.
History —Jan. 31, 2011, No. 1, § 6060.01, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011; Dec. 10, 2011, No. 232, § 179.