2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FOUR - Judiciary (§§ 1-3 — 2166) › PART IV - Law and Notarial Practice (§§ 721 — 1001-1040) › Chapter 67 - Administration and Registry of Affidavits, Oaths, Etc (§§ 881 — 899) › § 899 - Society for Legal Assistance stamp—Sale and handling

(a) The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to sell the stamps adopted and issued by the Legal Aid Society or by the Secretary of the Treasury, pursuant to law, authorized under §§ 311 et seq. of Title 13, by electronic means, through vending machines at the internal revenue collection offices of the Commonwealth, or through agents, or by any other means that the Secretary of the Treasury provides through regulations. The Secretary of the Treasury shall withhold five percent (5%) of the revenues generated by the sale of the stamp to defray administrative costs incurred in the sale thereof. The sum thus withheld shall be covered into the General Fund. Provided, That, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Legal Aid Society each month the amounts to which it is legally entitled for the sale of the aforementioned stamp. Provided, That of the five percent (5%) withheld by the Secretary of the Treasury, the sum of three million dollars ($3,000,000) in account number 0240000-245-779-2005, or in any other created for the same purposes in the Department of the Treasury’s accounting system shall be transferred to the “2015-2016 Municipal Support Fund”.
(b) From time to time, the Puerto Rico Legal Aid Society shall provide the Secretary of the Treasury with a sufficient number of stamps to be sold, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall liquidate and reimburse the Society for the total amount of the sales each quarter, without making any deduction from the sales price.
Provided, further, that the Society shall be required to have available Society stamps that notaries shall cancel simultaneously in their Notary Journals. The Department of the Treasury shall render a quarterly report to the Society accurately stating the number of stamps sold and those available for sale in order for the Society to keep record of the quantity and availability of Society stamps that notaries shall cancel simultaneously in their Notary Journals.
(c) The Secretary of the Treasury and the Legal Aid Society may enter into agreements by and between them and with depository financial institutions, as needed, to implement the electronic fee payment system three (3) months prior to the effective date of this Act. The Secretary may, in consultation with the Legal Aid Society and the Notarial Bond Fund, approve regulations as are necessary for the implementation of the electronic payment system three (3) months prior of the effective date of this Act. In this manner, an adequate transition in the sale of the Puerto Rico Legal Aid Society stamps is ensured with the Government’s exclusive implementation of the electronic sale of stamps and fees. Electronic payments shall be exempt from the withholding percentage prescribed in subsection (a) of this Section.
The Legal Aid Society shall be required to enter into any necessary agreements with the financial institutions (Banks and Credit Unions) of the Island in order to sell said stamps in those institutions, thus ensuring the availability thereof.
(d) The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico may adopt any norms deemed necessary to supervise fee payment by notaries to the Legal Aid Society, as established in this Act, whether by stamps or electronic means, including the payment verification procedures conducted by the Director of Notarial Inspection.”
History —June 4, 1982, No. 47, p. 95, § 4; Jan. 19, 1998, No. 35, § 3; Aug. 12, 1999, No. 231, § 2; May 8, 2012, No. 83, § 2, eff. 180 days after May 8, 2012; July 2, 2015, No. 105, § 15.