2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 3 - Property Taxes (§§ 401 — 701-701-41) › Chapter 55 - Attachment, Sale, and Redemption of Property (§§ 501 — 522) › § 506 - Attachment and sale of real property

In case it is decided to attach in first instance personal property of a delinquent taxpayer and it is insufficient to pay the taxes, penalties and costs owed by him/her to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; or if the taxpayer has no chattels subject to attachment and sale, the collector or agent of the district where the taxpayer resides shall attach real property of said debtor not exempted from attachment pursuant to the provisions of § 502 of this title, and shall notify it to the Secretary of the Treasury; and at any time after the receipt of such notification, the Secretary of the Treasury shall order the collector or agent to sell the attached real property of said delinquent taxpayer for the payment of said taxes, interest, penalties and costs. The real property thus attached shall be sold at public auction for a minimum rate that shall be the worth of the equity of the delinquent taxpayer in the attached property or the worth of the credit represented by the tax debt, whichever is less. Equity shall be understood to be the difference between the real worth of the property and the mortgage amount. The credit represented by the tax debt includes surcharges, interest and costs. The minimum rate of award shall be fixed through an appraisal of those real properties carried out by the Secretary of the Treasury prior to the publication of the auction. The minimum rate shall be confidential among the Secretary and the taxpayer. However, the collector may announce it at the auction after accepting the best bid only when it is not above the minimum rate. The number of auctions that will be held in each sale, as well as the minimum rate to be used in each one of them shall be determined by the Secretary through regulations.
If at any of these auctions there is no sale or award in behalf of a private person, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, through the internal revenue collector in whose presence the auction is held, may award to itself the attached real properties for the corresponding minimum rate of award. If in any auction that is held, the real property subject to the attachment proceedings is awarded to a third party and the proceeds of the sale in the auction is insufficient to cover the total amount owed for taxes, interest and surcharges, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may collect from said delinquent taxpayer the amount of the tax with its surcharges and interest that remains unpaid as a result of the auction held, as soon as the Secretary of the Treasury has knowledge that said delinquent taxpayer possesses and owns attachable real property or chattels, in which case the attachment proceedings for the collection of taxes established in the Political Code shall be instituted against him/her. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no real property attached exclusively for the collection of taxes found in § 315, above, will be sold through the attachment proceedings for an amount lower than the total amount of taxes owed on said property plus surcharges and interest.
The person to whom the real property is awarded at public auction acquires it as is and will not be entitled to an action for the clearing of title against the Secretary of the Treasury.
In case it is decided to collect the taxes through attachment and sale of the real property of the delinquent taxpayer without first attaching and selling his/her chattels, the provisions of this section shall be followed in everything applicable thereto.
History —Political Code, 1902, § 339; Apr. 14, 1941, No. 34, p. 558, § 1; May 9, 1945, No. 138, p. 466, § 1; June 14, 1957, No. 56, p. 125, § 6; June 28, 1969, No. 132, p. 384, § 3; May 27, 1976, No. 55, p. 152, § 6; Aug. 6, 1991, No. 48, § 1.