2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SEVENTEEN - Housing (§§ 1 — 1546) › Chapter 51 - Individual Savings and Development Accounts (§§ 1511 — 1525) › § 1512 - Definitions

(1) Individual savings and development account. — Savings accounts for eligible low-income persons, as stipulated in § 1518 of this title. The deposits or contributions made to these accounts by the participants shall be matched, using public and private resources to increment in a speedy manner the total of the capital saved. The money that is saved in these accounts shall be used exclusively by the participant for the uses approved by this chapter and the applicable regulations. The accounts shall be managed and be under the custody of an intermediary government agency, while the deposits shall be kept in local banks or financial institutions.
(2) Intermediary agency. — For the purposes of this chapter, the intermediary agency shall be the Communities Revitalization Administration (ARCO), an agency attached to the Department of Housing of Puerto Rico. It shall serve as the intermediary between the participants who own the accounts and the financial institutions where the funds are deposited, and shall be in charge of the administration of the Individual Savings and Development Accounts Program.
(3) Financial institutions. — Savings shall be stimulated through deposits in credit union systems and savings and loan banks, trust companies authorized by the Commissioner of Financial Institutions to conduct banking business, and savings and loan cooperatives doing industry or business in Puerto Rico, and that are duly authorized by the federal government or the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(4) Uses approved. — The uses approved and allowed for funds deposited in savings and development accounts are:
(a) To defray the acquisition costs of the first dwelling that constitutes the principal residence of the participant;
(b) to defray post secondary education expenses in accredited educational institutions, or work training expenses of the participant or of his/her direct dependents, and
(c) to help defray the costs of establishing a privately owned business.
(5) Educational institutions. — Educational institutions are entities duly accredited and recognized by the Council on Higher Education of Puerto Rico or by the Department of Education of the United States.
(6) Post-secondary educational expenses. — Post-secondary educational expenses are:
(a) Expenses required for enrollment in an eligible educational institution, and
(b) expenses for books, school supplies and necessary equipment.
(7) Acquisition costs. — Acquisition costs are expenses for the acquisition, construction or reconstruction of a principal residence or dwelling. The term includes any reasonable closing and financing costs.
(8) Public housing project. — Public housing units project developed under the Public Housing Program established by virtue of the Federal Housing Act of 1937, as amended.
(9) Costs of establishing a privately owned business. — The costs of establishing a privately owned business are the costs necessary to establish a business that, by means of regulation adopted by the Community Revitalization Administration (ARCO, Spanish acronym), are recognized as eligible for purposes of this chapter.
History —Dec. 4, 2001, No. 170, § 4; Aug. 9, 2006, No. 155, §§ 1, 2, retroactive to July 1, 2006.