2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 7 - Municipal Property Tax (§§ 5001 — 6756) › PART I (§§ 5001 — 5252) › Chapter 249 - System of Self-Determination as to the Personal Property Tax (§§ 5201 — 5240) › § 5221 - Interest, surcharges, additions and tax penalties

When a taxpayer fails to pay the personal property tax levied by law within the term fixed for it in this chapter, the following interest, surcharges and additions to the tax shall be imposed, in addition to and as part of the unpaid tax:
(a) Declared tax.—
(1) General rule.— When the amount determined by the taxpayer to be the tax levied by this title or any part thereof is not paid on or before the date prescribed for its payment, the interest on the unpaid amount shall be collected as part of the tax at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum from the date prescribed for its payment until the tax is paid.
(2) If an extension is granted.— When an extension is granted to pay the amount thus determined by the taxpayer to be the tax and the amount whose payment date has been extended, and the interest thereon as determined under § 5211 of this title have not been fully paid before the expiration of the term of the extension, then, in lieu of the interest provided in clause (1) of this subsection, interest shall be collected at a rate of ten percent (10%) per annum on the unpaid amount from the date of expiration of the extension until the same is paid.
(b) Interest on deficiencies.—
(1) General rule.— Interest on the amount determined to be a deficiency will be appraised at the same time as the deficiency and shall be paid through notice and requirement of the Collection Center and collected as part of the tax at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum, from the date prescribed for the payment of the tax until the date the deficiency is appraised. In the case of a waiver of the restrictions on the appraisal and collection of the deficiency under § 5206 of this title, said interest shall be appraised, paid and collected for up to the thirtieth (30th) day following the date said waiver is filed or until the day the deficiency is appraised, whichever comes first. If any portion of the appraised deficiency is not to be collected because of a prior tax payment, the proper adjustment shall be made with respect to the interest on that portion.
(2) Unpaid deficiencies.— When a deficiency or any interest or additional amounts appraised concerning the same, or any addition to the tax under this section are not paid in full within ten (10) days following service of notice and requirement from the Collection Center, interest on the unpaid amount shall be collected as part of the tax at a rate of ten percent (10%) per annum, from the date of such a notice and requirement until the same is paid.
(c) Additional surcharge.— In every case in which the addition of interest pursuant to subsection (a) and subsection (b)(2) of this section is proper, the following surcharges shall also be collected as part of the tax and in the same manner as the interest is collected:
(1) For a delay in payment of thirty (30) days or less there will be no surcharge;
(2) for a delay in payment in excess of thirty (30) days but not in excess of sixty (60) days, five percent (5%) of the unpaid amount; or
(3) for a delay in payment in excess of sixty (60) days, but not in excess of ninety (90) days, ten percent (10%) of the unpaid amount, or
(4) for a delay in payment in excess of ninety (90) days, fifteen percent (15%) of the unpaid amount.
This subsection shall not apply in cases in which an extension has been granted for the payment of the tax, the terms of which have been complied with.
(d) Failure to file tax returns; additions.— In the event the required tax return is not filed within the term prescribed by § 5205 of this title and unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Collection Center that such an omission was due to a reasonable cause beyond the control of the taxpayer and not to the willful carelessness of the taxpayer, there shall be added to the tax:
(1) Five percent (5%) if the omission is for not more than thirty (30) days, and
(2) an additional five percent (5%) for each period or fraction of an additional thirty (30)-day period while the omission persists, without exceeding a total of twenty-five percent (25%).
The amount thus added to any tax will be collected at the same time, in the same form and as part of the tax, unless it has been paid prior to the discovery of the omission, in which case the amount thus added will be collected in the same manner as the tax.
(e) Penalty for negligence.— Should any part of any deficiency be due to negligence or intentional disregard of the rules and regulations but without intent to defraud, ten percent (10%) of the total amount (in addition to said deficiency) shall be appraised, collected and paid in the same way as if it were a deficiency together with the corresponding interest.
(f) Penalty for fraud.— Should the failure to file the tax return, or filing a false or fraudulent one, be due to fraud with intent to evade the tax, one hundred percent (100%) of said amount shall be added to the amount of the deficiency appraised by the Collection Center.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 83, § 6.21.