2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 7 - Municipal Property Tax (§§ 5001 — 6756) › PART I (§§ 5001 — 5252) › Chapter 245 - Attachment, Sale and Redemption of Property (§§ 5101 — 5120) › § 5102 - Attachment and sale of debtor’s assets—Procedure for the attachment

Immediately after the expiration of the terms granted by § 5091 of this title, the Collection Center or its representative shall issue a written notice of attachment which shall include the taxpayer’s total debt and shall proceed to attach the delinquent debtor’s property. Said notice shall state the total taxes due and unpaid, the interest and surcharges indicated by said § 5091 of this title, and the total fees for the person who duns for payment as provided below. The Collection Center shall notify the debtor by delivering a copy of the notice to him/her and warning him/her that if he/she does not pay the taxes within the thirty (30) day term from the date of the notice, the attached property, or that part of it which is strictly sufficient to cover the amount of the debt, shall be sold at public auction as soon as possible after said term without further notice. If any debtor, or any of his/her relatives or dependents, refuses to deliver the attached property to the collector or agent when required to do so, once the above mentioned thirty (30) day term has expired, or if after the attachment has been executed, sells, conceals, destroys, transfers, cedes or alienates said property in any way with the purpose of voiding the attachment or evading the payment of taxes, he/she shall be sanctioned with a fine of three thousand dollars ($3,000) or imprisonment for three (3) years, or both penalties, at the discretion of the court. Said attachment shall be executed as soon as a copy of the notice has been served to the debtor or to any member of his/her family in charge of said property. Should the collector or agent not find the debtor or any member of his/her family who is in charge of said property, the collector or agent shall serve the notice of the embargo on the debtor by certified mail with acknowledgment of receipt to the address which appear on or can be ascertained from the documents or records of the Collection Center, and the act of serving the attachment in the manner stated above shall be prima facie evidence that said delinquent taxpayer was notified of the attachment; and notice given in any such manner shall be as valid and effective as if the debtor had personally received it. As soon as the attachment is processed in the manner indicated above, the Collection Center or its representative is authorized to seize the attached property or close the business or location should it believe that to be necessary. When serving said attachment, the Collection Center or its representative is hereby authorized to enter the debtor’s home or dwelling, if necessary, and said debtor should consent and in the event that the consent in question should not be given, an order of execution authorizing the entrance to the dwelling or domicile of the debtor shall be requested from a court of justice with the exclusive purpose of enforcing said ruling. If after the order of execution has been served, any debtor, his/her relatives or dependents, should present any resistance to any official, employee or representative of the Collection Center under said circumstances, he/she shall incur a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be sanctioned with a fine of two hundred dollars ($200) or imprisonment for three (3) months, or both penalties, at the discretion of the court. It shall be the duty of the police authorities or their agents to give the Collection Center or its representative all the necessary assistance for the proper compliance of its duties as required by this part. As soon as an attachment is served, the attached property may be deposited in the possession of any person who is bound to hold it at the disposal of the Collection Center until the debtor pays the taxes or the sale is executed at public auction; and if any depositary of attached properties should dispose of them, he/she shall incur a felony and upon conviction, he/she shall be sanctioned with a fine of three thousand dollars ($3,000) or imprisonment for three (3) years, or both penalties, at the discretion of the court. When the attachment of the personal property or the notice to the debtor, his/her relatives or dependents is executed in the manner provided by this part, the Collection Center or its representative may collect, in addition to the taxes, interest, surcharges and penalties, an amount sufficient to cover the cost of the custody and the care and keeping of the attached property together with the fees in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the total tax excluding surcharges. Said amount shall be paid to the person who served the notice thereof, or it will be deposited to the account of the Collection Center if the service was executed by the Collection Center or its authorized representative.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 83, § 4.02; Aug. 6, 1992, No. 45, § 8.