Important Administration Changes in the Sales Tax of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Ramón Frias
October 14, 2016

Update from Charles Maniace, Director of Tax Research at Sovos: On October 14, 2016 the Internal Revenue Service issued an announcement stating, “…to ensure a smooth transition, the IRS has decided to delay the October 24 date for requiring e-services users to re-register and validate their identities through Secure Access authentication.

“In the next few weeks, the IRS plans to have discussions with key stakeholders affected by the e-services changes to discuss security protocols and next steps in this process. A new implementation date has not been set. When a new date is set, the IRS will share the information widely with e-Services users.”
Read the entire IRS update here.


Lee el blog en español

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has begun to implement a new software system called SURI to manage the remittance of state-level sales tax. All taxpayers must register within SURI between October 15 and November 20, 2016.

The Treasury Department of Puerto Rico (Hacienda) has announced that on October 15, 2016 it launched a new system intended to manage the collection of its sales and use taxes. The new system is known as Unified System of Internal Revenue or “SURI” by its Spanish Acronym. It will replace the current “PICO” system.

As of October 28, 2016 PICO will be fully decommissioned. Taxpayers are strongly encouraged to log in to PICO and retrieve any information they wish to retain from before October 28. Otherwise, the data will be lost.

Taxpayers will be unable to access their accounts in either system between October 28 and October 31. All sales tax filings for the October 2016 filing period and subsequent filings must be completed through SURI.

According to information published by the Hacienda, this new system is intended to unify all existing online reporting systems and tools that taxpayers in Puerto Rico currently utilize to manage their income, sales, and payroll tax obligations. SURI will be deployed in three stages, the first of which is sales tax. Until the other stages are phased in, the existing systems for the other taxes will remain in place.

Immediate Registration Action is Required for all Puerto Rico Taxpayers

As mentioned above, the Treasury has announced that from October 15, 2016, all taxpayers are required to register in the SURI. To start this process, you must access the next page of the Department of Hacienda: https://suri.hacienda.pr.gov/_/

While it has been reported that the registration procedure must be completed no later than November 20, those taxpayers who are bonded importers under the IVU, should conclude this process before November 10, since the declaration and payment of the SUT due on imports, should be made through SURI system. In this regard, Hacienda has indicated that to facilitate the registration process will automatically migrate to SURI, a significant amount of the data found in PICO. All taxpayers are nonetheless required to register, create a profile, validate any migrated information, and provide any requested additional details.

When logging into SURI to complete the initial registration, taxpayers will be permitted use their current PICO credentials. Those credentials can be maintained or changed at the taxpayer’s discretion.

Once the registration process is completed, current functionality in SURI purports to allow taxpayers to:

  • Carry out all compliance obligations related to sales tax
  • Query, update, and amend information relating to their tax accounts 24/7
  • Receive and respond to correspondence, notifications, alerts and complaints related to matters involving the Treasury.

Hacienda has indicated that taxpayer data will be migrated between PICO and SURI, but all taxpayers are nonetheless required to register, create a profile, validate any migrated information, and provide any requested additional details.

Filing Sales Tax in SURI will Look Differently than in PICO

In PICO, tax is filed and paid by entity. In SURI, taxpayers will be required to identify taxable and tax amounts by the location(s) that have been identified in the system. Taxpayers will also be able to register and assign more than one NAICS code to each of its locations.

Puerto Rico is planning on issuing a significantly modified versions of their existing sales tax returns (mainly 2915-D and 2915-A). The new versions of these returns are not available at the time we are concluding this blog, however, once Hacienda publishes them we will explain in greater detail the new filing requirements.

Local Sales Tax Reporting Remains the Same

SURI only replaces PICO. The current administration of local sales tax via COFIM remains in place.

Take Action

  • History has shown that the tax compliance landscape in Puerto Rico has been fluid. Sovos will continue to monitor the situation for further developments and will provide updates as circumstances dictate. For additional reference, please feel free to review the Circular Letter (in English).
  • Want to stay informed on this and other important sales tax issues? Subscribe to our “State of Compliance” newsletter.

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Cambios Importantes en el Impuesto a las Ventas de Puerto Rico

El Departamento de Hacienda del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico ha informado que se encuentra en proceso de implementar una nueva herramienta digital denominada “SURI” (Sistema Unificado de Rentas Internas) para gestionar el cumplimiento con el impuesto sobre las ventas a nivel estatal, mejor conocido como IVU. Dicho sistema reemplazará el actual Portal Integrado de Contribuyentes (PICO). A tales fines, ha anunciado que todos los contribuyentes de dicho impuesto deben registrarse dentro de SURI entre el 15 de octubre y 20 de noviembre 2016.

A partir del 28 de octubre el año 2016, PICO estará completamente fuera de servicio. Se recomienda a los contribuyentes que actualmente utilizan el sistema PICO para la declaración y pago del IVU, a ingresar al mismo y antes del 28 de octubre, guardar en sus archivos personales o cualquier información relevante que deseen retener sobre el IVU. De lo contrario, perderán definitivamente esos datos.

El nuevo sistema SURI entrará en vigor a partir del 31 de octubre. Por lo que entre el 28 y el 31 de octubre los contribuyentes no podrán realizar ninguna transacción de declaración o pago en ninguno de esos sistemas. En línea con lo anterior, Hacienda ha informado que todas las declaraciones y pagos del IVU correspondientes al mes de octubre y las posteriores, deberán ser completadas a través de SURI.

De acuerdo con la información publicada por Hacienda, SURI es una nueva herramienta digital con la que se pretende unificar todos los sistemas de información en línea y herramientas digitales con las que los contribuyentes de Puerto Rico actualmente cumplen con sus obligaciones relativas al impuesto a la renta, impuesto a las ventas y las retenciones del impuesto sobre la renta personal (nómina). SURI se implementará en tres etapas, la primera de las cuales (actual) alcanzará únicamente al IVU estatal. Las otras etapas se introducirán posteriormente, para sustituir los sistemas existentes para el cumplimiento con los demás impuestos administrados por Hacienda.

Requerimiento de Inscripción Inmediata Para Todos los Contribuyentes del IVU en Puerto Rico:

Como se mencionó anteriormente, Hacienda ha anunciado que a partir del 15 de octubre de 2016, se requiere que todos los contribuyentes de Puerto Rico se registren en SURI. Para iniciar dicho proceso, deberán acceder a la siguiente pagina del Departamento de Hacienda: https://suri.hacienda.pr.gov/_/

Si bien se ha informado que el procedimiento de registro debe ser completado a más tardar el 20 de noviembre, aquellos contribuyentes que sean importadores afianzados del IVU, deben concluir dicho proceso antes del 10 de Noviembre, toda vez que la declaración y pago del IVU adeudado en aduanas al momento de hacer sus importaciones, deberá hacerse a través del sistema SURI. En tal sentido, Hacienda ha indicado que para facilitar el proceso de registro, migrará automáticamente hacia SURI, una cantidad significativa de datos que se encuentran en PICO.

Para acceder a SURI y completar el registro inicial, a los contribuyentes actuales del IVU, se les permitirá utilizar sus credenciales actuales de PICO. Esas credenciales se pueden mantener o cambiar a discreción del contribuyente. Una vez completada esta etapa, deberán crear en SURI un nuevo perfil de usuario, validar cualquier información migrada, y proporcionar toda información adicional que sea solicitada en dicho proceso.

Una vez que se haya completado el proceso de registro, SURI permitirá a los contribuyentes entre otras cosas:

  • Llevar a cabo todas las obligaciones de cumplimiento relacionados con impuesto sobre las ventas
  • Consultar, actualizar y modificar a cualquier hora o día (24/7) la información relacionada con sus obligaciones tributarias
  • Recibir y responder directamente a Hacienda, cualquier correspondencia, notificación, alertas y quejas relacionadas con sus asuntos tributarios.

Las informaciones requeridas en SURI son diferentes a las requeridas en PICO

En PICO, el IVU se presenta y paga por entidad. En SURI, se requerirá que los contribuyentes informen las ventas de cada una de las sucursales que posean en Puerto Rico, asi como el IVU generado a través de ellas. En adición a esto, los contribuyentes también podrán registrar y asignar más de un código NAICS a cada una de sus sucursales.

Como resultado de esos cambios, Hacienda ha informado que habrá de emitir nuevas versiones de las planillas utilizadas para la declaración y el pago del IVU (2915-A y 2915-D). Al momento de concluir este blog, Hacienda no ha hecho pública las mismas, sin embargo, una vez lo haga explicaremos con mas detalles los cambios en las mismas.

El IVU municipal continua igual:

SURI sólo reemplaza PICO. Esto significa que el sistema actual de declaración y pago del IVU municipal a través de COFIM, permanece como hasta ahora.

Take Action

  • La historia ha demostrado que el panorama de cumplimiento tributario en Puerto Rico es muy cambiante. Sovos continuará monitoreando los cambios en Puerto Rico y proporcionará actualizaciones según dicten las circunstancias. Para mayor detalles sobre estos cambios, puede acceder a la carta circular emitida por el Departamento de Hacienda.
  • ¿Desea estar informado sobre éste y otros temas importantes impuestos sobre las ventas? Favor suscribirse a nuestro boletín de noticias en ingles “State of Compliance” newsletter.

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Author

Ramón Frias

Ramon is a Tax Counsel on the Regulatory Analysis team at Sovos. He is licensed to practice law in the Dominican Republic and is a member of the Dominican Bar Association. He has a Certificate Degree from Harvard University as well as a J.D. from the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo. Ramon has written a number of essays about tax administration and has won the first prize in the international essays contest sponsored by the Inter American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT). Prior to joining Sovos, Ramon worked for more than 10 years in the Department of Revenue of the Dominican Republic where he served as Deputy Director. He is proficient in French and Spanish.
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