P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 5206

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 5206. Deficiencies—Notification; recourses

(a) The Collection Center may examine and determine the correct amount of taxes at any time after the personal property tax return has been filed, regardless of whether the tax has been paid or not.

(b) Should the Collection Center determine in the case of any taxpayer that there is a deficiency regarding the tax levied by this title, whether it was because the taxable value of the property was determined incorrectly, or because property has been omitted, or for any other reason, the Collection Center shall notify the taxpayer of said deficiency by certified mail. The taxpayer may request a reconsideration of said deficiency and an administrative hearing of the same within thirty (30) days following the mailing date of the notice. Should the taxpayer not request a reconsideration in the manner and within the term provided herein, or if after having made the request the notified deficiency is confirmed in whole or in part, the Collection Center shall notify its final decision to the taxpayer by certified mail, whatever the case may be, stating the total of the bond the taxpayer must present in favor of, before, and subject to the approval of the Collection Center, should he/she wish to appeal to the Court of First Instance against said determination of deficiency. The bond shall not exceed the total of the notified deficiency plus interest thereon computed for the period of one additional year at ten percent (10%) per annum.

(c) Should the taxpayer not agree with the final determination of deficiency served to him/her by the Collection Center, he/she may appeal to the Court of First Instance within the term of thirty (30) days from the mailing date of the Collection Center’s final determination, provided said taxpayer:

(1) Pays said deficiency under protest; or

(2) pays the part of the deficiency with which he/she is in agreement, and posts a bond for the amount with which he/she is not in agreement plus interest for one additional year on the unpaid difference at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum; or

(3) posts a bond for the total amount of the deficiency should he/she be in disagreement with said total amount, plus interest thereon for one additional year at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum, and

(4) in any of the cases the bond shall be posted in favor of the Collection Center, before it and subject to its approval.

(d) Should the taxpayer not file suit before the Court of First Instance against a final determination of deficiency, it will be appraised and be paid through notice and requirement of the Collection Center or its representative.

(e) In the cases in which the taxpayer files suit before the Court of First Instance against a final determination of deficiency served in the manner provided in this section, the final judgments of the Court of First Instance may be appealed in the manner and within the terms provided by law to appeal the final judgments of the Court of First Instance before the Supreme Court, also subject to the additional requirements imposed by § 5207 of this title. In those cases in which the judgment of the Court of First Instance determines that a deficiency does exist, an order for filing a computation of the tax will be issued and said judgment shall not be deemed final and the term for an appeal shall not begin to count for the parties but from the date the notice to the taxpayer and to the Collection Center concerning the Court of First Instance’s resolution approving the computation of the tax determined by said court is filed in the record.

(f) No appraisal of a deficiency concerning to the tax levied by law shall be made, nor shall a legal collection procedure or a court procedure for its collection be initiated before the notice of the final determination mentioned in this section has been sent to the taxpayer, nor until the term granted the taxpayer by this title to appeal before the Court of First Instance against said final determination has expired, and if an appeal has been filed before the court of First Instance, until the judgement of that court is final.

(g) The taxpayer shall be entitled at any time to waive the restrictions concerning the appraisal and collection of the total or of any part of the deficiency, through a written notice filed with the Collection Center as provided in this section.

History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 83, § 6.06.