P.R. Laws tit. 13, § 192
(a) By virtue of this subsection, and as of January 1 st, 1947, there shall be exempt from all taxes and levies, every institution, college, academy, or school accredited by the Puerto Rico General Council on Education for the teaching of the fine arts.”
(b) Any institution, college, academy, or school wishing to avail itself of the benefits of this subsection shall file an application with the General Council on Education and the Secretary of the Treasury stating the date of its foundation, location, and its curriculum and teaching methods. Once such application has been filed with and verified by the General Council on Education, the Council shall issue a Certificate of Compliance through the Interagency Validation Portal for the Granting of Incentives for the Economic Development of Puerto Rico to the agencies, public corporations, and municipalities responsible for awarding the benefits or incentives established in this section. However, during the period in which the Portal is still not operating, it shall be the duty of the Puerto Rico General Council on Education to issue the Certificate of Compliance to the agencies, public corporations, and municipalities responsible for granting the benefits or incentives established in this section following the regular procedure. The filing of a Certificate of Compliance by the institution, college, academy, or school shall be an essential requirement for the agency, public corporation, or municipality to award the benefit or incentive provided for in this section.
The General Council on Education shall be required and responsible for preparing a Certificate of Compliance annually, once the institution, college, academy, or school validate, in the judgment of said agency, that they have met the requirements set forth in this section. The Puerto Rico General Council on Education shall verify the information submitted by the institution, college, academy, or school annually so that the Certificate of Compliance is issued not later than the fifteenth (15 th) day of the second (2 nd) month after the close of the taxable year of the applicant.
The Certificate of Compliance shall include, in turn, the following information regarding the institution: its name, the cadastre number of the property or properties connected to the entity; the merchant registration number; the account connected to the entity, as required in the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code; the employer identification number; and the information required by §§ 1141 et seq. of Title 23, better known as the “Fiscal Information and Permit Control Act”, as applicable.
Actions taken by the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Director of the Municipal Revenues Collection Center (CRIM), or any other government official or body, or public corporation concerned, in connection with the qualification process for the granting of the benefits or incentives under this section, shall be limited to the taxation aspects of the granting of the benefit or incentive in question, upon the issuance of the Certificate of Compliance in effect, as provided in this subsection. The Secretary shall be responsible, first and foremost, for overseeing eligibility under any and all provisions of this section. However, the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Director of the Municipal Revenues Collection Center (CRIM), or any other government official or body, or public corporation concerned with any of the benefits or incentives granted under this section may notify the applicant and the Puerto Rico General Council on Education should further information be needed to validate the data on the Certificate of Compliance, and shall notify and request the applicant to supply such information in order to rectify the situation. The Secretary of the Department of the Treasury or the Executive Director of the Municipal Revenues Collection Center may deny any tax incentives or benefits requested if, in their judgment, the information requested has not been supplied. Moreover, the provisions of this section shall not preclude in any manner the power conferred to the Secretary of the Treasury under § 33202 of this title, known as the “Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011”; and, if necessary, the power to revoke any incentives previously granted by virtue of a Certificate of Compliance, in accordance with the corresponding act; or the power to refer the case to the pertinent agency or public corporation for the corresponding action.
Notice This section has more than one version with varying effective dates. First of three versions of this section.
History —May 10, 1948, No. 148, p. 340, §§?1, 2; Nov. 17, 2015, No. 187, §§ 15, 16; Dec. 28, 2016, No. 208, § 2.