On March 12, 2020, the Governor of Puerto Rico issued Executive Order No. OE-2020-020 to declare a state of emergency on the imminent impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) on the Island. The Executive Order requires all government agencies to implement all the necessary measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus. The measures must be taken care of promptly and efficiently by each agency.
In agreement with the OE 2020-020, the Treasury Department (TD) issued Administrative Determination 20-03 (DA 20-03) to inform that the filing of all Tax returns due on March 16, 2020, was automatically postponed to April 15, 2020. DA 20-03 also established that the filing and payments of all Tax Returns and Extensions due on April 15, 2020, were postponed until May 15, 2020. Filing and payments of estimated tax returns were also postponed until May 15, 2020.
Afterward, on March 15, 2020, the Governor of Puerto Rico issued Executive Order No. OE-2020-023 (OE-2020-023), to impose a curfew beginning at 9:00 pm on March 15, 2020. OE-2020-023 clearly established that all residents of Puerto Rico must stay at home for a period of 14 days and limits the use of public streets and roads, except for certain circumstances. In addition, OE-2020-023 decrees the closing of all government operations, as well as the closing of all businesses from 6:00 pm on March 15, 2020, until March 30, 2020.
Therefore, all of TD’s offices will be closed until March 30, 2020. However, services provided electronically through SURI, as well as the electronic filing systems will continue to operate as usual.
To this effect, the TD issued the Administrative Determination 20-05 (DA 20-05) to amend the previous DA 20-03 and inform of the following:
- Filing and payments of all Sales and Use Tax (SUT) transactions due on and between March 15 to March 31, 2020, are extended for a month.
- Add a one-month extension to the filing of tax returns, declarations, and forms, as well as all payments and deposits that were due on and between March 15th and April 15th, 2020.
- Extend all bonds and internal revenue licenses that would expire on and between March 15th to the 31st, 2020.
Sale and Use Tax
The TD has determined the following regarding the Sales and Use Tax:
- Filing of the February SUT Monthly Tax Return, Form Model SC 2915, is extended for a month. This means that both payments and filing of SUT are extended until April 20, 2020.
- SUT Bimonthly Payments: The TD will not be imposing penalties for failure to make the bimonthly payments for March 2020, provided the SUT amount due is paid along with the filing of the Monthly SUT Tax Returns for those periods.
Tax Returns, Declarations, Forms, and Tax Payments
Extensions described on DA 20-03 continue to be in effect for the filing of income tax returns, extension requests and payments.
The filing of all the tax returns, declarations, and forms of all Other Tax Returns, such as Pass-through entities, is extended for a month from the date they were due without having to request an extension. Likewise, payments corresponding to these Other Tax Returns are also extended. This applies to all payments and deposits due on or between March 15th and April 15th, 2020.
Bonds
All bonds due on or between March 15th to the 31st, 2020 are automatically extended to April 30, 2020.
Internal Revenue Licenses
All internal revenue licenses that were due to expire on or between March 15th and March 31st, 2020 are automatically extended until April 30, 2020.
