The Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury released Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 26-13 requiring 73 municipalities to file municipal sales and use tax (IVU) through the state's Unified Internal Revenue System (SURI) starting in July 2026, using a revised Form SC 2915 with electronic filing only, while five municipalities, including San Juan and Guaynabo, continue filing directly with local governments.
Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury has published Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 26-13 on 30 June 2026, which details the mandatory integration of municipal sales and use tax (IVU) into the Unified Internal Revenue System (SURI).
Starting in July 2026, merchants operating in participating municipalities must use a consolidated digital platform to file their monthly returns and remit both state and local taxes. To facilitate this, the Department is implementing a new version of Form SC 2915, featuring specialised schedules to reconcile municipal data and inventory usage. While the system will automatically separate state and municipal tax accounts, non-participating municipalities like San Juan and Guaynabo remain exempt from this consolidation, requiring merchants to continue filing with those local governments directly.
This administrative overhaul aims to standardise tax collection, simplify compliance for business owners, and centralise the distribution of municipal revenues through an agreement with the Municipal Finance Corporation (COFIM).
All payments under this new framework must be completed electronically, as the Department will no longer accept manual or in-person transactions for these specific filings.
The 73 participating municipalities
For these locations, the Department of Treasury is taking over the responsibility of receiving and processing Municipal SUT (IVU Municipal) information and payments directly through the Unified Internal Revenue System (SURI), a task previously handled by COFIM. This consolidated process officially begins with the July 2026 monthly return.
Reporting for all locations
Information for non-participating municipalities must still be included in the new SURI return. This is because the data entry process for the Monthly SUT Return continues to be done by locality. Merchants must report the taxable and exempt sales for all registered locations, regardless of whether those municipalities are participating in the new SURI integration.
State vs. municipal tax processing
For non-participating municipalities (Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez, and San Juan), the locality information reported in SURI is used strictly to determine the State SUT. SURI will simply bypass calculating the Municipal SUT for these specific locations.
Maintaining separate filing
Just as you highlighted, it remains the merchant’s sole responsibility to file and pay the Municipal SUT directly to those non-participating municipalities, using the distinct forms, platforms, and procedures established by each one.
