Get your tax IDs in Puerto Rico

The EIN, if you need it, comes out in minutes through the IRS. After that, the Treasury Department (Departamento de Hacienda) asks for the merchant registry (Registro de Comerciantes) if you sell or provide services, the sales and use tax (IVU) if the item is subject to it, and the income tax return. Unemployment and the State Insurance Fund Corporation (Corporación del Fondo del Seguro del Estado, CFSE) policy come in when you hire.

What’s different in Puerto Rico

• Income tax is not a state schedule on a federal return. It is filed with the Treasury Department⁵. An LLC is taxed as a corporation, unless it elects other treatment¹².
• The IVU has more than one rate. 11.5%⁷ is the rate for taxable items. 4%⁸ is the rate for certain services. 7%⁹ is the rate for prepared food at a certified restaurant.
• Five municipalities are not part of the 2026 change. Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez and San Juan still collect the municipal IVU through their own system. In the other participating municipalities, the SURI return for the municipal IVU starts being used on August 1, 2026¹⁰.
• Federal wage withholding is, in general, not the same as Puerto Rico’s. The federal withholding instructions explain that federal income tax withholding does not apply to an employer in Puerto Rico, unless it has employees subject to that withholding⁴. Social Security and Medicare are reported to the IRS.

Do this

1. Ask for the EIN from the IRS if you need it. It is free and, if approved, it is issued immediately¹ online. Do not pay a website to apply for it.
2. Register in the merchant registry if you never have. The page directs it to anyone who has never registered in the merchant registry⁵. It does not print a fee.* Look at the total in the filing.
3. Charge the IVU that applies to you and file the monthly return. It is the monthly IVU return (Planilla Mensual de IVU, Modelo SC 2915), no later than day 20 of each month, and only through SURI. If the certificate says you are not an IVU collector, you do not file the monthly return just to report exempt sales. You do file it if you sell any item subject to IVU⁶.
4. Use the rate for the item, not a single one from memory. Taxable items: 11.5%⁷. Services between registered merchants and designated professional services: 4%⁸, since October 1, 2015, under Administrative Determination (Determinación Administrativa) 15-17. Prepared food: 7%, only if a restaurant with the Treasury Department's authorization and certification sells it. That rate already includes the municipal portion. Alcoholic beverages stay at 11.5%, and so does a prepared food combo with alcohol at a single price. A corner grocery that is not a restaurant does not charge the 7%⁹ for a soda. Administrative Determination 19-06 says so with that example.
5. If you sell services and your volume is small, check whether you have to charge IVU. The Internal Revenue Code (Código de Rentas Internas) takes out of taxable services those of a person whose annual business volume does not exceed $50,000. For the special IVU of 4%, the limits are higher: $300,000 for services to other merchants and $200,000¹¹ for designated professional services, using the volume of the prior tax year. Those limits are for services, not for the sale of taxable items. Administrative Determination 15-17, from 2015, still applies that same limit to the special IVU too⁸. The Code’s limits are the ones that govern today. If you are near one, confirm it with a CPA.
6. See where you pay the 1% municipal. Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez and San Juan still collect the municipal IVU through their own system. In the other participating municipalities, the SURI return for the municipal IVU starts being used on August 1, 2026¹⁰. The press release says the filing calendar does not change.
7. File income tax with the Treasury Department. A calendar-year individual files it on or before April 15. Anyone on a different tax year files it on the 15th day of the fourth month after the close of the tax year. The individual return goes through certified software or SURI. Anyone with net income subject to the alternative basic tax of $25,000¹³ or more also files it. A corporation files it no later than the 15th day of the fourth month after the close of the tax year, only by electronic means. That includes the limited liability company whose tax classification is that of a corporation¹⁴.
8. Do not take the LLC’s treatment for granted. An LLC is taxed as a corporation, unless it elects other treatment. Since tax year 2022 it can elect to be taxed as a pass-through entity, if it meets the requirements, or as a disregarded entity, if it meets the single-owner rules. The form is the Modelo SC 6045, filed with the return for the year the election begins, no later than that return's due date, including extensions. A foreign LLC that federal tax treats as a partnership, a disregarded entity or an entity with income attributed to its members cannot elect to be taxed as a corporation in Puerto Rico¹². Federal Form 2553 is not one of those options: for the IRS, only a domestic corporation can be an S corporation¹⁵, and an entity organized under the laws of Puerto Rico is not domestic. Register your business has the detail. This page does not choose.
9. If the IRS does not ask you for a 1040, look at Form 1040-SS. Form 1040-SS reports net earnings from self-employment and, if needed, pays that tax². If you are not sure you are a bona fide resident, consult a CPA.
10. When you hire, open the employer accounts. Unemployment and SINOT are requested on the Department of Labor and Human Resources (Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos) portal, for unemployment insurance and SINOT. The return is filed every quarter of the calendar year. The portal calculates what you owe using the year's rates, in three items: unemployment, SINOT and special contribution¹⁶. The page does not print the quarter’s due day or a single rate.* Confirm them on the portal. Social Security and Medicare go on Form 941, if you are not an agricultural employer or an employer of domestic workers and all your employees are bona fide residents of Puerto Rico. It is due on the last day of the month after the close of the quarter³. Form 941-PR was discontinued after the fourth quarter of 2023⁴. The IRS also publishes instructions in Spanish for that form. Puerto Rico wage withholding is the Treasury Department’s, and it is filed and paid through SURI¹⁹. The Treasury Department’s employer page does not print the form or the date for that withholding.* Ask the Treasury Department before the first payroll. The hiring guide covers the federal side.
11. Report each new employee, and get the CFSE policy before they work. The Department of Labor page says Puerto Rico employers report it within the first 19 days of hiring, full time or part time. Its paragraph on federal law says to report it on or before 20 days after being hired or rehired¹⁶. Puerto Rico’s deadline is the shorter one. The CFSE covers every employer who employs at least one worker¹⁷. The policy has to be active before any work activity begins¹⁸.

What you get back

An EIN, if you asked for one. A merchant registry certificate, if you registered. IVU and income tax accounts only for what you registered. The unemployment employer number comes out when the Department of Labor confirms your registration. The municipal license tax (patente municipal) and the Single Permit (Permiso Único) are in Licenses and permits.