The Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, announced the temporary elimination of the Sales and Use Tax (SUT) on prepared foods from this coming Thursday to October 6 due to the emergency caused by Hurricane Fiona.
Administrative Determination 22-07 establishes a period of Temporary Exemption from SUT on prepared foods, beginning at 12:01 (04.01 GMT) on Thursday, September 22, 2022 and ending at 11:59 p.m. (03.59 GMT) on Thursday, September 6, 2022. October 2022, Pierluisi detailed in a press release.
“This is one of the affirmative actions that we are taking as a government to give relief to citizens, while we continue with the response to the emergency,” he said.
For his part, the Secretary of the Treasury, Francisco Parés, explained that the temporary exemption in the payment of the SUT includes carbonated beverages, confectionery products and sweets, as defined in Section 4010.01 of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011, according to amended.
The exemption will not apply to the sale of alcoholic beverages.
In the event that a merchant, by action or omission, charges a consumer the SUT in a sale of prepared foods, the vendor will be required to immediately reimburse the amount of the tax collected from the consumer and will be subject to the provisions of Section 4020.08( c) of the Code.