How to amend a tax return you already filed in Puerto Rico

An amended return corrects a return you already filed. Hacienda defines when it applies: it is filed when income is omitted or a deduction, exemption or credit you were entitled to was not claimed, or when, conversely, you were not entitled to a deduction, exemption or credit claimed on the original return. So an amendment works in both directions: to claim something you left on the table and to correct something you over-claimed. The filing route depends on the tax year, and that is the process’s first fork.

It applies to any taxpayer who needs to correct a filed return. What changes with your case is the route. For tax year 2019 onward, Hacienda states that if you filed your individual return electronically, the amended return must be filed electronically. Amended returns for tax years 2018 and earlier must be filed on paper. That year cutoff is the first thing to establish, because it determines whether your process is online or in person.

• Having a reason that justifies it: Hacienda states you amend if you omitted income, did not claim a deduction or credit you believe you were entitled to, or consider that you were not entitled to a deduction or credit claimed on the original return.Verified against the official source
• Knowing your tax year: for 2019 onward, if the original was electronic, the amended one must be filed electronically. For 2018 and earlier, the amended return is filed on paper.Verified against the official source
• Submitting all evidence, including what you sent electronically with the original return through SURI, following the procedure in Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 20-04.Verified against the official source

• The original return for the year you are amending, to compare against.
• All evidence for the tax year, including what you already sent with the original: Hacienda requires submitting it again with the amended return.
• If the only thing changing is your address, Form SC 2898, completing lines 1 through 11.

1. 1

   Step 1: First rule out that it is only an address change

   Hacienda says it plainly: you do not need to amend your return to update your address. For that you complete lines 1 through 11 of Form SC 2898, in print except line 10, and file it at any Taxpayer Service Center or mail it to Departamento de Hacienda, PO Box 9024140, San Juan, PR 00902-4140. Amending a whole return to fix an address is wasted work.

2. 2

   Step 2: Locate your tax year

   This is the process’s fork. From tax year 2019 onward, if you filed the original electronically, the amended one goes electronically too. Those for 2018 and earlier are filed on paper, without exception. Confirming the year before you start saves you attempting the route that does not apply.

3. 3

   Step 3: If going electronic, consider SURI before the provider

   Here is the saving. Hacienda states that electronically filing any amended return carries a cost set by the certified software provider. And it adds, in the same explanation, that you also have the option of amending the return through SURI free of charge, regardless of whether you used a certified provider to file the original. If cost matters to you, that is the route.

4. 4

   Step 4: Gather all the evidence again

   This step surprises people: Hacienda asks that, when filing the amended return electronically, you make sure to submit all evidence, including what you already sent electronically with the original return through SURI, per Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 20-04. It is not assumed the agency already has them; they must be uploaded again.

5. 5

   Step 5: If it is 2018 or earlier, file on paper

   Hacienda publishes two in-person routes: the Department of the Treasury at the Edificio Intendente Alejandro Ramírez in Old San Juan, or an Internal Revenue Collection Office, and it maintains a finder for the nearest one. It can also be sent by mail.

6. 6

   Step 6: Follow up on the amended return’s status

   Hacienda maintains an amended-return status section within the same amendments page. Use it rather than filing another one just in case: a second amendment on the same return complicates the file rather than speeding it up.

Electronically, using any program or application certified by the Department of the Treasury, or through SURI. For amended returns from tax years 2018 and earlier: in person at the Department of the Treasury, Edificio Intendente Alejandro Ramírez in Old San Juan, or at an Internal Revenue Collection Office, or by mail. For an address change, Form SC 2898 is filed at any Taxpayer Service Center or mailed to PO Box 9024140, San Juan, PR 00902-4140.

• Amending an entire return just to update an address, when Hacienda expressly says that is done with Form SC 2898.
• Paying the certified software provider for the amendment without knowing that through SURI it is free.
• Not resubmitting the evidence that already went with the original return, when Hacienda asks for it to be included again.
• Trying to file an amendment for 2018 or earlier online, when those go on paper.
• Filing a second amendment because the first does not appear to be moving, instead of checking the amended-return status.
• Amending without advice when the correction changes what you owe, without understanding the consequences.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov

• Income Tax — individuals

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov