Veteran-owned small business registry and government purchasing
Act 113-2012 creates a verified registry of veteran-owned small businesses for government purchasing. The four conditions and the annual verification.
August 23, 2026
Business & Permits
Registering an LLC or corporation, merchant registration, SURI and unified permits.
120 guides
Farmer’s Bill of Rights: the 30-day answer and the certification
Act 39-2006 gives farmers the right to an answer within 30 days from the Department of Agriculture, and defines what a bona fide farmer is.
August 23, 2026
Artisan ID card: the registry, and what a fair may charge you to sell
Act 166-1995 creates the artisan ID card and the bona fide artisan registry, and caps at $45 what a privately funded event may charge you.
August 23, 2026
How to register an LLC or corporation in Puerto Rico
What the Department of State corporate registry does, what you need to register your entity, and what comes next.
August 13, 2026
How to get the Registro de Comerciante (merchant registration) in Puerto Rico
What the Registro de Comerciante is, what SURI is, how to apply, and what obligations come with the certificate.
August 13, 2026
How to meet the annual report obligation for your corporation or LLC
April 15, the difference between the annual report and the annual fee, and why non-compliance can cancel the entity.
August 13, 2026
How to register your business name or trademark
The prior search, the difference between a trademark and a trade name, and the three years for the first-use declaration.
August 13, 2026
How to apply for the Permiso Único (single business permit) in Puerto Rico
What the Permiso Único is, which endorsements it consolidates, how to apply through the Single Business Portal, and what usually delays it.
August 13, 2026
Who can sign your permit: the Authorized Professional and Authorized Inspector
A private professional certified by OGPe can grant or deny your permits. What they can decide, what they cannot, and how to check their credential.
August 15, 2026
“That product is not approved in Puerto Rico”: the filing that approves it
OGPe certifies that a construction system or product meets the current Building Code. Filing costs $1,500.
August 15, 2026
Occupying a green project: the authorization that comes before the use permit
The AOV is issued before the Green Use Permit to verify the project’s performance. There is no filing cost.
August 15, 2026
Registering as a condominium manager with DACO
A notarised application, a criminal record certificate under three months old, and two separate payments: $150 and $100.
August 14, 2026
Licence to operate a flea market (discount market)
It is for whoever operates the market, not the vendor. An original insurance policy and Hacienda’s Merchant Registry are required.
August 14, 2026
How to claim money owed to you: Rule 60
The summary procedure for debts of $15,000 or less: $60 in stamps, form OAT 991 and a hearing within three months.
August 14, 2026
Fire Department permits for a business or a building
The minimum the Fire Bureau requires in a commercial premises, and the fee schedule with account 5300: common areas, day-care homes, drawings and tanks.
August 15, 2026
Fire Department permit for an event, tent, kiosk or fairground rides
The application is delivered at least 5 days before the event. Complete fee schedule by activity type, with account number 5300.
August 15, 2026
Licence to operate an employment agency
Ley 417-1947 requires a licence: a $3,000 bond, a $25.00 stamp, a criminal record certificate and a fee list. Operating without one is a crime.
August 15, 2026
Employer number, quarterly return and new hire reporting
The DTRH Employer Services Portal: employer registration for unemployment and SINOT, wage declaration, quarterly return, online payment and New Hires.
August 15, 2026
What PR OSHA requires of an employer
Eight hours to report a death or the hospitalization of three or more employees, and the duty to fix conditions before handing out protective equipment.
August 15, 2026
Ley 52 wage incentives for employers
The Employment Opportunities Fund finances wage incentives. You must be current on unemployment, SINOT and chauffeurs’ contributions.
August 15, 2026
Department of Agriculture incentives for farmers
Wage subsidy, fertilizer vouchers, livestock, coffee, fishing and equipment rental, with the per-farmer, per-year caps the 2025-2026 manual publishes.
August 15, 2026
DDEC Seed Capital: up to $15,000 or $35,000 for your business
Reimbursement of up to $15,000 for businesses three years old or less and up to $35,000 for older ones. A table ties the award to your net annual income.
August 15, 2026
DDEC marketing incentive: up to $10,000 to promote your business
The DDEC reimburses 50% of your marketing spend up to $10,000 over 18 months: website, social media, digital ads, search engine positioning and trade shows.
August 15, 2026
Reimbursement for businesses hit by the water emergency
The DDEC reimburses small businesses for drinking water emergency costs: bottled water, cisterns, lost inventory and cleaning, from 1 June 2026 onward.
August 15, 2026
Crop insurance: insuring the harvest before the hurricane arrives
The CSA covers coffee, plantains, citrus, fruit, bananas, cane, vegetables and pineapple. The sales window is short and late applications are refused.
August 15, 2026
Internal Revenue License: who needs one, what it costs and when it expires
You need one licence per occupation and per location. The renewal month is set by the last digit of your social security or employer account number.
August 15, 2026
Opening a business: everything Treasury will require of you
Employer number, Merchant Registry, sales tax fiscal terminal, payroll withholding and the withholding on services. Every deadline in one place.
August 15, 2026
Municipal sales tax is filed and paid in SURI from July 2026
From the July 2026 period, municipal sales tax goes on the SURI monthly return. Five municipalities are out: Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez and San Juan.
August 15, 2026
You were paid with a bounced check: the 10-day notice the law requires
Act 26-1934 punishes worthless checks, but no one can be punished unless you first notify them personally and give them at least 10 or 15 days to pay.
August 24, 2026
Using “Olympic” or Olympic marks in your promotion requires written permission
Act 71-1987 gives the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee exclusive use of Olympic marks and requires prior written permission for commercial use.
August 24, 2026
Digital farmer registry: finding local produce by town
Act 12-2026 orders the Agriculture Department to build a free public registry of bonafide farmers, searchable by product, municipality and name.
August 25, 2026
Financing for young people opening their first business
If you are 29 or younger and it is your first business, the BDE programme asks for 0% to 10% of your own capital and prioritises your permits.
August 27, 2026
Wild pigs on your farm: the special hunting permit for farmers
Act 102-2026 orders DRNA to authorise wild-pig hunting by affected farmers, with a two-year permit, a report and prohibitions.
August 27, 2026
Qualified physician: where you can serve the 180 annual hours
Act 128-2026 adds the State Insurance Fund, ACAA, ASSMCA and Correctional Health as places a qualified physician can serve the 180 hours, and be paid.
August 27, 2026
Río Piedras: property tax exemption and job deduction through 2030
Act 107-2026 extends to 31 December 2030 the 100% property tax exemption and the forgiveness of interest and surcharges.
August 27, 2026
Business credit at your cooperative: lines and cards for your business
Act 15-2026 lets savings and credit cooperatives offer commercial lines and credit cards, secured by real or personal guarantee, to members and non-members.
August 28, 2026
Company donations to a campaign: what is allowed and what is not
Act 53-2026 bars foreign juridical persons from financing campaigns in Puerto Rico and leaves the segregated funds committee as the lawful route for local ones.
August 28, 2026
Agricultural practices permit: clearing, ponds and roads
Act 140-2015 exempts ploughing, harrowing, furrowing and terracing from permits, and gives 30 days plus one extension: no answer means the permit is deemed granted.
August 29, 2026
Organic products: what the certification means
Act 228-2003 forbids calling an agricultural product organic without certification, and requires the label “Producto Certificado Orgánico de Puerto Rico.”
August 29, 2026
Family farmers markets: selling and buying local
Act 63-2015 requires a farmer certification to sell at these markets and forbids selling there any product not originated in Puerto Rico.
August 29, 2026
Delpaís mark: what it guarantees and how to license it
Act 195-2016 limits the Delpaís mark to products produced, processed and packed in Puerto Rico, and requires 65% local raw material in processed goods.
August 29, 2026
Commercial animal feed: what the label must say
Act 110-1962 requires registration, guaranteed analysis and a Spanish label for livestock feed. Note: despite the title, it does not cover dogs or cats.
August 29, 2026
Business Toolkit for Women
Act 81-2018 creates a DDEC programme that guides and assists women in opening a business, focused on technology and innovation.
August 30, 2026
Registering a vending machine
Act 217-2014 requires every vending machine to be registered at OGPe with a digital sticker: $5 to $15, once, issued within 24 hours.
August 30, 2026
Registry of available public properties
Act 19-2011 requires four public entities to publish their properties in a GIS registry with free access for the general public.
August 30, 2026
An EDB loan for a care centre
Act 212-2000 gives the Economic Development Bank a $4 million revolving fund for care centres. Before applying you need a certification from the Family Department.
August 31, 2026
Permit to operate a game preserve
The DRNA permit expires on 30 June of its second year. The owner registers the preserve’s weapons in their own name and files monthly reports.
August 31, 2026
Boat and jet ski rental business
Twenty-one to rent a boat, twelve for a kayak. The business needs life-saving accreditation, a licensed instructor and a record kept for one year.
August 31, 2026
Municipal business tax: who pays and how much
The ceiling is 1.50% of volume for financial businesses and 0.50% of one per cent for the rest, never below twenty-five dollars. Each town sets the rate.
August 31, 2026
Municipal business tax: filing and payment
The declaration is due five business days after 15 April. The tax falls due on 1 July and 2 January, and paying in full on filing earns a 5% discount.
August 31, 2026
Municipal business tax exemptions
The Act exempts thirty-six cases. The two most looked up: volume of business not over five thousand dollars, and craft workshops under fifty thousand.
September 1, 2026
Pay equity certification
DTRH’s programme is voluntary, but to enter the Single Bidders Registry the pay-equity policy certification is not.
September 2, 2026
Getting a childcare establishment licence
Sixty days before opening, a mandatory orientation and a stack of certifications. Regulation 8860, step by step.
September 3, 2026
Caring for children at home: the family care home
Up to six children, and your own aged twelve or under count. What Regulation 8860 requires of a family care home.
September 3, 2026
Dry floodproofing: the alternative to elevating the building
For non-residential structures in a flood zone there is an alternative to elevating, with its own certificate and its own numbers.
September 3, 2026
How many parking spaces you must provide: the table by use
One space per fifteen square metres of shop, one per five of restaurant, and the minimum is not waived outside the urban centre.
September 3, 2026
Your business sign: when you do not need a permit
Up to 35% of the façade or a hundred square feet, whichever is greater, with no permit. And the Single Permit already authorises fifty.
September 3, 2026
The Green Permit: thirty days and no impact fee
Building under the Green Design Guidelines exempts you from impact fees and allows parameters to vary by up to 25%.
September 3, 2026
A business at home: the 25%, one chair and who may work
The regulation allows an office, a home occupation and a beauty salon in the dwelling, with size and staffing caps.
September 3, 2026
Impact fee: who pays it, who is exempt and how to dispute it
Three presumptions of no impact, exemptions including renewable energy, and a reclassification procedure with 60- and 20-day terms.
September 3, 2026
Business licences: the requirements every one of them asks for
Eleven documents, validity tied to the Permiso Único, and a licence that cannot move premises.
September 4, 2026
Licence to sell cigarettes, vapes and tobacco products
One wholesale licence, one retail, and one more per vending machine; and nothing within the customer’s reach.
September 4, 2026
Sanitary Licence: issued first, inspected afterwards
Filed through the SUI within the Permiso Único, issued before the inspection, and Health can close you down afterwards.
September 4, 2026
Fire Prevention Certification: who signs it and when the inspection comes
Issued within the Permiso Único before the inspection, with a certifying paragraph the regulation prints word for word.
September 4, 2026
Retail alcohol licence: categories A, B and C and the hundred metres
Three categories by where it is drunk, mandatory denial grounds, and the hundred-metre rule near schools and churches.
September 4, 2026
Wholesale alcohol and beer and wine manufacturers
Five licences, the Federal Basic Permit in all of them, one per vehicle, and formula and label before producing.
September 4, 2026
General environmental permits: the 40 cubic metres, 900 metres and 10 horsepower
Three General Permits filed with OGPe, with concrete thresholds and same-day issuance when filed alone.
September 4, 2026
Gasoline station: where it may be sited and why no variance is possible
Separations of 800, 400, 2,200 and 1,200 metres between stations, 50 metres from a park and 1,000 feet from a school; and OGPe has no power to waive them.
September 4, 2026
Gasoline station: what may be sold and what the lot must measure
Seven uses permitted in the main building, sealed alcoholic beverages with no consumption on site, and the height, area and yard tables by district.
September 4, 2026
Solar panels: up to one megawatt on a roof needs no permit, and the solar farm has a table
A roof up to 1 MW needs no construction or use permit; on the ground up to 100 kW needs no construction permit either.
September 4, 2026
Wind turbines: the 110%, the 150% and the farm next door
Setbacks are measured as percentages of the tower’s height, and a neighbour may consent by sworn statement or public deed to shortening them.
September 4, 2026
Medical cannabis: the hundred metres from a school and how the premises must be built
The construction and use permit is central OGPe’s exclusive jurisdiction, and the physical plant has its own requirements by establishment type.
September 4, 2026
Health, Fire and Police recommendations for a construction permit
What the Final Recommendation Determination is, which plans each agency asks for and why one- and two-family homes are excluded.
September 4, 2026
Signs, awnings and curtains in a historic zone: where they go, how big and the seventeen prohibited
One sign per façade, ground floor only, two inches thick. The prohibited signs, the vinyl on the display window, and the single-colour awning rules.
September 5, 2026
Food businesses: the water, plumbing, sewage and physical-facility requirements
Potable water from an approved source, handwash basins at 100 degrees with fifteen seconds of flow, grease traps and the required floor-wall junctions.
September 5, 2026
Permiso Único: how long it lasts, how it is renewed and how it is transferred
The terms the regulation sets: one to three years, forty-five days to renew, two years of grace and the automatic transfer.
September 5, 2026
Special Permisos Únicos: PYMES, temporary activities, political propaganda, automatic and startups
The five Permiso Único variants the regulation carries, with PYMES’ thirty days, the six months for temporary ones and the uses the automatic cannot cover.
September 5, 2026
Conditional Permiso Único and Use Permit: opening with a licence pending, and the two years that kill it
The six months to complete missing licences, the debt that cannot be grounds for denial, and why premises closed for two years lose the use permit.
September 5, 2026
Food manufacturing plants: the physical plant, the water and the sanitary controls
What the regulation requires of a food manufacturing plant: separation of operations, pest control, water at an adequate temperature and signs.
September 5, 2026
Ice plants: approved water, exclusive premises and the industrial machine
What the regulation requires of an ice plant for human consumption: where the water comes from, what the premises must be like and why the packing must be automatic.
September 5, 2026
R-C district: the business on the ground floor and the dwelling above
What the residential-commercial district allows and expressly prohibits, with the two parameter columns for high density and traditional urban centre.
September 5, 2026
Commercial districts C-L, C-I and C-C: which business fits in each
The ladder of the three commercial districts, the uses each reserves to the next, the lot and yard parameters, and the consulta for centres over 250,000 square feet.
September 5, 2026
Industrial districts I-E, I-L and I-P: the quarry, light industry and heavy industry
What each industrial district allows, the minimum lots of 8,000, 800 and 4,000 square metres, and the defect in the heavy-industry parameter table.
September 5, 2026
Food labels: Department of Health approval, language and permit number
The label must be approved before use, goes in Spanish or bilingual, and carries the Permiso Único or Health Licence number and the lot number.
September 5, 2026
Agricultural districts A-G and A-P: what is allowed on a farm and in an agricultural reserve
The fifty-cuerda segregation in a reserve, the fifty-metre buffer zone, the accessory uses and the ban on commercial advertising.
September 5, 2026
Building near an airport or on land qualified D-G
The five grounds on which no permit at all is issued near an airport, and the six criteria for building on land affected by a public-interest project.
September 6, 2026
Opening a food truck park: districts, toilets, distances and rubbish
One truck per hundred square metres, twenty metres from housing, one set of toilets per four trucks and a total ban on loudspeakers.
September 6, 2026
District C-T Tourist Commercial: commerce below, housing above and a gallery on the pavement
What is allowed in tourist commercial zones, the two intensity levels, the mandatory gallery and why a nightclub carries a public hearing.
September 6, 2026
District DTS: everything by location consultation, except one house per property
The district with no fixed parameter table: occupation and gross floor area are determined in light of the proposed development.
September 6, 2026
Bathing resorts, marinas and camps on the coast: what the regulation demands
A bathing resort’s nine minimum facilities, the ban on segregating in coastal complexes and its only two exceptions.
September 6, 2026
How a sign is measured and installed: size, twelve inches and eight clear feet
Each face counts separately, you may not project more than twelve inches over the pavement, and every sign needs its own electric meter.
September 6, 2026
Billboards must give free space: public service advertisements and Police alerts
Up to five public service spaces depending on how many billboards are held, and a ten-thousand-dollar fine for refusing an Amber Alert.
September 6, 2026
Signs in a residential zone: twelve feet for the office, thirty-two for the "For sale"
In a residential district signs are not permitted save where a use is approved, and each permitted use has its exact size in square feet.
September 6, 2026
Business signs: thirty-five per cent at the front and fifty on the sides
The ground sign depends on the lot’s frontage, and with under twenty-five feet of frontage none is permitted.
September 6, 2026
Sign and sign-maker registry: ten dollars, a two-hundred penalty and the sign-maker licence
Registering a sign costs ten dollars and not registering it costs two hundred. The sign-maker licence is fifty a year and demands two policies.
September 6, 2026
Signs in tourist, agricultural and conservation districts: one sign only and thirty-five feet
In twelve districts the Regulation allows one sign per building and one on the ground, at 35% of façade and 35 feet tall.
September 6, 2026
Tourist Interest Zones: no billboards, cross-street banners or commercial tarpaulins
In a Tourist Interest Zone the sign runs parallel to the façade, stays under 25% of the area and needs the Tourism Company’s recommendation.
September 6, 2026
Advertisements on government land: 672 square feet, sixty feet tall and 500 of spacing
Size, quantity, spacing and height of ground advertisements by the road’s lanes, in Rule 8.7.11 of the Joint Regulation.
September 6, 2026
Signs facing a National Highway System road: fifteen feet of setback and five hundred of spacing
Only in commercial, industrial districts and non-zoned area; nothing within 500 feet of an exit nor 300 after an entrance.
September 6, 2026
Licence to sell gasoline: wholesale, retail and Treasury enforcement
Selling gasoline to a dealer needs a wholesale licence and a bond; selling to the consumer needs a retail licence on display.
September 6, 2026
The supply contract: periodic deliveries and their rules
Ten years maximum from the first delivery. With no agreed term, it ends by effective notice never shorter than thirty days.
September 9, 2026
A supply delivery failed: rescind, or merely suspend
You rescind if the breach is significant and reasonably destroys confidence in later deliveries. If not, only suspension lies, with notice.
September 9, 2026
Brokerage: when the commission is earned even if you close the deal yourself
If the broker has begun work and you close on your own, or they found a taker and you back out, the fee is owed anyway.
September 9, 2026
Agency contract: one month’s notice per year, up to six
With no term, either side may end it giving one month’s notice per year in force, capped at six. Without notice, the lost profits are paid.
September 9, 2026
Commercial agent: you are paid monthly and answered within 15 days
Article 1426 requires the principal to pay monthly and to communicate acceptance or rejection within a period that must never be less than fifteen days.
September 9, 2026
Agent’s commission: earned when the contract is perfected
Article 1430 fixes when the commission is earned and when the principal’s fifteen-day silence counts as acceptance of the order.
September 9, 2026
Your agency ended: the clientele you left behind can be paid for
Article 1435 recognises a remuneration for the agent whose work keeps producing advantages for the principal, capped at one year of net remunerations.
September 9, 2026
Distributing a brand: what the maker owes you and what you owe it
The Civil Code places eight obligations on the grantor and eight on the concessionaire, and by default bars sub-concessionaires and assigning the contract.
September 9, 2026
They pull your distribution: they must buy your stock back
Article 1446 requires the grantor to buy the new products and spare parts left at the end of the notice period, at ordinary sale prices.
September 10, 2026
Civil partnership: unregistered, it is no separate legal person
Article 1448 of the Civil Code says the partnership has no legal personality separate from its partners unless it is registered.
September 10, 2026
Partnership debts: partners answer with their own estate
Article 1451 makes partners answer with their personal estate subsidiarily, jointly and without limit, and voids any agreement excluding one from the profits.
September 10, 2026
Partnership with no term: it can last the partners’ whole lives
Article 1452 gives four possible durations where nothing was agreed, and 1453 allows early dissolution for just cause.
September 10, 2026
Standing surety: never more than the debtor, but costs are included
Article 1475 bars the surety from owing more than the debtor, and 1474 folds accessories, costs and fees into the suretyship.
September 10, 2026
Getting out of a suretyship: retract by notice, but only going forward
Article 1478 lets an indeterminate-time suretyship be retracted at any moment; from the notice it stops covering new obligations.
September 10, 2026
Standing surety: if it is not in writing, the suretyship is void
Article 1482 voids a suretyship not agreed in writing, and 1481 bars the surety from excusing itself on the debtor’s incapacity.
September 10, 2026
They come at you as surety: the debtor’s property goes first
Article 1483 makes the creditor exhaust the debtor’s property before turning to the surety. Article 1484 lists five exceptions.
September 10, 2026
Sued as a surety: you also get to raise the debtor’s defences
Article 1485 lets the surety raise the debtor’s defences even if waived, and 1486 strips force from a judgement it was never notified of.
September 10, 2026
You paid as surety: you recover from the debtor with interest from that day
Article 1489 subrogates the surety into the creditor’s rights and lets it demand interest from the day of payment plus losses suffered.
September 10, 2026
You overpaid as co-surety: you recover from the others, but share the loss
Article 1493 subrogates the overpaying co-surety against the others, and 1494 spreads the insolvent one’s loss among all — including it.
September 10, 2026
They extended the debtor’s deadline without asking you: your suretyship ends
Article 1495 extinguishes the suretyship on an extension given without the surety’s consent, unconsented novation, and creditor negligence in excussion.
September 10, 2026
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