DDEC marketing incentive: up to $10,000 to promote your business

This incentive is administered by the DDEC’s Trade and Export Program, and its application and reimbursement mechanism is set by Carta Circular DDEC Núm. 2025-014, issued 9 October 2025. Its stated purpose is to support PyMEs in marketing their products and services in Puerto Rico and abroad, and to develop the Local Business in that marketing. The programme is funded by an allocation from the DDEC’s Economic Programs and Incentives Fund and is subject to the availability of funds. It is different from Capital Semilla, which the same Program also administers: Capital Semilla pays for equipment, rent, improvements and salaries of new jobs; this one pays for marketing. And there is a rule connecting them: a PyME that already received an incentive under Impulso PyMEs, Capital Semilla or this same incentive must wait twelve months from the expiry of the relevant contract before becoming eligible again.

A PyME is a business with average sales of $3,000,000 or less over the three previous tax years and 25 or fewer full-time employees, and it must have at least one full-time employee on payroll. A Local Business, under Regulation MO-DEC-015, is one whose majority shareholders were born in Puerto Rico, or were not born in Puerto Rico but are US citizens or foreigners with five consecutive years of residence in Puerto Rico and hold more than 50% of the shares. The DDEC page names as eligible the commercial sector established in Puerto Rico, services offered locally, and PyMEs in food and beverage, retail, tourism and technology, among others. And it names as not eligible: speculative investment companies such as real estate investors, owners of property rented for residential use, financial entities and residents’ associations; entities operating adult entertainment or massage parlours, excluding aesthetics businesses that include massage services; gasoline retailers; entities whose main business is selling alcohol; entities involved in lobbying or political activities; entities involved in religious activities; and — this surprises many people — innovative PyMEs, understood as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, bioeconomy (pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices), environmental sciences, energy and technology, or a critical supplier replacing imports or exporting goods or services. The DDEC has a separate incentive for innovative PyMEs.

• Annual sales not exceeding $3,000,000 and a payroll of 25 or fewer full-time employees, with at least one full-time employee.Verified against the official source
• Being a Local Business: majority shareholders born in Puerto Rico, or US citizens or foreigners with five consecutive years of residence in Puerto Rico holding more than 50% of the shares.Verified against the official source
• Not holding a tax exemption decree under Ley 60-2019 or earlier incentive laws.Verified against the official source
• Committing to use the logo of the promotional campaign the Government is running when the incentive is approved.Verified against the official source

• Application Form.
• Evidence of annual sales: prior-year financial statement, sales volume report per the Municipal License, or a copy of the return filed with Hacienda.
• Hacienda No-Debt Certification (Form SC-6096) and Certification of Tax Return Filing for the last five years (Form SC-6088).
• Copy of the Hacienda Merchant Registry, IVU (Form SC 2918).
• No-Debt Certification from DTRH for unemployment and disability, and from the State Insurance Fund.
• CRIM No-Debt Certification for movable and immovable property for all concepts, and ASUME No-Debt Certification.
• Certificate of Incorporation and Good Standing Certification from the Department of State, evidence of the EIN, current photo ID, Municipal License and Permiso Único or Carta Consulta.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm you are a Local Business and a PyME

   These are two separate tests and you must pass both. PyME is about size: average sales of $3,000,000 or less over the three previous tax years and 25 or fewer full-time employees, with at least one on full-time payroll. Local Business is about ownership: the majority shareholders must be born in Puerto Rico, or US citizens or foreigners with five consecutive years of residence in Puerto Rico, and hold more than 50% of the shares.

2. 2

   Step 2: Check you are not on the exclusion list

   The DDEC excludes speculative investment companies such as real estate investors and owners of property rented for residential use, financial entities and residents’ associations; adult entertainment and massage parlours, except aesthetics businesses that include massage; gasoline retailers; businesses whose main line is selling alcohol; lobbying or political entities; entities involved in religious activities; and innovative PyMEs, which have their own separate incentive. On the tax decree, both of the DDEC’s statements have to be reported: its web page says flatly that PyMEs with a Ley 60-2019 decree are not eligible, while Carta Circular 2025-014 says the same but adds "except for young entrepreneurs’ businesses with a decree". If you are a young entrepreneur with a decree, ask before ruling yourself out.

3. 3

   Step 3: Plan the spend: the list of uses is broad

   The incentive can be used for five things. Digital marketing: content marketing, promotional emails, creating internet material such as ads, videos and blogs, mobile promotion, affiliate marketing and other previously approved online promotional media. Website: creating or improving the company’s page. Social media: posting content, improving it, running paid ads and using influencers. Search engines: optimizing the position of your company’s website or of the product or service brand. And local product exhibitions: taking part in promotional events where your products are exhibited or demonstrations or tastings are offered, including the cost of the space, buying or renting the display stand and renting the equipment needed to exhibit.

4. 4

   Step 4: Gather the papers

   For the portal application the DDEC asks for: application form; evidence of annual sales, which may be the prior year’s financial statement, the sales volume report per the Municipal License or a copy of the return filed with Hacienda; Hacienda no-debt certification (SC-6096); certification of tax return filing (SC-6088), and separately for the last five years; copy of the IVU Merchant Registry (SC 2918); no-debt certification from the Labor Department for unemployment and disability; no-debt certification from the State Insurance Fund; CRIM no-debt certification for movable and immovable property for all concepts; ASUME no-debt certification; certificate of incorporation and Good Standing certification from the Department of State; evidence of the EIN; current legal photo ID; Municipal License; and Permiso Único or Carta Consulta. If a corporation, all documents must be in the corporation’s name, including the Certificate of Organization.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you owe, present the payment plan

   The DDEC says expressly that a business owing any agency must present evidence of a payment plan and of complying with it, or evidence of an administrative review. Owing does not automatically disqualify you; owing without a current plan does. Only complete proposals are evaluated, and subject to the availability of the fund.

6. 6

   Step 6: File and watch the 90-day clock

   The application is made through the DDEC portal. The PyME has a 90-day term to complete the required documentation. If the DDEC asks you to correct information already provided, the 90-day term is interrupted until you comply, and once the information is verified the remaining days resume. Each application is evaluated on four criteria: meeting the annual sales requirement of under $3,000,000; meeting all no-debt certifications; employing 25 or fewer full-time people; and the proposal containing well-defined objectives and achievable metrics.

7. 7

   Step 7: If approved, you have 30 days to sign

   Applications are evaluated by a Committee that decides whether the proposal is recommended or denied. Once approved by the Committee, the business is notified through the portal or by email, and has 30 days from the notification date to accept the terms and sign the incentive contract, which will run for 18 months. If denied, the DDEC Secretary issues an electronic notification with a brief explanation of the reasons and information on the rights and processes for requesting reconsideration.

8. 8

   Step 8: Spend after recording and bill quarterly

   As with Capital Semilla, the Carta Circular is categorical: expenses before the Incentive Contract is recorded at the Oficina del Contralor are not reimbursable. Reimbursement is 50% of the expense incurred, in line with the approved amount and the established uses. You must submit an invoice addressed to the DDEC, signed with the certification that no DDEC public servant has an interest in the profits, with original receipts in the business’s name. The authorized payment methods are check, manager’s check, credit card, PayPal, ATH Móvil Business and web cash; cash and money order payments are not reimbursed. Reimbursement may only be requested quarterly, and six months without a request cancels the contract automatically.

9. 9

   Step 9: And you can apply again when it ends

   The business may apply again once the contract term ends. If you had been granted it before, the DDEC will check whether you complied with delivering the Closing Report or Questionnaire included in the proposal, and whether your metrics show growth in the commercial operation: job creation, increased sales, business expansion or new markets. The Carta Circular adds that you must wait twelve months from contract expiry if the previous incentive was Impulso PyMEs, Capital Semilla or this same one.

The application is filed online on the DDEC portal. For clarifications, the DDEC Central Office answers at 787-758-4747, extensions 3314, 5515 and 5517, and at premprende@ddec.pr.gov, or the Trade and Export Program staff at the Centro Único de Servicios (CUS), Ave. Roosevelt #355, first level, San Juan. The DDEC’s physical address is 355 F. D. Roosevelt Ave, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918.

• Thinking they give you $10,000 in cash: it is a 50% reimbursement of spending you make first.
• Spending on marketing before the contract is recorded at the Oficina del Contralor.
• Counting on the $10,000 cap without looking at the net income table, which gives most businesses $8,000.
• Paying the designer or agency in cash: those payments are not reimbursed.
• Ruling yourself out for holding a tax decree without asking, if you are a young entrepreneur.
• Applying as an innovative PyME, which the DDEC excludes from this incentive and serves in another.
• Letting the 90-day term to complete the documentation lapse.
• Once approved, letting the 30 days to sign the contract pass.
• Not committing to use the Government’s promotional campaign logo, which is an express requirement.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Comercio (DDEC)

  DDEC

  www.ddec.pr.gov

• Carta Circular DDEC Núm. 2025-014 — PyME incentives

  ddec

  docs.pr.gov