Municipal sales tax is filed and paid in SURI from July 2026

Before July 2026, a merchant filed two things: the state Monthly Sales Tax Return in SURI and the Municipal Monthly Sales Tax Return with COFIM or the municipality. Consolidation removes the second for the 73 participating municipalities: municipal information is reported inside the same Monthly Sales Tax Return and payment is made through SURI. Treasury says expressly that once the return is filed in SURI, the merchant need not send a copy, notice or communication to COFIM: the information is made available for COFIM and the municipalities to validate compliance. Attribution to the municipality is done automatically by the system, grouping each location’s taxable and exempt sales by the address and municipality shown in the Merchant Registry. The merchant does not have to distribute or manually assign transactions to specific municipalities.

It applies to every merchant with a Sales and Use account in SURI. What changes depends on where your locations are: if they are in any of the 73 participating municipalities, municipal sales tax is determined in the Monthly Sales Tax Return and paid through SURI, and no separate return is filed with COFIM or the municipality. If they are in Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez or San Juan — the five non-participating municipalities — municipal sales tax will not be calculated in the SURI return, even though the return requires certain information about all municipalities, and it remains the merchant’s responsibility to keep filing the Municipal Monthly Sales Tax Return with each of those municipalities using the forms, platforms and procedures they establish. A merchant with locations in both kinds of municipality does both.

• Having the Merchant Registry up to date with every location: municipal attribution is done by the address and municipality shown there.Verified against the official source
• Filing the Monthly Sales Tax Return from the Sales and Use – State account; the Municipal account cannot file or amend.Verified against the official source
• Using the most recent import template available in SURI under the period you are filing, if you use a template.Verified against the official source
• Restoring the portion of the bond used in import transactions during the period: without it the filing cannot be completed.Verified against the official source

• Monthly Sales and Use and Import Tax Return, Form SC 2915, in its new version revised 14 March 2025.
• Schedule 7: Summary of Sales by Municipality.
• Schedule 8: Inventory Use and Self-consumption.
• Schedule 9: Reconciliation of Tangible Personal Property and Exempt Sales at the Municipal Level.

1. 1

   Step 1: First check which municipalities your locations are in

   There are five non-participating municipalities: Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez and San Juan. For locations in those, municipal sales tax will not be calculated in the SURI return, and you remain responsible for filing the Municipal Monthly Sales Tax Return with each of those municipalities, using their forms, platforms and procedures. For the other 73, municipal sales tax is determined in the SURI return and nothing is filed with COFIM or the municipality.

2. 2

   Step 2: You already have two accounts: note which does what

   Since 1 July 2026 the system automatically split your Sales and Use account in two, with nothing required from you. Sales and Use – State is the main one: from there you file the Monthly Sales Tax Return and its amendments, get copies, pay state sales tax and update your Merchant Registry, including adding locations, correcting information or closing one no longer operating. Sales and Use – Municipal is used only to reflect and pay the municipal balance; you do not file or amend from there. You could see the municipal account from 1 July, but could not transact in it until 1 August 2026.

3. 3

   Step 3: Before filing, update the Merchant Registry

   This is the step that breaks the return if skipped. Attribution to the municipality is done by the system based on the address and municipality shown in the Merchant Registry for each location. Treasury illustrates it with an example: a merchant with a location in Ponce who opens a second in Arecibo during July 2026 must add Arecibo to the Registry before filing; if they do not, the system cannot correctly attribute Arecibo’s information and the merchant will not have properly reported that location’s municipal information — and there is no longer a separate COFIM or municipal return to catch it.

4. 4

   Step 4: File from the State account

   Log into SURI with your username and password. In the Summary section, find the Sales and Use – State tax account and, under the Account option, select the Forms, periods and other options link. In the Forms menu, find the tax period you are filing and click File now. Follow the instructions. Once submitted, the system sends a confirmation and offers a Print option; Treasury urges you to keep that document in your records. For periods before July 2026 the system will only let you file or amend the state portion.

5. 5

   Step 5: Expect line items you did not report before

   Certain items not considered for state sales tax are needed to determine the municipal one, and you need them per location: taxable food and food ingredients for municipal sales tax purposes; sales to resellers holding a valid Reseller and Municipal Sales Tax Exemption Certificate; inventory use; and inventory self-consumption. That information is carried automatically into the new schedules, so you do not have to make additional distributions or manually assign transactions to municipalities.

6. 6

   Step 6: If you use a template, download the new version

   You can enter the data directly in the return or use the import template — Return Template — that appears when you start filing. If you use it, make sure to download the most recent version available in SURI under the period you are filing. Treasury warns that using older template versions can cause errors loading the information or prevent the return from being completed correctly.

7. 7

   Step 7: Pay twice: state from one account, municipal from the other

   From the July 2026 period, state and municipal sales tax payments are made separately and only electronically in SURI. The Sales and Use – Municipal account will show the balance from Line 14(e) — Total Municipal Tax Payable on the filed return. Filing does not replace paying. Treasury illustrates it: if after filing you owe $2,000 state and $400 municipal, you go to the State account, select Make a payment and pay the $2,000; then you go to the Municipal account and repeat to pay the $400 in a single payment. When paying you can choose Period payment, tied to the period and the filing, or Account payment, applied against any accumulated balance in that account.

8. 8

   Step 8: You cannot pay one municipality in particular

   Municipal sales tax appears as a single debt in the municipal account, and the merchant makes one payment covering all participating municipalities included in the return. You cannot make individual payments per municipality or select which one a payment applies to: the system internally attributes the payment to each municipality based on the return, and issues no receipts confirming payment to a specific municipality, only evidence of the period’s municipal payment. If you make a partial payment, it is applied proportionally across all participating municipalities in the return. Treasury gives the example: with $150 attributable to Villalba and $250 to Naguabo, a partial payment of $150 does not clear Villalba’s debt but proportionally reduces the total balance.

9. 9

   Step 9: And what goes unpaid shows up on your debt certificate

   If you do not pay the full municipal sales tax determined in the return, the outstanding balance keeps showing in the Sales and Use – Municipal account and accrues interest, surcharges and penalties under the Code until paid in full. And Treasury says it expressly: these debts will form part of the Debt Certification, Form SC 6096, and will be subject to the applicable collection processes. That is the same certificate you will be asked for when seeking incentives, licences and permits.

10. 10

    Step 10: Separate cases: admissions, imports and old periods

    Admissions: Schedule 5 added a column for the physical address where the event will be held, to identify the municipality the municipal sales tax belongs to; Carta Circular 23-10 remains in force for state sales tax and, from July 2026, also applies to the municipal tax of participating municipalities. Imports: consolidation does not change the requirement to restore the portion of the bond used in the period’s import transactions, and that restoration must be completed to finish filing. Periods before July 2026: all filings or amendments of the municipal return follow the procedure in force with COFIM or the municipality; SURI does not accept them.

SURI, at suri.hacienda.pr.gov. All state and municipal sales tax payments determined in the new Monthly Return are made only electronically through SURI: Treasury says expressly that in-person payments will not be accepted at the Department or at any of the participating municipalities. For locations in Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez and San Juan, municipal filing and payment remain with each municipality.

• Filing the July 2026 period the old way, with COFIM or the municipality.
• Not adding a new location to the Merchant Registry before filing: the system cannot attribute its municipal sales tax.
• Trying to file or amend from the Sales and Use – Municipal account, which is only for paying.
• Filing and assuming that settled the payment: they are two steps and two accounts.
• Making a partial payment thinking it clears one municipality’s debt.
• Using an old version of the import template.
• Having a location in Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Mayagüez or San Juan and stopping filing with that municipality.
• Trying to pay in person: only electronic payments through SURI are accepted.
• Not restoring the bond used on imports, which prevents completing the filing.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov

• Treasury — Sales and Use Tax

  hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov