How to request an extension to file your tax return in Puerto Rico

An extension is a request for additional time to meet the obligation to file your income tax return. Hacienda explains that when it is requested and approved, the taxpayer gets additional time to file. For individuals, estates and trusts the extension is automatic: there is no wait for someone to evaluate it and no need to justify why you need it; filing the request on time is enough. What the extension does not do — and Hacienda says so twice on its own page — is move the payment date.

Hacienda states the extension may be requested by any taxpayer who needs additional time to file their return. There is no list of acceptable reasons and no special circumstance to demonstrate. What does determine your case is the deadline that applies to you, because it is not the same for everyone: it depends on the type of taxpayer and on whether you determine your income on a calendar-year or fiscal-year basis.

• Filing the request on or before the deadline that applies to your taxpayer type: Hacienda states the automatic extension request must be filed no later than the date prescribed for filing the return.Verified against the official source
• Paying the tax owed together with the request, if you owe anything. Hacienda warns the extension does not extend payment and that the tax must be paid along with the automatic extension request to avoid accruing interest, surcharges and late-payment penalties.Verified against the official source
• Knowing whether you file on a calendar-year or fiscal-year basis, because the deadline changes: Hacienda sets the alternate date at the fifteenth day of the corresponding month following the close of the fiscal year.Verified against the official source
• If you are a partnership that elected to be taxed as a corporation, selecting on the form the block for Corporation or for Corporation under the Puerto Rico Tax Incentives Program, as applicable.Verified against the official source

• Form SC 2644, which Hacienda names as the form to request an extension and publishes for download on its request-an-extension page.
• Payment of the estimated tax you owe, if applicable, to accompany the request.

1. 1

   Step 1: Work out what you owe before requesting the extension

   This is the step people skip and the one that costs money. The extension gives you time to file, not to pay. Hacienda is explicit: if you have tax to pay with the return, that tax must be paid together with the automatic extension request, precisely to avoid accruing interest, surcharges and late-payment penalties. Even without the return finished, you need a reasonable estimate of what you owe.

2. 2

   Step 2: Confirm your deadline, which is not always April 15

   Hacienda publishes different dates by taxpayer type, and only one of them is April 15. Individuals, estates, trusts, corporations, nonprofits and several other figures fall on April 15. But partnerships, special partnerships, corporations of individuals and grantor trusts fall on March 15 — a month earlier. Foreign corporations without an office in Puerto Rico, persons subject to Act 154-2010, and non-resident foreign individuals fall on June 15. Employee trusts, on July 31.

3. 3

   Step 3: Adjust the date if you file on a fiscal-year basis

   All the dates above are for those who determine income on a calendar-year basis. If you file on a fiscal-year basis, the date is calculated from your year-end: the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the close for those who would go to April 15, of the third month for the March 15 group, of the sixth month for the June 15 group, and the last day of the seventh month following for employee trusts.

4. 4

   Step 4: Complete Form SC 2644

   That is the form Hacienda names for requesting the extension, and it publishes it for download on its own page. If you are a partnership that elected to be taxed as a corporation, Hacienda asks you to select the block for Corporation or for Corporation under the Puerto Rico Tax Incentives Program, as applicable: that detail is easy to overlook and it determines how your request is classified.

5. 5

   Step 5: File on time and keep the proof

   The extension is automatic only if the request arrives on or before the deadline. A late request does not give you the six months. Keep the proof of filing and of the payment you included: if Hacienda later notifies you of a late-filing charge, that evidence is what lets you respond.

Hacienda publishes Form SC 2644 for download on its request-an-extension page, within the individual Income Tax section. Since Hacienda concentrates tax filings in SURI, confirm in your own account whether the request should be filed there or on paper for your taxpayer type.

• Believing the extension gives you until October to pay. It extends filing, not payment, and interest, surcharges and penalties run from the original date.
• Requesting the extension without paying anything when tax is in fact owed, instead of accompanying the request with the estimated payment.
• Being a partnership, special partnership, corporation of individuals or grantor trust and going by April 15, when the date is March 15.
• Filing on a fiscal-year basis and using the calendar-year dates.
• Filing the request after the deadline and expecting the automatic extension to apply anyway.
• Not keeping proof that the extension was filed, and having nothing to answer a later notice with.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov

• Extensions — process and requirements

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov

• Request an extension — Form SC 2644

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov