Plate fees, excise and parking sign: what the law exempts on a veteran’s vehicle

They are two exemptions people confuse because they live in the same article of the act. The first attaches to the vehicle: it covers only automobiles provided to the disabled veteran by the Veterans Administration or with its help, and that is why it carries conditions on what happens to that car afterwards. The second attaches to age: any veteran over sixty, whether or not they have a service-related disability, is exempt from a list of fees paid at CESCO. If you are a veteran over sixty and have never asked for anything because you assumed the exemptions were only for disabled veterans, the act says otherwise in so many words.

For the excise and licence-fee exemption: being a disabled veteran and that the automobile was provided for their personal use by the Veterans Administration or with its help — the act also uses the formula “by or with the help of the Department of Veterans Affairs” for the licence-fee exemption. For the removable parking sign: being a disabled veteran; the act obliges DTOP to provide it. For the exemptions on transfers, licences, titles and driver’s licence renewal: being a veteran over sixty years of age, and the act expressly clarifies that it applies even if they are not classified as having a service-related disability.

• For the excise exemption: that the automobile was provided to the disabled veteran for personal use by the Veterans Administration or with its help.Verified against the official source
• For the replacement to be exempt too: that the automobile being replaced has been in the veteran’s possession for personal use for a period of no less than four years.Verified against the official source
• Exception: if the automobile to be replaced became unusable for fortuitous causes not attributable to its owner’s negligence, the replacement is exempt even if four years have not elapsed.Verified against the official source
• For the transfer, licence, title and driver’s licence renewal exemptions: being a veteran over sixty, even if not classified as having a service-related disability.Verified against the official source

• The evidence of service the act requires: the honourable discharge or separation certificate, or a certification from the Federal Veterans Administration or the corresponding federal authority.
• The removable parking sign with a distinguishing symbol, which DTOP must provide to every disabled veteran.

1. 1

   Step 1: If you are over sixty, start there

   It is the easiest part to claim and the one most people miss. The act provides that veterans over sixty years of age, even if not classified as having a service-related disability, shall be entitled to exemption from paying the fees for the transfer of vehicle licences, ex parte transfers — including the inspections the Department of Transportation and Public Works makes for those purposes —, applications for licences and titles, and the renewal of driver’s licences. Take it in writing when you go to CESCO, along with your evidence of service.

2. 2

   Step 2: If the car came from the Veterans Administration

   The act exempts from the vehicle excise tax automobiles provided to disabled veterans for their personal use by the Veterans Administration or with its help. And it exempts from paying licence fees — the plate sticker — automobiles provided to disabled veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs or with its help, under Act No. 22 of 7 January 2000. Note the shared condition: the vehicle must have been provided through that route. It is not an exemption for being a disabled veteran and buying any car.

3. 3

   Step 3: Count four years before selling

   This is the rule that costs money if ignored. The replacement of the automobile acquired with the exemption is also entitled to it, provided the automobile being replaced has been in the veteran’s possession for personal use for no less than four years. And if the owner of an automobile that benefited from the exemption sells, transfers or otherwise alienates it before those four years of possession for personal use expire, the acquirer is obliged to pay the tax on that automobile before taking possession of it, and the tax is computed by applying the rate to the taxable price on which the exemption was granted minus the depreciation suffered. There is a written exception: if the automobile being replaced became unusable for fortuitous causes not attributable to its owner’s negligence, the replacement is entitled to the exemption even if four years have not elapsed.

4. 4

   Step 4: Ask DTOP for the removable sign

   The act does not leave it as a possibility: the Department of Transportation and Public Works shall provide every disabled veteran with a removable parking sign bearing a distinguishing symbol identifying the automobile as a disabled veteran’s. And it adds that the provisions of Section 6.19(a)(22) of the Vehicle and Traffic Act of 2000, relating to parking, shall not apply to disabled veterans who have been issued a licence and a removable sign under this provision. It is a different sign from the one for persons with disabilities; if you need that one, it is a separate process and has its own guide on this site.

5. 5

   Step 5: And if you sell a plate-fee-exempt car, say so

   The act covers that case too: if the owner of an automobile exempt from licence fees under this provision sells, transfers or in any way alienates it, the acquirer is obliged to pay the corresponding fees as of that year. Put another way, the exemption does not travel with the car: it travels with you.

Licence fees, transfers, titles and driver’s licence renewal are handled at CESCO, in the Department of Transportation and Public Works, which is also the body that must provide the removable sign to the disabled veteran. The vehicle excise exemption falls to the Treasury Department. The official text of Act 203-2007 and its translation are in SUTRA.

• Believing vehicle exemptions are only for disabled veterans: the transfer and renewal ones cover every veteran over sixty.
• Assuming any car belonging to a disabled veteran is exempt: the act requires it to have been provided by the Veterans Administration or acquired with its help.
• Selling the exempt car before four years without warning the buyer they must pay the tax before taking possession.
• Requesting an exempt replacement before four years without the fortuitous cause the act requires.
• Not asking DTOP for the removable sign, which the act obliges it to provide to the disabled veteran.
• Confusing the disabled veteran’s sign with the persons-with-disabilities sign, which is a separate process.
• Citing Section 2010 of the 1994 Code at a Treasury counter, when the 2011 Code governs today.
• Assuming the plate-fee exemption passes to the buyer: the act says the acquirer pays from that year.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina del Procurador del Veterano Puertorriqueño

  Procurador del Veterano

  sutra.oslpr.org

• SUTRA record of Act 203-2007

  Oficina de Servicios Legislativos

  sutra.oslpr.org