Puerto Rico Taxpayer Bill of Rights and the Taxpayer Advocate

Dealing with the Departamento de Hacienda (Puerto Rico's Treasury Department, "Hacienda") does not mean giving up your rights. The Código de Rentas Internas (Internal Revenue Code of Puerto Rico) of 2011 includes a Taxpayer Bill of Rights (Carta de Derechos del Contribuyente) in Section 1001.01. In Section 1001.02, it creates an office inside Hacienda to enforce it: the Office for the Protection of Taxpayer Rights, which Hacienda calls the Office of the Procurador del Contribuyente (Taxpayer Advocate's office).

This guide summarizes those rights, explains when the Taxpayer Advocate can help you and how to file a claim. The legal text cited is the version in effect according to the Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto (Office of Management and Budget), as revised on May 28, 2026.

When these rights apply

Section 1001.01 applies to interviews, investigations, refund and credit claims, and other dealings you have with Hacienda. The section also requires Hacienda to guarantee due process of law in every investigation, even when it is done electronically or by mail, including an initial interview if you request one.

Your rights, in plain words

Treatment and confidentiality

• Respectful, considerate and impartial treatment from all Hacienda officials and employees.
• Confidentiality of the information you or your representative submit. No one outside Hacienda can see it without your authorization, unless the Code expressly allows it.
• Knowing why the information is requested, how it will be used and what happens if you do not provide it. In an investigation, you should only be asked for information relevant to the case.
• No discrimination based on race, color, sex, birth, origin or social status, or on political, religious or associational beliefs.

Interviews and investigations

• The interview must be at a reasonable time and place, coordinated with the Hacienda employee.
• The interview must not be used to harass or intimidate you.
• At the start of an administrative investigation, you must receive a clear explanation of the process and your rights.
• You must be told in advance if they will record the interview or hearing, and you can get a copy of the recording if you request it and pay its cost.
• In investigations of possible crimes, you must be advised of your right not to incriminate yourself and to remain silent.

Representation

• Being assisted by an attorney, accountant, CPA or other person authorized to represent taxpayers before Hacienda.
• Consulting your representative at any time during the interview, or ending it even after it has started.
• Granting a written power of attorney so another person can represent you. For this you use Form SC 2745, Poder y Declaración de Representación (Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative). Hacienda published a new version in 2026 (Boletín Informativo de Rentas Internas 26-03, an Internal Revenue Informative Bulletin). Hacienda must let you know if your representative delays or acts negligently in your case.

Notices and payment

• Being notified in writing of the nature of your tax liability in the proceedings.
• Being notified in writing of any adjustment that adds interest, penalties and surcharges, with the exact amount and the grounds.
• Paying what the law requires and, if you cannot pay everything on time, entering a payment plan.

You can waive these rights, but only if you do so voluntarily and knowingly.

Complaint about how the Code is interpreted

Paragraph (p) adds a little-known right. If you disagree with the interpretation the Secretary of Hacienda has given to a provision of the Code, you can file an administrative complaint (querella administrativa). It must be based on a real controversy, not a hypothetical one, that affects you directly. Until the Oficina de Apelaciones Administrativas (Office of Administrative Appeals) decides, the Secretary cannot take collection actions on that controversy.

The Office of the Procurador del Contribuyente

Section 1001.02 gives the office these duties:

1. Make sure the Taxpayer Bill of Rights is followed.
2. Facilitate dealings between the taxpayer and Hacienda in complaints about rights violations.
3. Seek quick solutions to problems that cannot be resolved through Hacienda's ordinary procedures.
4. Issue Taxpayer Assistance Orders (Órdenes de Ayuda al Contribuyente), on its own initiative or at your request, if it finds that you are suffering or about to suffer significant irreparable harm because of a violation of the Bill of Rights.

The Code defines that harm as a significant deprivation caused, or about to be caused, by Hacienda's improper administration of the tax laws. A mere financial or personal inconvenience is not enough. An employee who does not comply with a Taxpayer Assistance Order may face disciplinary action.

When it can help you

According to Hacienda's brochure, the Taxpayer Advocate's services are aimed at taxpayers who are not satisfied with the service they received, or who believe a decision by the office they visited seems wrong, unfair, arbitrary or discriminatory. Some examples:

• You have gone months without an answer on a matter, and the ordinary process is not moving.
• An employee treated you disrespectfully or intimidated you in an interview.
• A collection action is causing you serious harm, and you believe Hacienda made a mistake.

How to file a claim

1. Download and complete Form SC 2836, Solicitud de Ayuda al Contribuyente (Request for Taxpayer Assistance), available on the Taxpayer Advocate's page at hacienda.pr.gov (the page is in Spanish).
2. Sign it and attach whatever evidence you have.
3. Send it by fax to (787) 725-9668, as Hacienda says on its page.
4. If someone else represents you, include Form SC 2745.

Hacienda's brochure (revised in November 2019) adds that the request must be filed within 30 business days from when you learned you were suffering, or about to suffer, the harm. It also says that if the case worker asks you for more documents, you must turn them in within 10 business days, or the claim is closed.

When the office receives the claim, it investigates the harm claimed and, if appropriate, issues a Taxpayer Assistance Order, under Regulation 9044.

Contact

According to the Taxpayer Advocate's page on Hacienda's portal, you can write to procuradordelcontribuyente@hacienda.pr.gov, call (787) 977-6622 or send a fax to (787) 725-9668. The 2019 brochure places the office in the Edificio Intendente Ramírez, 10 Paseo Covadonga, in Old San Juan, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Confirm by phone before you go. For other channels, see how to contact Hacienda.

If the problem is with the IRS

Puerto Rico's Bill of Rights applies to Hacienda. If your situation is with the federal IRS, for example over the child tax credit or self-employment Social Security tax, the rights and channels are federal. Start with our guide on Puerto Rico residents and the IRS and with irs.gov (this link opens the IRS site in Spanish, and you can switch it to English).

787TAX is an independent guide. It is not Puerto Rico's Departamento de Hacienda, the CRIM or the IRS. This page is general information, not tax or legal advice. Example figures are hypothetical. Found an error? Tell us.