(a) In order to ensure compliance with the terms, provisions, and purposes of §§ 32001 et seq. of this title, the Secretary is hereby directed to prescribe by regulations, circular letter, information bulletin, or any other determination of a public nature, the Sales and Use Tax (IVU, Spanish acronym) Oversight Plan, directed to increase the capture and collection of such tax. The oversight plan shall meet, in addition to any other that the Secretary may deem necessary, the following requirements and conditions:
(1) Increase the number of commercial locations required to install, maintain, and use a fiscal terminal, application, or other electronic oversight method at their points of sale.
(2) Establish the mechanisms whereby merchants shall enter any transaction made at the point of sale, regardless of whether it is a taxable item, or the payment method, in the fiscal terminal, application, or other electronic oversight method.
(3) Encourage citizen participation in the sales and use tax capture and collection oversight efforts, through the following mechanisms:
(A) Increase the frequency, amount, and nature of the prizes awarded under the Sales and Use Tax Oversight Plan, including the ability of citizens to win instant prizes and to accumulate points to be redeemed for the payment of fines, penalties, or duties imposed by the agencies of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the acquisition of goods or services from participating businesses.
(B) Conduct an ongoing and effective media campaign directed to:
(i) Raise consumer’s awareness on the importance of their citizen responsibility of collaborating in the sales and use tax capture and collection oversight efforts.
(ii) Inform consumers of the benefits and prizes of the Sales and Use Tax Oversight Plan.
(iii) Raise merchants and consumer’s awareness on the importance of remitting the IVU withheld by the merchant at the point of sale to the Department of the Treasury to be used for public purposes.
(iv) Inform merchants of the mechanisms provided by Oversight Plan to the Department to detect and penalize tax evasion.
(4) Facilitate merchant’s compliance with their obligation to file the IVU return with the Department of the Treasury, by establishing mechanisms that allow:
(A) To reconcile the data gathered through fiscal terminals on transactions made and the IVU collected at the points of sale, and generate a return for all the commercial establishments of the merchant, that may be electronically submitted to the Department.
(B) To establish a business activity-based metrics mechanism, which shall use, among others, the following:
(i) Sales history and IVU collected per merchant, as captured through fiscal terminals, devices, or other electronic oversight means, and
(ii) statistical calculations that are representative of the business segment to which the merchant belongs.
(5) Empower the Secretary to electronically debit payments from the IVU withheld from demand deposit accounts defined by the merchant.
History —Jan. 31, 2011, No. 1, added as § 6054.03 on June 30, 2013, No. 40, § 55.