P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 283b
When used in §§ 283—283p of this title, the following terms shall mean:
(a) Appropriation.— Amount of money authorized by the Legislative Assembly for the purpose of carrying out a specific activity or achieve certain objectives.
(b) Fiscal year.— The period between July 1 of any calendar year and June 30 of the next calendar year, both inclusive.
(c) Legislative Branch.— The House of Representatives and the Senate of Puerto Rico shall approve and adopt their own rules and regulations for the custody and control of their funds and public property. For the purposes of this definition, the Office of the Superintendent of the Capitol of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Office of Legislative Services and the entities attached to the Legislature of Puerto Rico are also included for being entities thereof, whose funds, rules and regulations to exercise their functions, shall be approved by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, according to law. The Secretary of the Treasury shall exercise, with respect to the funds and financial transactions of the legislative bodies and their entities, the functions expressly delegated in §§ 283—283p of this title. None of the provisions of §§ 283—283p of this title shall affect the administrative and fiscal autonomy enjoyed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(d) Executive dependency.— Every department, bureau, administration, board, commission, office, agency or instrumentality belonging to the Executive Branch of the Government, the funds of which, by law, shall be in the custody and under the control of the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico.
(e) Judicial dependency.— The Supreme Court, the Court of First Instance, the District Court, Justices of the Peace or their successors, the Courts Administration Office, and any other court or agency of the judicial branch of the government the funds of which shall be, by law, in the custody and under the control of the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico.
(f) Legislative dependency.— The Office of the Comptroller, the Joint Committee on Special Reports of the Comptroller and the Office of the Citizen’s Ombudsman, whose funds must be, by law, under the custody and control of the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico.
(g) Dependency.— This refers to any unit which according to §§ 283—283p of this title is part of each of the aforementioned dependencies. The entities which are part of the legislative bodies are not included in this definition.
(h) Corporate entities.— Public corporations, with or without an independent treasury, in the laws of which creating the same it is specified that the Secretary of the Treasury shall exercise same control over their funds and financial transactions. They also include the municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their instrumentalities.
(i) Fund.— An amount of money or other resource set aside for the purpose of carrying out a specific activity or to achieve certain objectives pursuant to the special laws, regulations, restrictions or limitations and which constitute an independent fiscal and accounting entity. It includes the accounts created to keep record of the proceeds of the issuance of bonds that may be authorized.
(j) Public funds.— Moneys, securities and other assets of equal nature belonging to or held in trust by any dependency, corporate entity or legislative body.
(k) Obligation.— A given pledge which is represented by a purchase order, contract or similar document, pending payment, signed by competent authority to encumber the appropriations, and which in the future may be converted into a demandable account.
(l) Fiscal organization.— Integrated units of a dependency, corporate entity or legislative body which are related to or intervene with the transactions, control and accounting of public funds and property.
(m) Public property.— All personal and real property belonging to the dependencies, corporate entities and legislative bodies, acquired through donation, expropriation, purchase, transfer, assignment or other means.
(n) Net revenues.— Shall comprise the following sources of income:
(1) From Commonwealth tax sources.
(A) Income taxes.
(i) Individuals
(ii) Corporations.
(iii) Partnerships.
(iv) Withheld to non-residents.
(v) Tollgate taxes.
(vi) “Tollgate” taxes.
(vii) Interest subject to 17%.
(viii) Taxes on dividends at 20%.
(B) Taxes on estates and donations.
(C) Excise taxes.
(i) Alcoholic beverages.— Distilled spirits, beer and other alcoholic beverages.
(ii) General excise taxes.— Cigarettes, petroleum products, motor vehicles, accessories, admission fees to public shows (such as movie theaters and other shows), horse racing, insurance premiums, cement, crude oil and oil products, jewelry, hotel rooms, five percent (5%) general excise tax and other excise taxes.
(iii) Licenses.— Motor vehicles (sale of parts and inner tubes, vehicle sales, drivers licenses), alcoholic beverages (sale and processing), cigarette sales, gasoline sales, games of chance (gambling), coin-operated machines, firearms trafficking, jewelry items, vessel licenses, professional and occupational licenses, unclassified commercial, firearms, non-commercial and unclassified.
(2) From Commonwealth non-tax sources.
(A) Traditional lottery.
(i) Income from prizes.
(ii) Expired lottery tickets.
(B) Electronic lottery.
(C) Miscellaneous revenues.
(i) Fines and penalties.— Court fees and fines, horse racing fees and fines, unclassified fines, seizures, expirations and penalties.
(ii) Fees, registries and certifications.— Registry of documents and certification of documents.
(iii) Others.— Unclassified permits, franchises, interest on banks balances, interest on loans to entities, unclassified interest, leasing of land, leasing of lots, leasing of buildings, leasing of equipment, unclassified leasing, royalties on franchises, donations and contributions, fees of examining boards, drivers examination fees, vehicle certification fees, unclassified fees, other fees, publication sales, unclassified art sales, hospital services (the part corresponding [to] the General Fund, as established), departmental services, government employees subsidy, insurance premiums and unclassified commissions, housing and support, unclassified revenues and unclassified services.
(3) From other sources.
(A) Customs duties.
(B) Excise taxes on shipments.
(ñ) Secretary.— Refers to the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico or to the official on whom he delegates the powers and duties conferred herein.
History —July 23, 1974, No. 230, Part 2, p. 183, § 3; Aug. 20, 1997, No. 93, § 3; June 11, 2004, No. 140, § 2.