How to Complete Form AS 2916.1: Puerto Rico Certificate for Exempt Purchases

Puerto Rico Form AS 2916.1, the Certificate for Exempt Purchases, is a point-of-sale document you give the seller so the sales and use tax (IVU/SUT) is not charged on a qualifying transaction. The buyer fills out all three parts, checks the exemption category that matches a valid supporting certificate, signs it, and hands it to the seller at the time of purchase along with the supporting documents. The form is never sent to the Department of the Treasury (Hacienda); the seller keeps it as proof the sale was legitimately exempt.¹

Who Can Actually Use This Form

You can only issue Form AS 2916.1 if you fit one of the exemption categories printed on it. If you don’t, the seller must charge you the full SUT. The qualifying purchasers are:¹

Registered resellers buying inventory, raw materials, or manufacturing equipment with a valid Reseller Certificate, Eligible Reseller Certificate, or Exemption Certificate.
Registered merchants buying services from other registered merchants (business-to-business).
Merchants buying repair services from a provider whose annual business volume is $50,000 or less.
Merchants buying repair services that are capitalized to tangible personal property or real property.
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and federal government agencies purchasing for official use.
Bona fide farmers certified by the Department of Agriculture buying agricultural goods, machinery, or equipment.
Direct-pay merchants holding a Total Exemption Certificate.
Housing cooperatives governed by Act 239-2004.
Diplomats with a valid U.S. Department of State exemption card.
Beneficiaries of a special act granting a SUT exemption.
Buyers acquiring items for use or consumption outside Puerto Rico.
Individuals buying basic-need articles for restoration or repair after a declared disaster.

Most of these categories require the purchaser to already be registered in Hacienda’s Merchant Registry through SURI, and the Merchant Registration Certificate must be active on the date of the purchase. Registration lasts two years and must be renewed before it lapses; a lapsed registration invalidates any certificate you try to issue and carries a $500 penalty per infraction.²

What to Have in Front of You Before You Start

The form is invalid unless every section is completed, and several of the entries require information you should not be guessing at. Have these ready:¹

Your current Merchant Registration Certificate and its number.
The specific supporting certificate that matches your exemption claim (Reseller, Eligible Reseller, Exemption, Total Exemption, or Provisional Reseller Certificate), in force on the transaction date.
Your NAICS code and business activity description as registered in SURI.
The seller’s name, address, and telephone number as they appear on the seller’s own registration.
If you’re a diplomat: the exemption card number and expiration date.
If you’re a bona fide farmer: your certification number from the Department of Agriculture.
If you’re claiming under a special act: the act number.

Filling Out Each Part

The form has three parts, all completed by the purchaser. The seller does not write anything on the certificate.¹

Part I: Merchant Seller’s Information

Enter the seller’s name, full address (municipality, state, and ZIP code), and telephone number. Copy this from the seller’s registration or storefront records, not from memory.

Part II: Purchaser’s Information

Start with the transaction date (month, day, year). Then work through the numbered lines that apply to you:

Line 1a: your Merchant Registration number.
Line 1b: your NAICS code and a description of your business activity.
Line 2: if you’re a government agency, your employer identification number.
Line 3: if you’re a diplomat, your exemption card number and expiration date.
Line 4: if you’re a disaster-affected individual, a driver’s license or passport number.

Line 5 is the decisive entry. You check one box from fifteen printed categories, and that choice must match the supporting certificate you’re about to hand over:

Reseller (Municipal SUT)
Eligible Reseller
Manufacturing Plant
Business to Business Services
Services Provided by Persons with Business Volume of $50,000 or Less
Federal Government
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Farmer
Direct Pay Permit
Housing Cooperative Ruled by Act 239-2004
Diplomat
Special Acts
Exportation
Individual Affected by a Disaster
Manufacturer’s Wholesale Distributor

Fill in whatever additional detail the category asks for: the agency name, farmer’s number, Total Exemption Certificate number, special act number, or country of the diplomatic mission. Checking the wrong box invalidates the entire certificate, so make sure the box, the supporting certificate, and what you’re actually buying line up.

Line 6 asks for a general description of your business and the main items you sell. Line 7 asks what you’re purchasing in this transaction: tangible personal property for resale, raw materials, manufacturing machinery and equipment, business services, property under a special exemption, small-provider repair services, or capitalized repair services. Line 8 gives you space to describe the specific items or services in the sale.

Part III: Purchaser’s Certification

Print your name and sign. The signer must be the business owner, a partner, a corporate officer, or another person authorized to represent the purchaser. The signature is a declaration under penalty of perjury that everything on the form is true, that you qualify for the exemption on line 5, that you’ll only use the certificate for qualifying purchases, and that if you later use the items for non-exempt purposes in Puerto Rico you’ll report and pay the SUT directly to Hacienda.

Handing the Certificate to the Seller

Give the completed form to the seller at the time of the purchase. Not afterward, not by email the following week. With the certificate, provide a copy of your Merchant Registration Certificate and whichever supporting document backs up the box you checked on line 5. Keep a copy for your own records.¹

Do not send the certificate to Hacienda. If the seller doesn’t receive a valid certificate at the time of the sale, the transaction is fully taxable, with no way to fix it later.

When the Form Reduces Tax Instead of Eliminating It

One boundary worth knowing: for designated professional services and business-to-business services between registered merchants, Form AS 2916.1 doesn’t produce a zero tax. It triggers a reduced 4% Special SUT instead of the standard 10.5% state rate.³ If you’re a registered merchant buying legal or licensed professional services from another registered merchant and you check “Business to Business Services” on line 5, expect the seller to charge 4%, not nothing.

If You’re the Seller Accepting the Certificate

The certificate releases you from collecting the Basic SUT (or shifts you to the 4% Special SUT, depending on the transaction), but only if the paperwork holds up.¹ Before accepting it, check that all three parts are filled in, the signature is present, and the line 5 category matches the supporting certificate the buyer is showing you. A partially completed or unsigned certificate is not valid.

Retain a copy of every certificate you accept for six years, measured from the filing date of the Sales and Use Tax Monthly Return that reported the exempt sale. If Hacienda audits you and you can’t produce a valid certificate, the sale becomes taxable retroactively.

Penalties and Self-Reporting

Issuing a fraudulent certificate makes you personally responsible for the SUT that should have been collected, plus penalties.¹ The self-reporting duty is easy to miss: if you buy something with the certificate and then use it for a non-exempt purpose in Puerto Rico, you owe the SUT and have to remit it to Hacienda yourself. What could have been an honest change in use becomes a compliance problem the moment you skip that step.

And keep the Merchant Registration current. A lapsed registration blocks you from filing Sales and Use Tax Monthly Returns through SURI, which stacks late-filing penalties on top of the $500 per-infraction fine for the lapse itself.²

1
Department of the Treasury (Puerto Rico). Certificate for Exempt Purchases
2
Department of the Treasury (Puerto Rico). Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 16-12-IR
3
Department of the Treasury (Puerto Rico). Certificate for Exempt Purchases and for Services Subject to the 4% Special-SUT