How to get the Registro de Comerciante (merchant registration) in Puerto Rico

The Registro de Comerciante is your business’s entry in the registry maintained by the Treasury Department (Hacienda). When you register you receive a Merchant Registration Certificate, the document identifying you as an authorized merchant, which is displayed in a visible spot at the business. It is the filing that enables you to collect and remit the IVU (Puerto Rico’s sales and use tax) when your activity requires it, and it is what suppliers, banks and municipalities will ask for as proof that the business formally exists. It applies to large and small businesses alike: the size of the business is not what determines whether you must register — the activity you carry out is.

It applies to any person or entity doing business in Puerto Rico, including people operating on their own under their own name — not just entities registered with the Department of State. If you sell goods or provide services on the island, you most likely need the registration, and you register before you start operating, not after the first sale. Each location, branch or point of sale needs its own registration, even when they all belong to the same owner. If you are not sure whether your activity requires registration, confirm it with Hacienda or a CPA before assuming it does not.

• A SURI account in the name of the person or entity that will operate the business: Hacienda states that the Registro de Comerciantes is done electronically through SURI, and that the certificate is issued under Section 4060.01 of the 2011 Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code.Verified against the official source
• The entity’s employer identification number (EIN), or your Social Security number if you operate as an individual. Hacienda states that the EIN is requested from the IRS (irs.gov, 1-800-829-4933, or Form SS-4PR) and that, once you have it, you must give the Department Form SC 4809, “Informe de Número de Identificación Patronal – Organizaciones (Patronos)”, so the employer record is created.Verified against the official source
• The physical address of each location or point of sale you will register, and the business’s mailing address.
• A description of the business activity and the date you begin operating.
• If the business operates as an entity, its Department of State registration information.
• Information about the owners, partners or officers that Hacienda requires for your business type.

• Current photo identification of the person applying.
• Proof of the federal employer identification number (EIN) issued by the IRS, when applicable.
• Proof of the entity’s registration with the Department of State, if the business is an LLC or a corporation.
• Proof of the location’s physical address, such as a lease agreement or property title.

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   Step 1: Understand what SURI is before you start

   SURI (Sistema Unificado de Rentas Internas) is the online portal where Hacienda concentrates nearly everything tax-related: you register as a merchant there, file IVU returns, make payments, request certifications and receive the agency’s notices. It is a single login containing several "accounts," one per type of obligation you carry. It is worth setting the account up carefully from the start, because everything that follows — notices, balances, certifications — will arrive through it.

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   Step 2: Gather the entity and location information

   Before opening the application, have at hand the EIN (or your Social Security number if you operate as an individual), your Department of State registration details if you are an LLC or corporation, the exact physical address of each location, and a description of your business activity. Stopping halfway to hunt for a number is the most common reason people leave the application unfinished.

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   Step 3: Create your SURI account

   Register the account in the name of whoever will operate the business: if the business is an LLC, the account belongs to the LLC, not to you personally. Use an email address you will genuinely keep access to, and store the credentials safely; recovering access to an abandoned SURI account is far slower than setting it up right the first time.

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   Step 4: Request the Registro de Comerciante inside SURI

   Inside your account, find the Registro de Comerciante application and complete it for each location you will operate. Pay attention to the start-of-operations date and to how your activity is classified, because that determines which obligations get assigned to you. If you have more than one point of sale, each is registered separately under the same account.

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   Step 5: Get and display the certificate

   Once Hacienda approves the application, the certificate becomes available in your SURI account. Print it and display it in a visible spot at the business, and keep a digital copy handy: you will be asked for it for municipal permits, to open a bank account, and to set up accounts with suppliers.

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   Step 6: Register by phone with the IVU Fiscal Supervision Program

   This step surprises a lot of people because it does not happen inside SURI. Hacienda states that once you receive your Merchant Registration Certificate, you are obligated to register for the IVU Fiscal Supervision Program by calling (787) 200-7900, Option 4. On that call you answer a questionnaire that determines whether installing and using an IVU fiscal terminal applies to you. Hacienda clarifies that this does not apply to merchants registered as temporary businesses or as exhibitors.

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   Step 7: Keep up with what comes after

   Registering is not the end: as a registered merchant you must file and remit the IVU on the schedule Hacienda assigns you, even in periods when you sold nothing. Zero returns still get filed. Also, if you move, close a location or change your activity, you must update it in SURI. Confirm your filing calendar inside your own account, because it is not the same for every merchant.

Online, through SURI, the Treasury Department’s system. The Registro de Comerciante page greets you with four options under “¿Qué desea hacer?”, and it pays to pick the right one from the start: register for the first time (for anyone never registered before), update the registration (which Hacienda limits to merchants providing designated professional services), add additional locations or activities, and register to declare imports (for individuals who are not merchants and who incidentally import something for personal use rather than resale).

• Starting to sell first and registering later, when registration happens before you begin operating.
• Using a single registration for several locations, when each point of sale needs its own.
• Creating the SURI account under a personal name when the business operates as an LLC or corporation.
• Skipping filings in periods with no sales, assuming that no income means no return is due.
• Not updating an address change or a location closing in SURI, and continuing to accrue obligations for a business that no longer operates.
• Treating the process as finished once the certificate arrives, without calling (787) 200-7900 Option 4 to register with the IVU Fiscal Supervision Program — a separate obligation that is not handled through SURI.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov

• Processes and requirements when setting up a business in Puerto Rico

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov

• SURI — Unified Internal Revenue System

  Hacienda

  apps1.hacienda.pr.gov

• About the Unified Internal Revenue System (SURI)

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov

• Hacienda merchants section

  Hacienda

  hacienda.pr.gov