Puerto Rico’s self-employed may request $500 incentive starting Mar. 30
Puerto Rico Treasury Secretary Francisco Parés announced that starting Monday and through May 1, individuals who are self-employed will be able to request the $500 economic incentive announced by the governor, through the agency’s Unified Internal Revenue System (SURI, in Spanish).
“Following the Strategic Plan to reactivate the economy, announced by Gov. Wanda Vázquez, on March 23, the Treasury Department continues to implement measures to directly assist workers, as well as small and medium-sized businesses,” he said.
Among the economic incentives is a $500 disbursement for all those individuals who are self-employed in Puerto Rico. This will only apply to individuals dedicated to doing business on their own and are registered in the SURI system with a Merchant Registration Certificate valid as of Mar. 15, 2020.
“It will be an essential requirement that the eligible individual confirm, through their SURI account, their bank account and routing numbers, which is where they will receive the economic incentive,” Parés said.
“To ensure that this incentive reaches citizens in the most expeditious manner and to mitigate any risk of fraud, the disbursement will be done only through direct deposit, as established in Treasury’s Circular Letter 20-21,” he explained.
To claim the incentive, the vendor must access their SURI account and follow these steps to provide and confirm their bank account information: Click on the “Economic Incentive” link within the alerts tab, complete the bank information and click submit.
In the case of individuals who, as of March 15, 2020, were self-employed and were registered in SURI as vendors, but their Merchant Registration Certificate was expired, they will have the option to request the incentive during the period established, as long as they update it and confirm that operations have not closed, among other considerations provided in the agency’s document.
