Professional Realty Corp. v. Treasurer of Puerto Rico
Professional Realty Corp. v. Treasurer of Puerto Rico
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
On September 6, 1951, the Professional Realty Corporation filed a complaint in the former Tax Court of Puerto Rico, against the Treasurer of Puerto Rico, now Secretary of the Treasury, alleging, in brief, the following: That the petitioner was the owner of a building located in San Juan, which was under construction on July 1, 1948; that Act No. 151 of May 11, 1948 (Sess. Laws, p. 348) exempted from the levy and payment of property taxes, including those levied for the year 1948-49, any building under construction after-July 1, 1948; that notwithstanding the provisions of said law, the respondent levied a property tax and demanded payment thereof, on the building under construction owned by petitioner, including a tax on the materials to be used in its construction, the tax levied amounting to $3,121; that the
The Treasurer answered accepting the facts alleged in the complaint except that a tax had been levied and collected ion the building under construction, alleging, on the contrary, that the tax challenged, the correct amount of which is $5,554.40, was levied on the lot and the materials owned by petitioner on January 15, 1948. He further alleged that while payment of receipt No. 1578 was pending, the petitioner sent a check to the Collector of Corporations for the payment of taxes of subsequent years, and out of this check the defendant applied the sum of $3,554.40 as payment of the tax on the aforementioned lot and materials to which receipt No. 1578 refers. The Treasurer also prayed for the dismissal of the complaint on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction, inasmuch as the action filed by the petitioner was, in essence, one for refund, and that the essential averment that the taxpayer had suffered the burden of the payment of the tax was lacking in the complaint.
At the trial the issue was reduced to a question of law. to wit: whether or not the materials stored next to the building and which were to be used in its construction, were exempted from the property tax, under Act No. 151 of 1948.
On appeal, the petitioner alleges (1) that the trial court erred in basing its judgment exclusively and wholly on facts merely alleged by the defendant and which were in nowise proven, and (2) that assuming that the trial court decided the case correctly, the latter erred in failing to allow plaintiff to amend its complaint.
The appellee, on the other hand, raises, as a preliminary question, the lack of jurisdiction of the trial court on different grounds than those stated in the judgment appealed from. This contention is that the complaint in the case at bar was
It appears from the record that the notice of the assessment of the property, on which the then Treasurer of Puerto Rico levied the property tax in litigation, was served on the taxpayer, Professional Realty Corporation, on February 11, 1949; that on May 21, 1951, the taxpayer asked the Treasurer for cancellation of receipt No. 1578 corresponding to the year 1948-49, which had been issued for the collection of the tax. On June 19, 1951, the Treasurer denied this petition. On July 21 following, the taxpayer requested the Treasurer for the reconsideration of his decision. On August 17, 1951, the Treasurer denied the motion for reconsideration. The complaint was filed in the Tax Court on September 6, 1951.
Act No. 169 of May 15, 1943,
In the case at bar the administrative decision of the Treasurer was evidently the notice of assessment served on the taxpayer on February 11, 1949. See, Puerto Rico High School of Commerce v. Tax Court, 68 P.R.R. 744; Gerardino v. Tax Court, 68 P.R.R. 206; Cía. Ron Carioca v. Buscaglia, Treas., 69 P.R.R. 814. From the foregoing it appears as an uncontroverted fact that the taxpayer did hot file an action in the Tax Court within the thirty days following the date of the service of notice of the assessment of the property and that said term was not suspended by virtue of a motion for reconsideration. Consequently, the taxpayer did not seasonably challenge through judicial means, the validity of the assessment- notified to him. Under the 1943 Act any controversy in connection with the validity of the property assessment notified in February 1949, was thus terminated. [3-5] However, on July 14, 1949, Act No. 235 of that year went into effect, and it established a uniform procedure to appeal to the Tax Court in all cases under the jurisdiction of said court. Said Act granted the taxpayers the remedy of appeal to the Tax Court from decisions of the Treasurer of Puerto Rico. As to the property tax, it granted the right to appeal from the levy of the tax and not from the assessment of the property as did Act No. 169 of 1943. This right to appeal must be exercised as follows:
“(a) From the levying of the tax, notified in the manner provided in section 309 of the Political-Administrative Code of Puerto Rico, by .paying that part of the tax to which the taxpayer agrees and filing complaint in the Tax Court of Puerto Rico, in the manner provided for by the Act creating said court (1) within the term of thirty (30) days from the date of the*22 personal notice provided for by section 309; or (2) within the term of thirty (30) days from the date of mailing notice of the levying of the tax, if said notice is served by registered mail according to said section 309; Provided, That both the term of thirty (30) days within which to appeal to the Tax Court of Puerto Rico, and the payment within said term of that part of the tax to which the taxpayer agrees, shall be considered of jurisdictional character.” (Section 2 A-3 of Act No. 235 of May 10, 1949.)
This procedure was already in force when the taxpayer asked the Treasurer of Puerto Rico on May 21, 1951, to set aside the levy and collection of the tax involved herein.
The judgment appealed from will be affirmed.
It being a jurisdictional question we may pass upon it although it is raised for the first time on appeal. P. R. & Am. Ins. Co. v. People, 68 P.R.R. 629; Valiente & Cía. v. Cuevas, Commissioner, 65 P.R.R. 169.
Laws of Puerto Rico of 1943, p. 600.
Section 309 of the Political Code, as .amended by Act No. 222 of 1942 (Sess. Laws, p. 1246), established different terms for appealing to the Tax Court, but said terms were set aside by the enactment of
Act No. 328 of May 13, 1949 (Sess. Laws p. 996) creating the Tax Court of Puerto Rico was also in force at the time. Section 3 o£ said Act provides:
“Section 3. — All actions, remedies or proceedings to be substantiated before the Tax Court of Puerto Rico shall be instituted by complaint of the claimant person or entity, formulated by the claimant or through a duly authorized legal representative, within the term of thirty (30) days following the day of notice thereof, served by the Treasurer of Puerto Rico, in any of the following cases: (1) taxes on real or personal property; (2) inheritance or gift taxes; (3) income taxes; (4) unfair profiteering taxes; (5) social insurance taxes; (6) denials of reimbursements authorized by law of any kind of taxes paid unduly or in excess, or unlawfully collected for any other reason; . . .”
We have seen that the law creating the Tax Court, approved also in 1949, grants a like term of thirty days within which to appeal to the aforesaid court in tax cases. See footnote 5.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.