PR credit for age 65 and older: how much and how to claim

How much it is and who qualifies

Section 1052.02 of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code grants a **refundable personal compensatory credit** to every Puerto Rico resident individual who, **on the last day of the tax year**, is **sixty-five (65) or older** and has not been claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.

The amount is **two hundred (200) dollars** for tax years beginning **after December 31, 2013**. The $400 many people remember corresponds to tax years beginning **before January 1, 2014**, and there is a path back to $400, explained below, but it is not automatic.

The income cap is the deciding filter. You qualify only if your **gross income for the tax year, added to the items excluded from gross income under Section 1031.01(b)**, **does not exceed fifteen thousand (15,000) dollars**. For married taxpayers, **each one** is entitled to claim the credit as long as the **aggregate income of both does not exceed thirty thousand (30,000) dollars**.

Note how the cap is written: it does not say "taxable income", it says gross income **plus** excluded items. Income that pays no tax still counts toward this limit. It is the mistake that disqualifies the most applications.

It does not go on your return: the July 1 to October 15 window

This is the detail that makes people lose it year after year. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2013, the credit **is claimed using the form the Secretary establishes**, and that form **must be filed after July 1 and before October 15 of the year following** the one being claimed for.

In other words: it is not a box on the April return. It is a separate document, with its own window, which opens **after** filing season ends. Anyone assuming their preparer "already put it on the return" usually did not claim it, because that is not where it is claimed.

Once you file it, the clock runs in your favor: subsection (d) gives the Secretary **a maximum of thirty (30) days** from your claim to issue payment, by check or electronic method. That term **does not begin to run** until you have submitted all documents or information the Secretary requires through a general publication. Filing it complete the first time is what makes the deadline worth anything.

If you still work, you have to choose

Here is the decision nobody puts to you. **Section 1052.01**, which grants the **work credit**, closes its requirement list with a blunt condition in subsection (h)(5): whoever claims the work credit **may not claim the credit granted in Section 1052.02**. Both credits exist; collecting both does not.

Each one's numbers are public and compare themselves. The age-65-and-older credit is a fixed amount: **$200**. The work credit is computed on what you earned working, **15% of gross earned income up to $1,500** with no dependents, rising in brackets with dependents. For nearly anyone who worked a real part of the year, the work credit is the bigger number; for someone who barely worked, the age-65 credit may be the only one they reach.

But comparing figures is not enough: each credit has its own filter and you may qualify for one and not the other. The age-65 credit requires your gross income **plus excluded items** to stay under $15,000. The work credit, by contrast, disqualifies you entirely if you generate **more than $10,000 in income that is not earned income**, interest, dividends, rents, alimony, even exempt income.

The honest way to put it: the comparison depends on your numbers for the year, and the person to run it is a preparer with your documents in front of them. What you can bring to that conversation is the right question (*which of the two suits me this year?*) instead of discovering in October that you claimed the smaller one.

The $300 credit for pensioners: the word "only"

Subsection (c) of that same Section 1052.02 creates a second credit, separate from and additional to the one in subsection (a): the **Compensatory Credit for Low-Income Pensioners**, of **three hundred (300) dollars a year**, also refundable.

It covers every individual pensioned by the **Government Employees and Judiciary Retirement Systems Administration**, the **Teachers Retirement System**, the **University of Puerto Rico**, the **Electric Power Authority**, or **pensioned by the private sector** (the list includes the private sector, which surprises many people) provided the amount received from that pension **does not exceed $4,800 during the tax year**. For married taxpayers, each separately is entitled if both qualify.

And here is the word that decides it for our reader: the credit is for the pensioner **whose only source of income consists of their pension for services rendered**. If you work, even part-time, even a few months, your pension stops being your only source of income. That credit is not your route.

Put the useful way round: if you are pensioned with under $4,800 a year in pension and you are considering going back to work, factor this in. It is not a reason not to work ($300 a year does not compete with a salary) but it is one of the pieces that changes when you return to the market, and it is better known beforehand.

Why some say $200 and others $400

Both figures circulate and both appear in the statute, so it helps to know which is which. The **$400** is the amount for tax years beginning **before January 1, 2014**. The **$200** is the amount since then.

Subsection (b) does open the door to $400 again, but **not unconditionally**. The increase from $200 to $400 is **subject to meeting a General Fund net revenue test**, certified by the Treasury Department: the **projection of net revenue to the General Fund**, as certified by the Secretary, must **exceed budgeted revenue for each fiscal year by no less than one hundred million (100,000,000) dollars**.

That is why this guide says $200 and not $400. Publishing the higher figure flatly would hand you a number that may not be yours. Before counting on $400, what to confirm is whether Treasury certified that test for the year you are claiming.

Someone can help you file it, and cannot charge you

Subsection (e) creates the **Assistance Program for Low-Income People Sixty-Five (65) and Older**, precisely so the electronic application is not the barrier. It works by paying the preparer, not you.

The program grants a **reimbursement to every Specialist duly registered in the Registry of Specialists in Returns, Declarations or Refund Claims** who assists taxpayers in the process. The statute sets that reimbursement at **up to twenty-five (25) dollars** for each Credit Return for People 65 and Older and Compensatory Credit for Low-Income Pensioners the Specialist submits **through SURI** and signs as preparer.

And here is the protection worth knowing: **to earn that reimbursement, the Specialist may not charge you for their services** in helping you complete and file the return electronically. Also, it is the Specialist's responsibility to **verify that you are eligible** before completing the application. No Treasury Department employee may participate in the program.

If someone charges you to file this credit, they are not participating in that program. It is not illegal to charge for a private service, but it is worth knowing the route exists where you do not have to pay.