Yesterday we set out to complete one of our goals for the trip, to get the property ownership transferred to our name for tax purposes. The Centro de Recaudacion de Ingresos Municipales (CRIM) or translated, Agency for the Collection of Municipal Taxes is where you get this done.
I am never quite sure what to expect when we go to government agencies here but they all generally have the same florescent lit waiting rooms with lots of people waiting, standing or sitting in plastic chairs. I showed up to the CRIM office in Aguadilla in the afternoon. Cassie got antsy and left me waiting in line and she went outside for a bit to walk around -as the ocean was just across the street. I was standing in line…waiting…then I started to question if I was in the right line. I noticed that everyone around me had papers that looked like bills….The room with the chairs had people with manila envelopes. Then it hit me..”AH….I am not in the right place!”
I asked a lady if she spoke English. She responded no…So I did my best to ask if we were in the line to pay. I simply asked “Pagar?”. She responded “Si”. So I then pointed at the room and asked “registro?”. She said something to the effect of “Si” and talk to the ”recepcionista”.
I understand more Spanish than I speak and I need to improve, but I was working my way around none the less..lol. Since I didn’t have my “muleta” (Cassie- my crutch) I had to make do.
I spoke to the recepcionista and she put me on the list. Cassie came back and joined me in the waiting room. We ended up being the very last ones to be helped that day. I think normally we would have been turned away, but not sure. I got the impression that they gave out numbers earlier in the day, then stopped at some point.
CRIM Bill Received in the Mail
We waited for about an hour then spoke to a CRIM employee that was doing the change of ownership for us. We were taken into a little space with about four employees, in drab cubicles, bad lighting and boxes piled to the ceiling. There is a form to fill out and some questions you have to answer. They also made a copy of the deed we took with us.
Since we had 4 cuerdas there is an extra charge. We weren’t sure about the exemption stuff or any other legal status issues, we just kind of went in blind. We most likely ended up paying too much, it came out to $38/yr for property tax.
Honestly, I was just glad to get it taken care of. For $38 I’d just pay it to be done. In the future we can just pay CRIM online like the water and electric bill. That would be awesome to never have to go back there again. I hate waiting in lines at government agencies no matter where I am…and when there is a beautiful beach on the other side of an imposing and depressing concrete government building it really made us want to leave. All in all though this wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Here is the offical link to the CRIM de PR site www.etaxpr.com/crim to pay your Puerto Rico property taxes online.
This blog post about what to expect at CRIM was helpful for me too here’s the link.
We hate CRIM!! I do pay all my bills online, hate going to Aguadilla and stand around for hours…
Stefan has this online http://ca2pr.com/2010/09/24/paying-property-tax-in-puerto-rico/
It will make it easier next time you pay! We’ve never paid taxes and I’m starting to wonder when they will catch up to us. We bought our house 4 years ago and paid cash. I’m starting to get a funny feeling I better look into it.
Linda, I think we could have perpetually put this off and it would take forever for them to find out. We just wanted to make sure the house was put into our name, and this is the sure-fire way to make sure it gets in the registry -even though that can take forever too! You may have some back taxes, but even with late fees it wouldn’t add up to much. If you have less than an acre it’s probably nothing, but since you still have a house in the states, it may be. It’s a wild world here for sure!
Rosa -I totally agree. I had to get out of that essence of red tape and walk on the beach for a bit. Online from now on.
This will not be your last visit to CRIM. You can pay your bill and get a statement of accounts online (for $2.50 in sellos), but any other issue requires your presence at CRIM. And there are always issues. Get there early, take a number, and wait. In our case, they got our names right on the bill but the SS# is the previous owner’s. But when they look it up in their system, the # is the right one. We’ve had to pay full property taxes from the date of closing, Jan. 2011, through June 2012, because you have to be a resident and living in the house for a full fiscal year (July thru June) to get the exemption. It’s not cheap, either, over $100 a month on a house they appraised at $175k. The tax would be next to nothing for unimproved acreage. They may not know there’s a house on your land.
CRIM does have it’s issues with efficiency and keeping records up to date. But they are improving their system and will eventually catch up. The taxes for empty lots is minimal and taxes for non residents don’t seem to be outrageous compared to where I’m from in NY. Of course it depends on the accesed value of the house.If your a full time resident and it’s your primary home, not a vacation 2nd home then your exempt. When they find you in the listing for property via mortgage or other means they will access you the taxes plus interest and penalties for the years there. So it is advisable to straighten it out. I know it’s a pain and time consuming process but in the long run you’ll just have to grin and bear it. I’ve to go thru this process several times and had to deal with threat of seizure of your property thru non payment of back taxes,it only acumalates. Good luck,
Most government offices in Puerto Rico are deteriorated, inefficient and definitely not customer friendly. CRIM is probably one of the worst. They have electronically automated a lot of the processes during recent years, but even the website fails occasionally. You just have to be patient and understand that any task requiring a visit to a government office must be done early and may take most of the day. Not paying taxes is not a good idea as you will not be able to sell the property in the future. Back taxes and penalties can add up.
I was at CRIM in January for a Exoneracion Contributiva and was told that
someone would be contacting my neighbor and no one has been to the
property. I have been trying to contact your office and have not been
able to reach anyone. Can you please give me a number where I can
reach someone where I can find out what is going on. Please e-mail
me back and let me know.