Doing business in an Act 60 LLC before the Grant is approved

I believe the Trigger date is the day your LLC was registered in PR. You will certainly need Act 60  approval before the end of the year to get the PR tax treatment.

Your CPA should be a better advisor.

I've been wondering this same question, having the same issue with just about everything (nobody picking up phone or replying to emails, and websites not working).

I believe going forward, file the LLC ASAP until Act 60 gets changed. You still have time to amend and respond to any questions  while the application is being reviewed.

You can only apply for the grant as an LLC so that must be incorporated first.  You will need all the approvals you would need to open a corporate bank account then you fill out the grant application.

I believe the approval is retroactive to any income done in the LLC, or Corp.

Even if it crosses tax years as long as you get the grant approval

Would you be willing to share the steps you went thru to obtain your LLC in PR and apx how long it took?

I really would recommend hiring a firm like PR Advantage, they understand the entire process.

The basic steps are, get the PR corporation documents going, these will include background checks from your state or county police in the US. You will need SS card, references… there are several fees along the way. We stated n March and our LLC was approved in May, not too long a process.

Once the LLC or C Corp is approved you will need to fill out a grant request. This determines what type of grant you qualify for, investments or export services. Then the grant request is sent to the PR government, I believe SURI and they review it. You get a draft approval letter back detailing the qualifying income, mine is consulting services to a specific industry in the US. Once you review the letter you send in a final fee and are approved. We are at this last step. 

If you make any mistakes, well this is PR, and a paperwork error will require a restart. So again my suggestion is pay a firm that specializes in this stuff. The one above was $6k. I think there are a couple that do it cheaper. I highly recommend PR Advantage.

What exactly, if anyone knows, is PR looking for during the application process? Is the IRS involved? If you were living in PR operating a company incorporated stateside prior to  filing for the grant, is PR residency held against you even though you were paying state and federal taxes elsewhere?

William - did you use PR Advantage? If so, I thought they have CPAs to refer you to, are you saying that even their references are not responsive? You also mentioned the cost as $6K, I was  just quoted $8K last week - can you tell me what package/services you were given or included with your cost? I am looking for references/referrals to confirm the cost for PR Advantage is worth it...

I hired them last February. The fee may have changed. I apologize if it has.

They have many references but, part 1 is simply establishing the corporation (LLC). I don’t think this is different from a Puerto Rican citizenry an act 60 Corp.

Act 60 is a grant issued by a specific office in the PR government. 

However, the government is very particular about paperwork and fees.  So to make sure nothing went wrong, I hired PRAdvantage. They were wonderful.  I have the grant text and have approved it.  I should get the executed document soon. 

As for CPA’s once the corporation is established there are reporting requirements and then Act 60 documentation, I think, and that will be left to the CPA going forward.

I hope this helps.