Consulting / Puerto Rico Act 60
Puerto Rico Act 60 Consulting — From Operators With Direct Experience
Act 60 (formerly Acts 20 + 22) is one of the most powerful US tax incentive programs for export-services companies and individual investors. AMS principals have personally navigated the eligibility math, application packet, substance requirements, and annual filings.
Not CPAs. Not attorneys. Not financial advisors. Business consulting only. We refer out for tax, legal, or accounting work.
Aura Media Studios LLC and howtostart.consulting are NOT a CPA firm, NOT a law firm, and NOT a registered investment advisor. Nothing on this page is tax, legal, accounting, or investment advice. Act 60 is a Puerto Rico statutory program governed by the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) and interacts with US federal tax law under IRC §933 and IRS Publication 570. Before making any decision based on Act 60, retain a Puerto Rico-licensed tax attorney and a CPA experienced with Act 60 grantees. Engagement with us is a business consulting engagement only.
What Act 60 actually is
Act 60 is the umbrella name for Puerto Rico's incentives code, administered by the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC). The official portal sits at desarrollo.pr.gov, which references the "Código de Incentivos" and the broader incentives portal.
For US individuals it interacts with federal tax law through IRC §933 — bona fide residents of Puerto Rico are excluded from US federal tax on Puerto Rico-source income. The IRS test for bona fide residency is detailed in Publication 570. Per IRS Pub 570, residency turns on presence, tax home, and closer-connection tests.
Sources: DDEC official portal (desarrollo.pr.gov, Código de Incentivos); IRS Publication 570 (irs.gov/publications/p570). Verified 2026-05-02.
What we do
Strategic consulting and navigation. Not filing, not advice.
Strategy & navigation
- • Assess whether Act 60 fits your business model and financial picture
- • Map your business to Chapter 2 (Individual Investor) vs Chapter 3 (Export Services)
- • Pre-application diligence: substance, employee thresholds, office requirements
- • Connect you to vetted CPAs, attorneys, and relocation services
- • Post-decree operations: residency monitoring, charitable contribution tracking, annual report calendar
- • Build your operating stack on Puerto Rico — entity formation guidance, banking, payroll
- • Walk you through what audits look like and how IRS scrutiny typically plays out
What we refer out
We are NOT licensed for this work.
- • Filing your Act 60 incentives application — attorney + CPA work
- • Federal or PR tax returns — your CPA
- • Legal opinion letters on tax positions — your attorney
- • Investment advice or securities recommendations — registered fiduciary
- • Real estate transactions in Puerto Rico — licensed PR realtor + closing attorney
- • Banking, mortgage, or loan origination — your banker
- • Healthcare or insurance enrollment — licensed broker
Why we can have this conversation
Aura Media Studios LLC operates a Puerto Rico LLC and a Delaware operating LLC. AMS principals have direct experience navigating Act 60 — eligibility analysis, application packet, substance review, annual filings, charitable contribution tracking, and bona fide residency tests under IRS Publication 570.
That is what we sell on this page: pattern recognition from inside the program. Not generic advice — we still refer the regulated work to licensed professionals.
Compliance pitfalls we've seen
One-liners. Each is the kind of detail that quietly destroys a decree.
- "I went home for a wedding." Quietly losing the 183-day presence test by miscounting US travel days.
- Closer-connection drift. Keeping a US driver's license, US doctor, US gym, US voter registration — collectively destroys the closer-connection test even when day counts are clean.
- Tax home in the US. Keeping a US-based W-2 job or US-based primary office while filing as a PR resident.
- Source-rule traps. Capital gains accrued before PR residency remain US-taxable. The 0% rate only applies to gains accrued after becoming bona fide resident.
- Substance theater. Chapter 3 export-services entity with no real PR office, no real PR employees, no real PR economic activity.
- Charitable-contribution misses. Forgetting the annual minimum or the children's-charity carve-out, or donating to a non-PR 501(c)(3).
- Annual report missed. Missing the annual filing triggers fines and can lead to decree revocation.
- Federal cap-gains exit considerations. Section 877A mark-to-market modeling at the moment of becoming bona fide resident — a real CPA must model this.
Providers we'll point you to
When you engage us we share names + intros. Below is the public-facing version of the categories.
CPAs we refer to
Our CPA referral list is being curated. Engage us and we'll share names directly.
Attorneys we refer to
Our attorney referral list is being curated. Engage us and we'll share names directly.
Relocation services we refer to
Our relocation referral list is being curated. Engage us and we'll share names directly.
Patterns to avoid
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All-in-one Act 60 packages
Promises application + tax + legal + relocation + investments under one roof. Spans 4+ regulated specialties — anyone selling all four from one shop is either subcontracting or unlicensed.
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Guaranteed approval
DDEC has full discretion. Nobody guarantees decree approval.
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60-day bona fide residency
Presence test alone requires at least 183 days minimum.
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% of tax savings
Reputable Act 60 specialists bill hourly or flat retainer — not a percentage of tax savings.
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No PR address or PR-licensed staff
Outfits with no Puerto Rico address, no PR-licensed attorney or CPA on staff, and no DDEC track record.
Contact us
Tell us where you are in the process. We respond within one business day.
Disclaimer
Not CPAs. Not attorneys. Not financial advisors. Business consulting only. We refer out for tax, legal, or accounting work.
Aura Media Studios LLC and howtostart.consulting are NOT a CPA firm, NOT a law firm, and NOT a registered investment advisor. Nothing on this page is tax, legal, accounting, or investment advice. Act 60 is a Puerto Rico statutory program governed by the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) and interacts with US federal tax law under IRC §933 and IRS Publication 570. Before making any decision based on Act 60, retain a Puerto Rico-licensed tax attorney and a CPA experienced with Act 60 grantees. Engagement with us is a business consulting engagement only.