Labor Dept. to Amend Laws 20 & 22 to Boost Investment in Puerto Rico

Economic Development and Trade (DDEC by its Spanish acronym) Secretary Manuel Laboy announced Tuesday that his agency will draft amendments to Law 20 and Law 22 with the purpose of boosting investment in Puerto Rico.

Both laws were designed to provide tax incentives. Law 20 promotes the export of services of companies from the island to other ountries, while Law 22 seeks to attract foreign entrepreneurs to reside in Puerto Rico.

Laboy said DDEC plans to make three amendments to Law 20, including eliminating the requirement that a company have a minimum of five employees. Along with this elimination, he said a clause will be added to enable the contracting of companies or employees of Puerto Rico, subject to the type of company that requests the incentive, the local press reported.

“There may be times when it makes sense to demand jobs, but we will not penalize the individual, this engineer alone or this professional alone, but we leave the door open so that the {Labor} secretary can at his discretion mandate those employment requirements,” Laboy said.

Read more: http://www.sanjuanweeklypr.com/pdf/Mar-8-17/business.pdf (page 1 of 3)