Six Weeks Left: How to Claim Your Share of the $554 Million 'Cheque para Ti' Before October 30

The Puerto Rico Treasury Department (Hacienda) is reminding tens of thousands of taxpayers that they still have time -but not much- to register their bank account information so they do not get left out of the Cheque para Ti, the $554 million tax relief program the government has been disbursing since May. The SURI portal set up for that registration closes on October 30, 2026, and according to the most recent figures the agency has made public, more than $120 million still remains to be distributed among thousands of taxpayers who have not completed the process ¹².

Where the money comes from and how we got here

The Cheque para Ti was created by Joint Resolution 6-2026, the tax relief law that Governor Jenniffer González Colón signed earlier this year after the Legislature approved it with the backing of the Financial Oversight and Management Board, which had to authorize the internal revenue circular letter needed before Hacienda could begin issuing payments ³⁷. The measure is funded with general fund surplus and sets a total estimated disbursement of $554 million to benefit roughly 690,000 working- and middle-class taxpayers ⁴⁵.

The fiscal backdrop helps explain how the government could afford this relief: Hacienda reported on September 3, 2026, that Fiscal Year 2026 closed with net revenues of $13,912.9 million to the General Fund, about $279.1 million, or 2.0 percent, above projections, driven mainly by Income Tax collections of $8,033.5 million (10.8 percent above projection) and corporate collections of $3,518.5 million (8.6 percent above projection) ⁶.

The numbers behind Cheque para Ti

To qualify, a taxpayer must have resided in Puerto Rico throughout all of 2025, must have filed their 2025 tax return (Form 482) on time -before April 15, 2026, or with a timely extension- and must have net taxable income of $150,000 or less ⁵. The first disbursements began on May 20, 2026, reaching more than 200,000 taxpayers ⁴. By May 22, Hacienda had approved two additional payroll batches worth about $245.2 million, which combined with an earlier $100.3 million payment brought the total to roughly $345.6 million distributed among 589,857 taxpayers ¹. By early June the figure had climbed to $389.4 million ³, and by June 12, 2026, Hacienda reported $431,811,621 disbursed to 676,122 citizens ². Those are the most recent public figures available: subtracting them from the $554 million total leaves roughly $122 million still pending distribution among the approximately 13,878 eligible taxpayers who would remain unpaid under the original target of 690,000 beneficiaries ²⁵. Payments are deposited directly using the bank account the taxpayer listed on their 2025 return; anyone without a registered account will receive a check mailed to the address on file with Hacienda ⁵. The money is exempt from Puerto Rico income tax and does not count as income for purposes of other benefits ⁵.

What This Means For You

If you filed your 2025 return on time, your net taxable income does not exceed $150,000, and you did not receive your refund via direct deposit, Hacienda may have no automatic way to pay you. Without registering your bank information through the link enabled in SURI, your payment will be processed as a mailed check, which can take longer and depends on your postal address being correct in the system ⁵. With the October 30 deadline approaching, checking your status now can save you weeks of additional waiting or the risk of a check getting lost due to an outdated address.

How To Do It / Checklist

1. Log into SURI (suri.hacienda.pr.gov) with your taxpayer account and confirm whether your 2025 return has been processed.
2. Check whether you received your 2025 refund via direct deposit; if so, you likely already qualify to receive the Cheque para Ti the same way.
3. If you do not have a bank account on file, find the specific Cheque para Ti link inside SURI and submit your banking information before October 30, 2026 ⁵.
4. If you prefer or must receive payment by check, confirm your mailing address with Hacienda is up to date.
5. Keep your 2025 filing confirmation and any extension notice on hand in case you need to document your eligibility.
6. If your net taxable income exceeds $150,000, you do not qualify for this particular program.
7. Monitor Hacienda's press releases (hacienda.pr.gov) for new payment batches issued after the deadline.

What's Next

Hacienda has not publicly announced additional payment batches since mid-June, so the agency is expected to release updated disbursement figures in the coming weeks as the October 30 registration deadline approaches. The González Colón administration has said it hopes to make part of this relief permanent through a future reduction in tax rates, though that would require additional legislative action and is not guaranteed ¹. In the meantime, the remaining $120-plus million of the program will continue to be paid out in batches as Hacienda processes pending returns and taxpayers complete their bank registration.

Sources ¹ Hacienda desembolsa sobre $200 millones adicionales del Cheque para Ti, Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico ² Hacienda desembolsa más de $42 millones adicionales del Cheque para Ti, Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico ³ Hacienda eleva a 389.4 millones de dólares los pagos del Cheque para Ti, Presencia PR ⁴ Mañana comienzan los desembolsos del Cheque para Ti, El Nuevo Día ⁵ Cheque Para Ti: elegibilidad, pago y efectos contributivos, Microjuris al Día ⁶ Hacienda informa recaudos al cierre del Año Fiscal 2026 de $13,912.9 millones, Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico ⁷ Junta de Control Fiscal aprueba carta circular para desembolsar el Cheque para ti, El Vocero