Moving to Puerto Rico for Act 60: The Complete Relocation Checklist

A successful Act 60 relocation is a sequence, not a scramble: file the application, move, then systematically re-point your life — license, voter registration, banking, home — at Puerto Rico, capturing evidence at every step. Each item below exists for a reason: it's either a decree condition or a fact the IRS weighs in the closer connection test.

Phase 1 — Before the move

• ☐Confirm eligibility against the lookback and requirements.
• ☐File the DDEC application (step-by-step) — filing date sets your regime under the 2026 rules.
• ☐Snapshot your portfolio. Document holdings and values as of your planned residency start — the pre-/post-move gain split depends on it (why).
• ☐Plan the move date around the calendar. Residency tests are annual; a mid-year move interacts with the year-of-move rules (183-day rule).
• ☐Line up housing — rental first is common; the 2-year purchase clock starts at decree grant.

Phase 2 — First 30 days on the island

• ☐Secure the lease or purchase — your PR home is closer-connection evidence item #1.
• ☐Puerto Rico driver's license — surrender the stateside license; keeping it is a classic audit ding.
• ☐Register to vote in Puerto Rico (and unregister stateside).
• ☐Open Puerto Rico bank accounts and begin routing daily financial life through them.
• ☐Utilities in your name — recurring, dated, address-bearing evidence.
• ☐Start day tracking from day one. The 183-day count is annual and unforgiving of reconstruction.

Phase 3 — First year

• ☐Vehicle: import or buy locally; register in PR.
• ☐Healthcare: establish PR physicians and dentists — medical relationships are weighed evidence.
• ☐Community ties: gym, clubs, church, professional organizations — the "social/civic" evidence category.
• ☐Mailing address: everything to PR; a mainland "primary" address contradicts the position.
• ☐File Form 8898 with the federal return for the year residency begins (required above $75,000 worldwide gross income; $1,000 penalty for failure).
• ☐Meet PR filing obligations with Hacienda.

Phase 4 — Decree milestones (clocks that start at grant)

• ☐Decree granted → 2-year home-purchase clock starts (requirements); post-2026 decrees add property-registry recording.
• ☐First $10,000 donation ($5,000/$5,000 split) by December 31.
• ☐First annual report + $5,000 fee — late filings draw automatic $1,000 fines (annual requirements).

The habit that makes everything else work

Every item above generates paper: leases, receipts, registrations, statements. Decree holders who keep them organized from day one answer auditsin an afternoon; those who don't spend months reconstructing 2-year-old evidence. Capture as you go — it's the cheapest insurance in the program.