The Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation, better known by its Spanish acronym COFINA, is an independent governmental instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, attached to the Government Development Bank. The Corporation receives half of the government Sales and Use Tax (SUT) (2.75% out of the central government’s sales tax of 5.5%) and is authorized to use such portion of the SUT to pay or finance, in whole or in part, or fund: (i) certain debt obligations of the Commonwealth payable solely from Commonwealth budgetary appropriations and outstanding as of June 30, 2006; (ii) the debt of the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico with the Government Development Bank; and others. Note that the SUT of 7% is distributed between the General Fund (5.5%) and the municipalities (1.5%).
As of May 2011 COFINA has issued over $14.4 billion in bonds pursuant to its Enabling Act, as amended, of which $13.4 billion are outstanding.
As an independent corporation, COFINA has the same powers, rights and faculties as the GDB under its Constitutional Charter.
For more information on COFINA as a tax-exempt securities issuer, including its most recently released financial statements, click HERE.