The Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation (COFINA, as the agency is known by its Spanish acronym)-- one of the Government Development Bank’s subsidiary’s -- is an independent corporation created in 2007 for the purpose if issuing bonds or using other financing mechanisms to pay off the Commonwealth’s extra-constitutional debt existing as of June 30, 2006 and its interest, by using as a source of funds the one percent of the sales and use tax.
The funds are deposited in a Dedicated Sales Tax Fund to make sure the extra-constitutional debt is paid off accordingly.
COFINA was created for the purpose of issuing bonds and may use other financing mechanisms to pay or refinance, directly or indirectly, all or part of the appropriations debt, and the interest thereof, using as a source of repayment the portion of the tax deposited in the Dedicated Sales Tax Fund.
As an independent corporation, COFINA has the same powers, rights and faculties as the GDB under its Constitutional Charter.
The Dedicated Sales Tax fund is funded each year with one percent of the funds generated from the Sales and Use Tax.
