Before you start

A determination of whether you are tax-resident
RUC and SRI online credentials, if you have independent income
A municipal account with the Alcaldía de Manta, if you own property or trade here
Records of foreign income and of outbound transfers

Step-by-step

1
Establish whether you are tax-resident
The principal test is presence in Ecuador for more than 183 days, continuous or not, within a twelve-month period falling in the fiscal year. There is also a test based on the core of your economic activities or interests. Keep a record of entries and exits — the same record the immigration absence rule needs.
OnlineWho: You
2
Understand that residence means worldwide income
An Ecuadorian tax resident is taxable on Ecuadorian and foreign-source income alike, with relief for foreign tax paid in defined circumstances. Foreign pensions, foreign rental income, foreign dividends and foreign capital gains are all in scope. This is the opposite of the territorial position in Costa Rica and Panama.
OnlineWho: You
3
Let withholding handle a straightforward salary
Employers withhold income tax monthly against the annual progressive schedule and you submit your projected deductible personal expenses to them. Employees with a single employer and no other income generally have nothing further to file.
Via employerWho: Your employer
4
Get a RUC and file if you invoice anyone
Independent professionals, landlords and businesses register for a RUC, issue electronic invoices through the SRI system and file periodically. Letting a beach property to holidaymakers puts you squarely in this category. Smaller taxpayers may fall within the simplified RIMPE regime, which changes both rate and filing frequency.
OnlineWho: You
5
Read the municipality's tax gazette rather than guessing
Manta publishes its own gaceta tributaria — the municipal charges, their bases and their calendar — through the citizen portal. The patente municipal is required of anyone carrying on economic activity in the canton and the impuesto predial is charged on property, both on a calendar entirely separate from the SRI's. It is a short document and reading it once is the cheapest hour in this guide.
OnlineWho: You
6
Account for the ISD on money leaving the country
The Impuesto a la Salida de Divisas applies to transfers of funds out of Ecuador and to certain foreign card transactions. The rate has been reduced several times in recent years, so confirm the current figure with the SRI before planning any regular outbound flow.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Cédula de identidad
RUC and SRI credentials, where applicable
Employer withholding certificate
Municipal account, patente and predial records, if you trade or own property
Records of days present in Ecuador and of outbound transfers

Things most newcomers don’t know

Ecuador taxes residents on worldwide income, which is the opposite of what most people assume about the region.

Costa Rica and Panama are territorial; Ecuador is not. Once tax-resident here, foreign pensions, foreign rental income, foreign dividends and foreign capital gains are in scope, with relief for foreign tax paid in defined cases. People comparing Latin American beach destinations frequently carry the territorial assumption across the whole region and get this exactly backwards. It is the most consequential single fact in this guide.

Source: SRI

Letting a beach property is a business, and the SRI and the municipality both think so.

A great many foreign residents on this coast buy a second place and let it out for part of the year. That is economic activity: it means a RUC, electronic invoicing through the SRI's system, periodic filing, and separately a patente municipal from the canton where the property sits — which may not be Manta if the property is at Crucita or Puerto Cayo. Treating it as informal side income is the most common tax error made by foreigners on the Ecuadorian coast, and it accrues interest quietly.

Source: SRI; Alcaldía del cantón Manta

The municipality publishes exactly what it will charge you, and almost nobody reads it.

Manta's gaceta tributaria sets out the municipal charges, their bases and the calendar on the citizen portal. Since these obligations appear nowhere in the SRI's system and generate no reminder, the gazette is the only place the information exists in one piece. Newcomers who register a RUC diligently and never look at the municipal side meet the patente as accumulated interest years later.

Source: Alcaldía del cantón Manta

Your filing deadline depends on the ninth digit of your identification number.

Ecuador staggers national filing deadlines across a month according to the ninth digit of your RUC or cédula, so no two taxpayers necessarily share a date. Newcomers look up 'the deadline', find a range, and pick the wrong end of it. Look up your own digit once and diary it; late filing carries interest and fines that accrue from your date, not from the last one.

Source: SRI

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming Ecuador is territorial like Costa Rica or Panama, when it taxes residents worldwide.
Letting a beach property without a RUC, electronic invoicing and the patente for the right canton.
Registering with the SRI and never opening the municipality's tax gazette.
Missing your own staggered filing deadline by using a general one.
Never submitting the projection of personal deductible expenses to your employer.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.