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 GAD Municipalidad de Ambato, if you trade or own property 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 and is routinely assumed away.
OnlineWho: You
3
Work out whether you are RIMPE, and which kind
The simplified regime for small taxpayers has tiers — a 'negocio popular' band for the smallest and an entrepreneur band above it — with different rates and filing frequencies from the general regime. In a city where a great deal of economic activity is small workshops and market trading this is the live question, and it is not obvious from the outside which band applies. Check with the SRI rather than copying what a neighbour does.
OnlineWho: You
4
Get a RUC and invoice electronically if you sell anything
Independent professionals, landlords, workshops and traders register for a RUC and issue electronic invoices through the SRI system. Buying leather in Quisapincha to sell abroad, or renting a workshop unit, is economic activity in the canton and needs registering properly from the start rather than retrospectively.
OnlineWho: You
5
Read the municipality's tax gazette
Ambato publishes a gaceta tributaria setting out its own charges, their bases and their calendar — the patente municipal on economic activity in the canton, the impuesto predial on property, and the municipal charges the vehicle process picks up. None of it appears in the SRI's system and none of it generates a national reminder.
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 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 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

Which regime you fall into matters more here than the rate does.

Ambato's economy is small workshops, market traders and family firms, and the simplified RIMPE regime is built for exactly that. It has bands with different rates and different filing frequencies from the general regime, and being in the wrong one means either overpaying or filing incorrectly. Anyone starting a small business here should settle this with the SRI in week one rather than assuming the general regime applies, because it very often does not.

Source: SRI

Three tiers of government levy something in this province, and the vehicle process is where you meet all three.

The SRI is national, the GAD Municipalidad de Ambato levies the patente, the predial and the rodaje, and the Gobierno Provincial de Tungurahua charges a vehicle tax. Most Ecuadorian cities present the taxpayer with two layers; here it is three, and they are met at different counters with different calendars. Reading the municipal gazette once and knowing the provincial tax exists covers essentially all of it.

Source: GAD Municipalidad de Ambato; Gobierno Provincial de Tungurahua

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.
Assuming the general income-tax regime applies when a small business is actually within RIMPE.
Registering a RUC with the SRI and never registering the patente municipal.
Forgetting that Tungurahua's provincial government levies its own vehicle tax.
Missing your own staggered filing deadline by using a general one.

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