Before you start

A determination of whether you are tax-resident
Records of days present in Ecuador
Documentation of foreign pension and investment income
RUC and SRI credentials, if you have independent Ecuadorian income

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 — it is the same record the immigration absence rule needs.
OnlineWho: You
2
Understand that residence means worldwide income, pensions included
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. Anyone who moved here from a territorial-tax comparison of Panama or Costa Rica has carried the wrong assumption across.
OnlineWho: You
3
Check your home country's treaty position and its own reach
The interaction between Ecuadorian residence taxation and your home system is the whole question, and it differs by country — some pensions are taxable only in the source state under a treaty, some only in the state of residence, and United States citizens remain subject to US filing wherever they live. Take advice once, properly, in your first year, rather than assuming the answer from someone else's situation.
OnlineWho: YouFirst year
4
Get a RUC if you invoice anyone in Ecuador
Independent professionals, landlords and businesses register for a RUC, issue electronic invoices through the SRI system and file periodically. Letting out a property here — including a second flat bought as an investment — puts you in this category. Smaller taxpayers may fall within the simplified RIMPE regime, which changes both rate and filing frequency.
OnlineWho: You
5
Deal with the municipality separately for property and business
The impuesto predial on property and the patente municipal on anyone carrying on economic activity in the canton are levied by the GAD Municipal de Cuenca, on its own calendar, and appear nowhere in the SRI's system. Owning a flat here means two authorities, not one.
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
Records of days present in Ecuador
Foreign pension statements and any home-country tax filings
RUC and SRI credentials, where applicable
Municipal predial and patente records, if you own property or trade here

Things most newcomers don’t know

Ecuador taxes residents on worldwide income, and in a retirement city that is the fact that matters most.

Costa Rica and Panama are territorial; Ecuador is not. Once tax-resident here, your foreign pension, foreign rental income, foreign dividends and foreign capital gains are within the Ecuadorian net, with relief for foreign tax paid in defined cases. People comparing Latin American retirement destinations routinely carry the territorial assumption across the whole region and get Ecuador exactly backwards — and in Cuenca, where most residents' income is foreign-source, the mistake is expensive rather than academic.

Source: SRI

Your day count does double duty, and both counts can go wrong at once.

More than 183 days present makes you tax-resident; more than 90 days absent costs you your temporary residence. They are different rules from different authorities that read the same entry and exit stamps, and someone arranging their year to dodge one will frequently walk into the other. Keep a single spreadsheet of every entry and exit and check it against both rules before booking a long trip.

Source: SRI; MREMH

There are two tax authorities in your life here and only one of them is national.

The SRI handles income tax, VAT and the ISD. The GAD Municipal de Cuenca separately levies the impuesto predial on property and the patente municipal on anyone carrying on economic activity in the canton, on its own portal and its own calendar. Foreign residents who buy a flat and let it out set up the RUC diligently and routinely never register the patente, then meet it as accumulated interest.

Source: GAD Municipal de Cuenca

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 including foreign pensions.
Taking a tax conclusion from another retiree whose home country's treaty position is different from yours.
Arranging a year around the 183-day tax test and breaching the 90-day residence absence limit instead.
Letting a property here without registering a RUC and the patente municipal.
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.