Nowadays, for safety and convenience, it is not common to leave or enter a country with large amounts of cash.; Travelers prefer to carry a certain amount of physical cash and settle the rest of their expenses with credit or debit cards. However, if it exceeds a certain amount of physical money, it must be reported.

The National Customs Service of Ecuador (Senae) states that any traveler entering or leaving the country with cash, for an amount equal to or greater than USD 10,000 or the equivalent in other currenciesyou are obliged to report it to the competent authorities.

This provision is established in Organic law on the prevention, detection and eradication of the criminal offense of money laundering and the financing of criminal offences.

For this purpose, upon arrival in the territory of Ecuador, the traveler must fill out Customs registration form (FRA)which can be requested at immigration or customs control.

It is worth noting that the declaration of the amount does not imply the payment of tax on foreign trade; likewise, if the amount is correctly reported, it will not be subject to any sanctions.

The declaration described above is not related to foreign exchange outflow tax (ISD).consisting of the transfer, shipment or transfer of currency abroad, whether in cash or by money order (cheques, transfers, withdrawals or payments of any nature).

As for the latter, the Internal Revenue Service (SRI) indicates that Adult Ecuadorians (18 years old) leaving the country can carry up to $1,350 in cash on each trip, exempt from ISD, and minors up to $450..

This tax will be paid only by citizens who earn more than three basic salaries in cash abroad.

There are other cases where ISD does not have to be paid when leaving the country. One of them matches students from abroad when they meet the living and course costs. The second case corresponds to companions of a person with a catastrophic, rare or orphan disease; The costs of both (both attendant and patient) will be exempt from ISD.