Director of the Tax Administration (SRI) Francisco Briones will submit to the new government a draft law on international taxation, the main objective of which is to continue the fight against tax evasion. In the meantime, he is looking forward to the transition process and hopes that the next government will continue his projects. He pointed out that about 18 billion dollars will be collected this year, which is a growth of between 3 and 4 percent.

What is the draft law on international taxation that you will leave to the new government?

All tax administrations in the world fight against evasion, it is an evil that all countries have and there are always domestic efforts. There’s an additional effort that’s more global and more collaborative, which is international taxation, because the big companies where you can find the greatest amount of impact in terms of fighting evasion are international companies… so international taxation is It’s trying to bring international into domestic regulations control and tax collection standards that include, for example, the cooperation of different administrations in control processes.

Tax spending rises to $5.15 billion in 2022, 72% concentrated in social benefits, according to SRI

That is, that control is not currently being implemented?

Controls are currently carried out with all the powers that the current law allows us, but there are these international actions that most countries have agreed to and one of these standards that has to do with international taxation are BEPS actions, these are actions to fight against the erosion of the tax base , they have several topics that are adopted into local legislation as the tax administration matures. This is not about raising taxes, it is about collecting taxes that really need to be collected.

For the implementation of this project, an investigation was conducted: How many companies avoid paying taxes?

In the coming weeks, we will reveal a study of tax evasion or the fiscal gap in Ecuador in Value Added Tax (VAT) and Personal Income Tax.

How many countries are you considering exchanging information with?

Ecuador is part of the Global Forum on Fiscal Transparency promoted by the Organization of Developed Countries, there we have about 150 countries that exchange information and that promote the adoption of these international standards.

How is the 2023 collection going?

We’re going to do approximately $18,000 million in billings this year compared to last year, which was $17,000 million, so that’s going to be a 3%, 4% growth that we’re going to have this year. We will deliver this growth, although we have cut $600 million in taxes from approximately 15 taxes that we have abolished, taxes that were collected last year, such as property tax, are (also) not being collected.

Which groups were not controlled?

This year, we started conducting controls of business groups such as influential persons, athletes, including the tax PCRs we made to entrepreneurs, large estates to beauty centers, countless businesses, which were not controlled and which grew. Then we also took steps to expand the taxpayer base, by the end of the year we will have practically 300,000 new taxpayers compared to last year, a growth of practically almost 10%.

SRI control operations in August resulted in the seizure of goods worth more than USD 270,000

How much was the payment of these new taxpayers?

I can say how much the control plan brings us this year, if we innovated it, approximately 1000 million dollars is what we collected this year as a result of strengthening all our control programs that we presented in January of this year.

Which segments or areas contributed the most to the collections?

We have approximately 600 large taxpayers in the country out of 2.6 million taxpayers across the country. Those 600 people and companies pay 55% of the bill, or roughly $10,000 million this year. In that place alone, 600 taxpayers account for 75% of the collection.

Then there are other sectors that are constantly growing, such as mining, hence the importance of this sector to the country’s economy, not only because of exports, but also because of what they generate in taxes and royalties. This sector is super important. And the treasury, as always, receives the most from the commercial and industrial sectors, which are the largest in the country.

The project that has been implemented is the Falcon technological system, how does it work?

Falcon is our comprehensive risk management model. It is a tool that for the first time allows us to process large amounts of data, cross-check information not only of an accounting tax nature, but also of a qualitative nature about real estate, income, leaving the country, purchases, credit cards, a myriad of information that helps us profile tax risk. obligees, from the lowest risk to the highest risk and based on this we can structure our control plans focusing laser beams in places, shooting bullets in the air, aiming laser beams and We know what we are going for.

It is not yet 100% implemented, but it is already showing the first results. For example, the identification of those anonymous tax officials, people who have transactions in the financial system, who have economic movements, who have real estate, but never in their life received an RUC or did not have it to pay taxes. A few weeks ago, as a result, we identified a database of 20,000 people, for a control operation that was supposed to send an SMS message, in which the taxpayer or person is told: we have identified that you have a company, avoid sanctions, get your RUC on our website page.

As a result of these messages, approximately 8,000 people received their RUC.

With Decree 881 and funding of $88.5 million, technological systems have been given way to improve tax and customs administration

What does the new government’s tax future look like?

I believe that it is necessary to continue the institutional strengthening of SRI, this administration promoted it mainly with Falcon. Number two: Intax, which is SRI’s digital transformation program, a program funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and South Korea’s $65 million collaboration to rebuild the entire technology infrastructure at SRI. And, thirdly, the regulatory strengthening of international taxation, I believe that these three things are key to sustainability over time.

What about the transition with the new government?

We are ready for the transition process, we have prepared a document that we will submit to the incoming government, whoever it may be, and we are waiting for them to tell us who will be the person who will take over that position, because it is extremely important for me to sit down personally with whoever will be my successor, explain the importance of Falcon, the importance of Intax, the importance of the judiciary, tax laws and anti-tax evasion.