The director of the Tax Administration (SRI), Francisco Briones, announced the main achievements of his administration and at the same time explained that so far there has been no contact with the authorities of the new government in order to carry out the necessary transition process, which will be in less than ten days. “I don’t know who will be in SRI, I haven’t been contacted,” he said.

Regarding taxes, SRI and the new government had some friction. Proof of this would be the statements of Briones a few days ago in some media about the tax debt of the Noboa group. This time, when he was consulted, he recalled that the said debt amounts to, as is public, 89 million dollars. However, when asked what is missing in order for this payment to be made, he said that the DZI has already completed all the necessary procedures (as with other taxpayers) to implement forced collection, but the property has not been identified, that is, it is not within the country.

At the same time, Briones’ tweet criticizing the pact between Correístas and ADN also caused controversy in the area. In his X account, Briones stated the following: “It was very ironic to see a political group accusing the leader of another political group of running away at the same time they were announcing a legislative agreement between them. It is regrettable and a true reflection of the political class.”

These days, the incoming president Daniel Noboa Azín said that he will present a tax reform in which he will reduce taxes. This question caused confusion, because it was not said how these smaller funds would be compensated. For Briones, what the new government should do is to continue the path that has already been set, which refers to the institutional strengthening of the SRI to strengthen the control tools. There are several efforts, an exchange of information that has begun, but must continue for maximum benefit, he said.

On raising taxes or not, he commented that it is important to take measures that can meet immediate needs, but to continue with medium and long-term measures that have nothing to do with increasing taxes. But there is also an ongoing national and academic conversation about how to create a sustainable Ecuador in terms of tax and anti-evasion.

In any case, Francisco Briones, in one of his last talks with the media, from this position, assured that in 2022 a historical record of $17.162 million was recorded, while in 2023 it is expected to reach $18.193 million, that is, two consecutive years record. He explained that these numbers refer to gross collections, which are before refunds that must be made to individual taxpayers.

He also admitted that this figure for 2023 will be equal to 97% of the target. Although it is lower than expected, he said that it is a satisfactory result for him, especially since these goals were adopted in October 2022 under different macroeconomic assumptions. For example, the planned foreign exchange outflow tax (ISD) was 4% and now it is 2%. In addition, the country had to suffer a series of international events that ultimately affected the collection: a global slowdown such as the decline of the economy in China, which led, for example, to a drop in exports or a drop in crude oil prices, resulting in lower taxes paid by oil companies .

In the meantime, he explained that Ecuador’s tax base has expanded significantly, as there are now 600,000 new taxpayers. Part of them increased due to the control process with influencers, subjects and persons of informal electronic trade, anonymous prosecutors and the commission for the suppression of smuggling. But also because of mass controls that were carried out through notaries public.

Additionally, he said that 136 controls were carried out regarding the tax PCR, and they related to quick controls and collection of irregular persons, post-covid control of contributions and unjustified increase of assets. At this moment alone, an additional 3.5 million dollars has been collected, but by December it will amount to 5.1 million dollars.

The Falcon program is also ready for determination achieve tax. This is measured in the degree of compliance. The idea is that those who do not comply with the requirements the most are candidates for greater controls or audits. Value added tax (VAT) control was tripled, and control was extended to large taxpayers, from 204 controls to 281 controls.