Sending money home from Ecuaor

That fee is call it "Impuesto a la salida de divisas" Under $1000 there is not any fee, up that is 5% tax.
If you read spanish you can check it out here:

http://www.jezl-auditores.com/index.php … &Itemid=71

So, it depends of how much you need to transfer. There is not way to jump this fee, anybody or any company will keep this fee because is required by law.

Facebook: GoodLifeInEcuador

Thanks for the link and the feedback!

You are right, they told me that I can send up to 100USD twice a month without paying the tax.

But then with a  56USD fee  per transaction, that is effectively a 5% bank fee ( even though it is tax free).

I did not know about this tax before coming here.
5% is outrageous!!!

Sorry but the account is registered and digitized through the Ecuadorian central banking registrar which, allows them and the recipient country the ability to monitor fund transfers in or out of the sending or receiving countries.
This is all done under the wonderful international Hague agreement some of you maybe be familiar with. If you don't recall when we applied for the extended visas most of us had to have our documents apostilled which again serves the very same purpose of authenticating and tracking individuals instead of funds.
It would appear that George Orwell was right.
One more detail that you'll need to pay attention too, as an American citizen any income you make regardless of it's source outside the USA must be reported and is taxed at the same levels as if you were making those dollars inside the USA. So, aside from the Ecuadorian tax levy you'll still pay Uncle Sam's as well.
I maybe off a couple of bucks on the tax levels but make no mistake about it, it is taxed as earned income.

Good luck, no way legally to avoid the taxes and levies.

Thanks for the link MariaPia. I wasn't aware of this tax.

In case anybody wants to see it in English, I ran the link through google translate.

http://translate.google.com/translate?h … 6bih%3D626

timo31750 wrote:

One more detail that you'll need to pay attention too,as an American citizen any income you make regardless of it's source outside the USA must be reported and is taxed at the same levels as if you were making those dollars inside the USA. So, aside from the Ecuadorian tax levy you'll still pay Uncle Sam's as well.

You americans really do belive that it´s all about you!
Who said anything about america? Get a grip on reality before making such rash asumptions.

I was told the same thing by my husband. Uncle Sam want to tax the American wherever they go. Wich is a shame.

I dont know if the ecuadorians bank have to report the interest that they are apying for savings or checking, etc They say: No

I dont know if other countries are following their citizens as the States are doing.

If you dont want to pay so much taxes I think the best is dont keep a lot of money in the bank. We will see what happen when someone sells real estate.

Relax Josh, most of the English speaking expats in Ecuador are American or Canadian.

Makes sense, yes?

The 5% tax assessed by the Ecuadorian government is an attempt to restrict USD from leaving the country and similar to measures in place in Venezuela and Argentina. It is reasonable to assume this tax will increase as imports outpace exports and the possibility that the USD replaced with the "new sucre".

You can circumvent the 5% tax by arranging with an individual wanting to bring USD into Ecuador to place those funds in your US bank account in exchange for you transferring your USD into their Ecuadorian bank account. Obviously you would need to have a trusting relationship.

My recommendation to expats is to limit USD in Ecuador bank accounts, use a US credit card to pay Ecuadorian expenses (preferable w/o a foreign fee) and rent vs buy until you are 99% confident you will make Ecuador your permanent home.

Yes you can read on the link posted earlier that this tax was 2% and raised to 5% in 2011. But I really hope that it would not increase further...

My previous experience with Latin America was with Chile and Brazil, where there is no such tax.

Well, I´m being paid by the Ecuadorean state into an Ecuadorean bank account, so there is no getting around this.

Does anyone know what is the maximum that one can take out of the country in cash?
In many countries it is 10K, be it in USD or Euros.
I would still be very surprised if it is only 1K in Ecuador.

fdmcg wrote:

The 5% tax assessed by the Ecuadorian government is an attempt to restrict USD from leaving the country and similar to measures in place in Venezuela and Argentina. It is reasonable to assume this tax will increase as imports outpace exports and the possibility that the USD replaced with the "new sucre".

You can circumvent the 5% tax by arranging with an individual wanting to bring USD into Ecuador to place those funds in your US bank account in exchange for you transferring your USD into their Ecuadorian bank account. Obviously you would need to have a trusting relationship.

My recommendation to expats is to limit USD in Ecuador bank accounts, use a US credit card to pay Ecuadorian expenses (preferable w/o a foreign fee) and rent vs buy until you are 99% confident you will make Ecuador your permanent home.

Just in case anyone is curious as to how effective currency controls have been in Venezuela and Argentina.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/s … y-controlshttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news … peso-forex

If anything given Ecuador's new friendship with China, and well basically complete dependence on China, it would seem rational for the country to convert over to the Yuan.

Josh, it is my understanding you can carry out of Ecuador up to $10K in cash without paying the 5% tax. I believe it is reasonable to assume the 5% tax will increase until the USD's leaving the country are less than those entering the country. The Ecuador government is attempting to limit imports (and as a result USD's leaving) with high import tax. For an expat, the best protection against these taxes is limiting their USD investment in Ecuador.

"If anything given Ecuador's new friendship with China, and well basically complete dependence on China, it would seem rational for the country to convert over to the Yuan"

J, I assume the above is intend to be a joke. If/when Ecuador drops the USD as it's currency its strong preference will be to replace with its own currency which it can print as much as it wants. It does not have that option with either the USD or Yuan.

fdmcg wrote:

"If anything given Ecuador's new friendship with China, and well basically complete dependence on China, it would seem rational for the country to convert over to the Yuan"

J, I assume the above is intend to be a joke. If/when Ecuador drops the USD as it's currency its strong preference will be to replace with its own currency which it can print as much as it wants. It does not have that option with either the USD or Yuan.

Partial joke, partial truth. With out a doubt they want their own currency to print, and print they will.

Yes, agree they will try and eventually dump the dollar for their own. Personally think the converting over to the Yuan would be a good decision, but am sure others would disagree, and not a chance it's going to happen, so a suppose is a rather mute point.

What is the "best" way to have $ sent to Ecuador from the US if needed?  Bank to bank?  Western Union?

I use bank to bank if over $10K. US bank will need:

Swift:
Ecuador Bank Name:
Ecuador branch Address:
City: Quito Ecuador
Account Number:
Beneficiary: Name on Ecuador account.

Do Ecuadorean debit cards work abroad?

The bank which issued me one, told me that it does work anywhere in the world  , but only if you swipe them in person. Not online.

Also, I do not know if the 5% is applied if one is using the debit cad.

Anyone ever used one?

I have a similar situation. In my experience in Colombia and Brazil or truthfully anywhere for that matter I would keep a bank account in your home country and withdraw money using an ATM or Checkcard. Currency exchanges, foreign wires, money transfer services all make money somehow and so does the government for that matter as I just read here.

If you live in the US you have options if you do NOT have a bank account: (I am certain other countries have similar options)

American Express Pre-Paid cards work anywhere in the world where AMEX is accepted. There are fees which are $2 per ATM withdrawal (but you get one free withdrawal a month) and a $400USD limit withdrawal limit per day. But it definitely is cheaper than using a wire, MoneyGram or Western Union. It also works when purchasing goods or services if you use it as a credit card. Direct Deposit available as well for NO additional fee.





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