What is the Ecuador film tax incentive rate?

Ecuador offers 37% on qualified in-state spend through the Audiovisual Investment Certificate (CIA). It is a transferable credit. A credit you can sell to a company that owes tax in the state. You rarely get face value — expect a broker discount — so model the net, not the headline.

Is the Ecuador film incentive transferable or refundable?

Transferable — the credit can be sold, typically below face value, so model the net rather than the headline rate. Refundable — the excess over your state tax liability is paid out in cash.

Transferable creditHuman verified· 2026-09-30Active

Ecuador film tax incentive

Audiovisual Investment Certificate (CIA)

Headline rate

37%

Minimum spend

Set by the CIA technical standard (Registro Oficial 345, in force August 12, 2026) by format: USD 400,000 fiction feature or telenovela; USD 150,000 series, web content or reality; USD 100,000 documentary feature; USD 40,000 advertising; USD 30,000 short film, music video, video game or multimedia.

What Ecuador actually pays

A credit you can sell to a company that owes tax in the state. You rarely get face value — expect a broker discount — so model the net, not the headline.

New to the mechanics? Tax credit vs rebate vs grant, Selling a transferable credit and What counts as qualified spend.

How to apply

Through an Ecuadorian production company registered with audiovisual production as its economic activity, submit the project and Ecuador budget to the investment authority (the Ministry of Production, which took over the former COSICA committee's role in May 2026) under the technical standard. After the shoot, the authority certifies completion and the eligible service spend, and the producer then requests issuance of the certificate from the SRI. The certificate can be used against SRI-administered taxes or sold on the Ecuadorian securities market or directly.

The rule to remember

The 37% applies only to Ecuadorian audiovisual and logistical service spend funded by verifiable foreign direct investment, and a foreign producer must apply through an Ecuadorian production company. The certificate is a tradable tax credit note, not cash.

Common questions

What is the Ecuador film tax incentive rate?: Ecuador offers 37% on qualified in-state spend through the Audiovisual Investment Certificate (CIA). It is a transferable credit. A credit you can sell to a company that owes tax in the state. You rarely get face value — expect a broker discount — so model the net, not the headline.
What is the minimum spend for the Ecuador film incentive?: Set by the CIA technical standard (Registro Oficial 345, in force August 12, 2026) by format: USD 400,000 fiction feature or telenovela; USD 150,000 series, web content or reality; USD 100,000 documentary feature; USD 40,000 advertising; USD 30,000 short film, music video, video game or multimedia.. Falling under the minimum is a total loss of the benefit, not a partial one — it is worth confirming the threshold before locking a budget.
Is the Ecuador film incentive transferable or refundable?: Transferable — the credit can be sold, typically below face value, so model the net rather than the headline rate. Refundable — the excess over your state tax liability is paid out in cash.

Verify before you budget. These figures come from our own incentives database and each shows when it was last reviewed — but programs change between funding cycles and legislative sessions. Confirm with the film office, or ask us, before a number goes into a budget.

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What could Ecuador be worth?

A first-pass estimate with the arithmetic shown, so you can check it rather than trust it. Switch states right here to test the same budget elsewhere, or line up to five states up side by side on the compare page.

Compare with

Programs in a similar rate band. The mechanism matters as much as the percentage — a transferable credit at 30% is not the same money as a cash grant at 30%.

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Tracking changes to this program?

We re-verify Ecuador against the film office and the statute, and write when something moves that would change a budget. One email, no cadence you didn't ask for.