How net salary works in Ecuador
Ecuador is fully dollarized, so if you are on a local payroll — as a resident, expat or long-stay remote worker with a dependent-employment contract — your salary is paid in USD and goes through two mandatory deductions. The first is the IESS employee contribution: 9.45% of your monthly pay (salary plus overtime and commissions), with no contribution ceiling. The second is income tax withholding: your employer projects your taxable income for the whole year, applies the official SRI table for 2026, subtracts the personal expense rebate you have declared, and withholds one twelfth of the result each month.
This calculator mirrors that employer mechanism using the official 2026 figures: the tax table from SRI Resolution NAC-DGERCGC25-00000043 and expense caps based on the January 2026 basic family basket ($821.80, per INEC). Everything runs in your browser; nothing is stored.
How to use it
- Enter your gross monthly salary in USD.
- Pick your number of dependents (“cargas familiares”): parents, spouse or partner, and children up to 21 (no age limit if disabled) who depend on you financially and earn no more than 1 minimum wage ($482 in 2026).
- Enter your projected personal expenses for the year — housing, health, food, clothing, education and domestic tourism supported by receipts. Leave 0 if you have not filed the expense form.
- Read the monthly breakdown and open the annual projection for the full math.
2026 income tax table
The tax-free threshold is $12,208 of annual taxable base (gross annual income minus your IESS contributions).
| Annual taxable base (USD) | Tax on lower bound | Rate on the excess |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 12,208 | 0 | 0% |
| 12,208 to 15,549 | 0 | 5% |
| 15,549 to 20,188 | 167 | 10% |
| 20,188 to 26,700 | 631 | 12% |
| 26,700 to 35,136 | 1,412 | 15% |
| 35,136 to 46,575 | 2,678 | 20% |
| 46,575 to 62,005 | 4,965 | 25% |
| 62,005 to 82,679 | 8,823 | 30% |
| 82,679 to 109,956 | 15,025 | 35% |
| Over 109,956 | 24,572 | 37% |
The personal expense rebate
Since the 2023 reform, personal expenses no longer reduce your taxable base. Instead they generate a direct rebate against the tax due: 18% of the lower of your projected expenses and the cap that matches your number of dependents. The rebate can never exceed the tax due, so it cannot turn your tax negative.
| Dependents | Baskets | 2026 expense cap | Maximum rebate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 7 | $5,752.60 | $1,035.47 |
| 1 | 9 | $7,396.20 | $1,331.32 |
| 2 | 11 | $9,039.80 | $1,627.16 |
| 3 | 14 | $11,505.20 | $2,070.94 |
| 4 | 17 | $13,970.60 | $2,514.71 |
| 5 or more | 20 | $16,436.00 | $2,958.48 |
If you or your dependents suffer from catastrophic, rare or orphan diseases, the cap rises to up to 100 baskets ($82,180 in 2026, a maximum rebate of $14,792.40).
Worked example
Gross salary of $1,500 per month, no personal expenses declared:
- IESS: 1,500 × 9.45% = $141.75
- Annual taxable income: 1,500 × 12 = $18,000; taxable base: 18,000 − 1,701 = $16,299
- Tax: 167 plus 10% of (16,299 − 15,549) = 167 + 75 = $242 per year
- Monthly withholding: 242 ÷ 12 = $20.17
- Net salary: $1,338.08
On $3,000 per month with 1 dependent and expenses at the cap ($7,396.20): IESS of $283.50, tax due of $2,296.70, rebate of $1,331.32, monthly withholding of $80.45 and a net of $2,636.05.
Frequently asked questions
Do the 13th and 14th salaries get taxed?
No. Ecuador’s two mandatory bonuses (décimo tercero and décimo cuarto) and the reserve fund are exempt from income tax (Art. 9.11 of the tax law) and are not subject to IESS contributions. You receive them in full, and this calculator keeps them out of the taxable base.
Is there a cap on IESS contributions?
No. Unlike many countries, Ecuador applies the 9.45% to your entire covered remuneration with no upper limit.
I earn more than my expense cap allows. What happens?
Only expenses up to your cap count. With no dependents, for instance, at most $5,752.60 of expenses are recognized, for a maximum rebate of $1,035.47 — anything above that is ignored.
Why does my payslip show a different withholding?
Employers recalculate the annual projection whenever your income changes (overtime, commissions, bonuses) or when you update your personal expense form (SRI-GP). This tool assumes a fixed salary across all 12 months.
The 2026 figures — the SRI table, the $821.80 basic basket and the $482 minimum wage — are updated every year, so review them annually against the official SRI and Ministry of Labour sources.