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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Ecuador — SRI, comprobantes electrónicos

Ecuador runs one of Latin America's most mature e-invoicing systems. The Servicio de Rentas Internas (SRI) mandates comprobantes electrónicos — invoices and tax documents in XML, electronically signed and validated under the offline scheme in force since 2018. Following the 2021 Ley Orgánica para el Desarrollo Económico y Sostenibilidad Fiscal, electronic issuance is mandatory for virtually all taxpayers obliged to invoice, except popular businesses (negocios populares).

Regulatory timeline

  • 2012 — voluntary pilot. Resolución NAC-DGERCGC12-00105 opens voluntary issuance of comprobantes electrónicos.
  • 2013-2014 — first obligations. From 2014, credit/debit card administrators, financial institutions and special taxpayers (contribuyentes especiales) become the first mandatory issuers.
  • October 2014 — offline scheme. Resolución NAC-DGERCGC14-00790 launches migration to the esquema offline.
  • 2017-2018 — offline switch. SRI drops online pre-validation: the invoice is sent to SRI and the buyer concomitantly, and the 49-digit clave de acceso becomes the authorization number.
  • 29 November 2021 — massification law. The Ley Orgánica para el Desarrollo Económico y Sostenibilidad Fiscal makes comprobantes electrónicos mandatory for all taxpayers obliged to invoice, except popular businesses.
  • 30 November 2022 — generalisation. Effective date of the near-universal mandate.
  • 2023-2025 — extensions and updates. Successive NAC-DGERCGC resolutions widen the categories; the Ficha Técnica Esquema Offline is revised (v2.x).

Technical schema

Comprobantes electrónicos follow SRI-specific XSDs published in the Ficha Técnica de Comprobantes Electrónicos — Esquema Offline. Six document types are covered:

  • Factura (code 01)
  • Nota de crédito (04) and nota de débito (05)
  • Guía de remisión (06)
  • Comprobante de retención (07)
  • Liquidación de compra de bienes y prestación de servicios (03)

The keystone is the 49-digit clave de acceso, which also serves as the authorization number. It concatenates:

  • Issue date — 8 digits (ddmmyyyy)
  • Comprobante type — 2 digits
  • Issuer RUC — 13 digits
  • Environment — 1 digit (1 = testing, 2 = production)
  • Series = establishment + emission point — 6 digits
  • Sequential — 9 digits
  • Numeric code — 8 digits
  • Emission type — 1 digit (1 = normal)
  • Check digit — 1 digit (modulo 11)

Each XML is signed with XAdES-BES using a .p12 certificate from a CA accredited in Ecuador (Banco Central del Ecuador, Security Data, ANF AC, Uanataca, etc.). The RIDE (Representación Impresa del Documento Electrónico), a PDF, reprints the clave de acceso/authorization number and a barcode or QR for lookup.

Submission flow

Under the offline scheme, the issuer does not wait for prior SRI authorization: the clave de acceso is generated locally and acts as the authorization number from signature time.

  1. Generation + access key. The issuer's system builds the XML and computes the 49-digit clave de acceso (with its modulo-11 check digit).
  2. XAdES-BES signature with the taxpayer's .p12 certificate.
  3. Delivery to the buyer. The issuer may immediately send the authorized XML and the RIDE to the buyer, without waiting for SRI.
  4. Submission to SRI. The XML is sent to SRI's reception web services, which return RECIBIDA or DEVUELTA.
  5. Authorization. Once validated, SRI returns AUTORIZADO status; on error, NO AUTORIZADO with a reason. The document must be authorized to carry tax effect.

This is a Latin-American 'post/concomitant clearance' variant: tax-administration validation, but without blocking delivery to the buyer.

Validation

Common pitfalls

  1. Confusing authorization number and clave de acceso. Under the offline scheme they are the same 49-digit number — looking for a separate authorization number is a leftover from the old online scheme.
  2. Mis-computed modulo-11 check digit. A clave de acceso with a wrong 49th digit is rejected outright; mind the modulo-11 edge cases (remainder 10/11).
  3. Wrong environment code. Issuing in environment 1 (testing) instead of 2 (production) produces documents with no real tax value.
  4. Expired or non-accredited .p12 certificate. The XAdES-BES signature must rely on a valid certificate from a CA accredited in Ecuador; an unrecognized foreign certificate fails authorization.
  5. Assuming offline means skipping SRI. Delivery to the buyer is immediate, but the XML must still be submitted and reach AUTORIZADO status to carry tax effect and deductions.