Ecuador publishes tighter evidence rules for sports-sponsorship deduction

Publication is the latest verified event

The agreement updates the Ministry of Sport’s codified procedure for qualifying sports programmes, projects and events and certifying the taxpayers that support them. The Official Register identifies the reform in Fifth Supplement No. 401, while the Ministry’s current guidance dates Agreement MD-DM-2025-0038-A to 24 June 2025. Publication is therefore the latest verified official event; the sources reviewed do not support describing 30 October as the agreement’s commencement date.^[1][2]

Invoices must be matched to execution evidence

Article 45, reproduced in the Ministry’s official guidance, requires the project proponent to submit at least one record proving that the contribution was actually made. Accepted evidence includes a bank transfer identifying the parties, date, amount and purpose, a stamped deposit slip, an authorised electronic-payment confirmation or a bank certificate. For an in-kind contribution, the records include a dispatch note and delivery-and-receipt record with a valued inventory. Other official financial or accounting evidence may be accepted if it clearly proves execution. An invoice alone is insufficient, and certification will not proceed where the documents do not clearly link the invoice to the contribution.^[2]

The reform restricts self-sponsorship

The Ministry says Article 43 excludes a person or entity that is itself a proponent, or that submitted an active sports programme or project, from certification for invoices connected with that project. Its guidance also identifies exclusions for RIMPE popular-business and entrepreneur taxpayers and points to related-party limitations in the Income Tax Law regulations. The relief remains an additional deduction from the income-tax base for qualifying advertising, promotion or sponsorship expenditure, not a tax credit.^[2][3]

Certification supports the tax claim

The proponent uploads the invoice and transaction evidence, which the Ministry’s financial directorate reviews before the committee decides whether to certify. The guidance states that requests may be made through the last working day of January following the relevant fiscal year, gives a 45-day certification period after committee approval and permits one correction of observed invoices subject to the stated timetable.^[2]

Groups should preserve a complete evidence chain

Ecuadorian groups using the incentive should match every invoice to payment or delivery evidence, confirm that neither sponsor nor proponent falls within an excluded category and obtain the required certificate before claiming the additional deduction. The sources reviewed do not change the annual income-tax return deadline. The full agreement body and exact commencement clause remain a separate detailed-law gap.^[1][2][3]