PRINCIPLE OF NON-RETROACTIVITY IN THE ECUADORIAN TAX LEGISLATION

Abstract

This article established the application of the constitutional principle of tax non-retroactivity, provided for in article 300 of the supreme norm, contrasted with the precept contained in article 3 of the Tax Code, which determines that tax laws will not be enacted with retroactive effect in detriment of taxpayers, in order to determine its scope; the way in which the Constitutional Court of Ecuador has applied it in specific cases; and,  the determination of the tenth transitory provision of the Organic Law of Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability After the COVID-19 Pandemic, which established a tax benefit with retroactive effect, opposing the Ecuadorian legal tax institutionality. A cross-sectional research design was developed, with a descriptive scope, analyzing the manifestation of non-retroactivity in the internal legal system, qualitative, exegetical-legal methods were applied in terms of the grammatical interpretation of the constitutional and legal provisions related to the postulate of non-retroactivity in Ecuador. The results pointed to the impossibility of issuing tax regulations with retroactive effect for the benefit of the taxpayer, consequently it was concluded with the violation of the postulate in the issuance of the regulations currently in force, with their respective effects.