Ghost companies and their relationship with money laundering, a corruption problem that attacks the Ecuadorian tax system

Abstract

The research is based on the study of ghost companies as a means of money laundering, when these companies are constituted, a social, financial, legal and economic problem arises that affects the tax administration, the State and the citizens. Given this situation, concern arises in the entities that fight these crimes and with it the need to know the stages and techniques used when committing these crimes to detect and counteract tax fraud and corruption. The objective of the article is to analyze the economic effect of ghost companies and their relationship with money laundering through a bibliographic review to determine their impact on the Ecuadorian tax system. The methodology applied is quantitative-descriptive, the search for information was carried out in scientific journals and reliable sources, which allowed the creation of ghost companies to be identified as a technique used to commit money laundering, in the results it is observed that in what as of the year 2022, there are 1,038 records of ghost companies, with a greater concentration in the province of Guayas. As a whole, these companies have invoiced a total of 2,843,173,372 dollars. According to BASEL data, Ecuador has a high AML index and occupies position 24 on the list compared to Latin American countries. It was concluded that it is necessary for the Tax Administration and control agencies to establish strategies to mitigate the creation of ghost companies and the entry of money of dubious origin that endanger the country's economy.