Massive Tax Fraud Scheme Uncovered in Morocco’s Corporate Sector

Companies are accused of using fake invoices to reduce their taxes. The regional control services of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI) have indeed detected serious signs of irregularities in the declarations of many companies, according to sources at Hespress, specifying that they have used vague descriptions such as "various services" or "service fees", without providing details on the nature of the services invoiced, or establishing a clear link between these expenses and the actual activity carried out.

According to the same sources, the tax inspectors discovered fraudulent practices related to deductible expenses included in the tax returns of certain companies, which proved unable to justify their reality. They reveal that these expenses were mostly fictitious. Some companies have indeed used false mission letters and simulated invoices for non-existent services or products, in order to deceive the control services and artificially reduce their due taxes.

Some companies have invoked the "right to error" provided for in Article 221 bis of the General Tax Code - which offers them the possibility of spontaneously correcting the anomalies appearing in their declarations, by electronically filing corrective declarations according to a model developed by the DGI, and by voluntarily paying the corresponding duties - to avoid tax revision and possible legal proceedings for the use and distribution of falsified invoices.

The verification teams also discovered the repetition of questionable procedures. To justify expenses, some companies use invoices issued by companies whose activities had no connection with the declared services. An inconsistency confirmed after examining the trade registers, tax returns and the common business identification number (ICE) of the companies concerned.

Thanks to the ongoing audits, the verification teams were able to gather revealing information, particularly on the location of these companies, the majority of which are domiciled in accounting offices located in major cities, especially Casablanca. They discovered that some of them produced thousands of invoices in a single year, for a total amount exceeding 5 million dirhams.