Morocco Cracks Down on Influencers Using Crypto to Evade Taxes

According to Assabah, "influencers would have invested in this segment of electronic media that store sums of money without being linked to real bank accounts, to deposit part of their income on the web, away from the eyes of the tax authorities and the Foreign Exchange Office." To put an end to this tax evasion, "the competent authorities are carrying out audit procedures on the probable income of these influencers based on their activities on the web, and compare them to those declared and transferred to their real accounts within the country."

These audits, "carried out in collaboration with the financial authorities of certain European countries, target the activities and financial circuits of about ten influencers, some of whom enjoy great popularity beyond the Moroccan borders," specifies the same source, adding that "dysfunctions and irregularities were found to taint the revenue management circuits obtained through the services offered by influencers and transferred to the cryptocurrency sector, particularly Bitcoin, whose price has approached $100,000 in recent weeks."

The competent financial authorities are tracking more than 120 million dirhams that these fraudulent influencers would have converted into cryptocurrency. According to a statement from the Foreign Exchange Office, they face prison sentences of up to three years, as well as heavy fines.