Morocco Cracks Down on Tax-Evading Social Media Influencers

The Directorate General of Taxes (DGI) is multiplying controls and reassessments. It is in this context that it has recently sent several notifications to influencers and digital content creators, asking them to declare their income and pay their taxes, according to sources close to the case who spoke to La Vie Eco. The DGI took time to take action because it wanted "to know what would be the best way to address this issue of tax evasion," says a source who specifies that today the DGI seems to have "an action plan based on proven approaches and methods".

Budgetary pressure and the economic crisis are leading the authorities to think about how to broaden the tax base, especially since the digital sector generates huge revenues. "The shortfall for the Tax Department is indeed significant. Many content creators on the internet earn a lot of money and do not declare their income. This is unfair. Now, faced with the legal void in this sector, the Tax Department is using what is called the overall situation to assess the income of influencers," explains tax specialist Mohamed Rahj. The tax authorities use this method to verify whether the income of influencers is compatible with their standard of living.

By analyzing the publications of influencers on social networks, the tax inspectors have a more or less close idea of the value of the material goods of the latter (cars, main and secondary residences, watches, jewelry, vacations and stays in Morocco and abroad, etc.) and thus have the possibility to verify the declared income. The reality is that very few do this declaration and do not declare all their assets. To remedy this situation, the DGI has assigned tax identification numbers to these content creators, which allows it to pay the taxes in place of the influencers who do not fulfill their tax obligations, based on estimates to which penalties and fines are added.

"I am not against these tax audits, but I also think that we need to get active in education. We need to raise awareness among content creators and create a special status for them, while giving them a grace period to comply with the legislation," adds Mohamed Rahj. The tax authorities are also interested in the tax evasion of very famous influencers who hold offshore accounts in tax havens. The DGI is not going to skimp on the means to track down these digital fraudsters.