Morocco Halts OECD Tax Information Exchange Agreements for Expatriates

On Tuesday, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Islamic Affairs and Moroccans Residing Abroad postponed sine die the approval of two draft laws on the exchange of tax information and data of MREs, calling on the government to review them. These are draft law No. 76.19 approving the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of Country-by-Country Reports and draft law No. 77.19 approving the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Automatic Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts.

Some deputies are trying to justify the rejection of these two projects. "Our position is firm and irreversible," says Mohamed Ghayat, president of the RNI group, to Médias24. "The provisions in question are related to the exchange of information and this is detrimental to the Moroccan community residing abroad." He adds: "It is our right, as deputies, to have a political appreciation of things before accepting or rejecting them, and our position is to protect the Moroccan citizen, regardless of his country of residence."

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The deputies’ fears mainly concern the use of the agreement on the "automatic" exchange of information on financial accounts. "When I communicate on the tax aspect, I also transmit data on the person’s assets. In some countries, this information can be used to intimidate people," Rachid Rahmouni, head of the PPS (Party of Progress and Socialism) group, explained on Tuesday during the debates in the House of Representatives.