Morocco Implements Tax Reforms to Exit EU Tax Haven Blacklist

Reclassification of free zones, revision of their taxation and increase in the Corporate Tax (IS) of exporters are, among others, the measures that Morocco has introduced in its 2020 Finance Bill, in order to get out of its tax haven status.

According to L’économiste, the adoption of these measures is in line with the Kingdom’s compliance with its international commitments. Indeed, Morocco has signed some sixty double taxation avoidance conventions, including the Multilateral Convention for the Implementation of Measures relating to Tax Conventions to Combat Tax Evasion.

After its signature, it only remains to be ratified by Parliament and published in the Official Bulletin.

The same source recalls that adherence to the OECD agreement requires, as a measure, the abusive use of tax treaties, the strategies used to avoid creating a permanent establishment, as well as arrangements exploiting the differences in tax treatment between countries.

Similarly, the strengthening of the dispute settlement mechanism through the integration into tax treaties of a mandatory binding arbitration provision to which some thirty jurisdictions have adhered must be in place.

Moreover, Morocco has also committed to automatically responding to requests for information for tax purposes without any formalities. To this end, the legislation has provided for fines, in order to compel financial institutions to communicate information concerning certain clients. Moreover, new sanctions are recorded in the 2020 Finance Bill.