Morocco Launches Amnesty Program for Undeclared Foreign Assets

A liberating contribution for the spontaneous regularization of assets and liquidity held abroad before September 30, 2023 by a certain category of persons who are in violation of exchange regulations and tax legislation will be instituted in 2024. This is recorded in the draft Finance Act (PLF) for 2024. The exchange offenses concerned by this contribution are those provided for by the dahir of 5 kaada 1368 (August 30, 1949) relating to the repression of offenses against exchange regulations and relating to the constitution of assets abroad in the form of: real estate held in any form abroad, financial assets and securities and other capital and debt securities held abroad or liquid assets deposited in accounts opened with financial institutions, credit institutions or banks located abroad, as well as those provided for by the General Tax Code, relating to the failure to declare income, proceeds, profits and capital gains relating to real estate and movable assets as well as foreign currency holdings, reports Le Matin.

The regularization operation targets natural and legal persons having a residence, registered office or tax domicile in Morocco and who have committed offenses in terms of exchange regulations, governed by dahir no. 1-59-358 of 14 rabii II 1379 (October 17, 1959) relating to assets abroad or in foreign currencies, as well as the related tax offenses provided for by the General Tax Code. They can benefit from the non-application of penalties relating to exchange offenses as well as tax offenses. To be eligible, they must file with an approved credit institution as a bank, a declaration subscribed on a model form established by the administration showing the nature of the assets held abroad; repatriate foreign currency liquidity, as well as income and proceeds generated by said liquidity and sell at least 25% of this liquidity on the foreign exchange market in Morocco for dirhams with the possibility of depositing the balance in foreign currency or convertible dirham accounts with approved credit institutions as banks located in Morocco; and pay the contribution according to the fixed rates.

The information on all the information usually required by approved credit institutions as banks for the opening of a bank account, as well as the nature and description of the assets and the corresponding value must appear in the declaration. The persons concerned by this contribution must deposit the document with an approved credit institution as a bank according to the model established for this purpose by the administration. Without failing to add the documents justifying the acquisition value of the assets and the latest bank statements showing the amount of liquid assets.