Morocco Launches Tax Crackdown on Social Media Influencers

In Morocco, influencers are in the sights of the tax authorities. "Tax inspectors are currently tracking down professionals of tax fraud on social networks," reports the daily Assabah. According to sources, "this hunt aims to verify the proportionality between the income declared by individuals and their liquid assets." It has indeed been found that some of the taxpayers declare income that does not exceed 8,000 dirhams per month, while they own real estate assets worth tens of millions of dirhams.

To assess their standard of living, the tax administration accesses the pages of some taxpayers on social networks. These pages represent a starting point for tax auditors because they see publications on details of the influencers’ lives. The sites subject to the declarative regime, those with various sources of income and who choose not to declare them, are also in the sights of the tax authorities. The harvest proves to be fruitful: the DGI has already been able to identify people whose displayed standard of living is largely above the declared income and has sent them a notification inviting them to regularize their tax situation. Failing that, they will be subject to a tax reassessment.

In addition to influencers, liberal professions are also targeted by this control operation. Observation made: a certain number of them declare income significantly lower than the turnover usually generated by their activity. The tax administration has sources of information to deepen the research and identify some of the properties of the targeted groups on social networks.

To successfully carry out this fight against tax evasion, the DGI has concluded agreements with other services, such as the National Land Registry Agency, which allow it to have an idea of the assets of people suspected of tax evasion. It also relies on Article 216 of the General Tax Code. This authorizes the administration to assess an individual’s total annual income, taking into account their liquid assets deposited in their bank accounts, or in the accounts of any person to whom they are linked. Not to mention their expenses.