Tax Evasion Scheme Uncovered Among Moroccan IT Consultants

Estimated at 5,000, these independent engineers and consultants do not pay any taxes or social security contributions, even though they perform services for large companies, particularly banks. Their modus operandi is to get paid through intermediation and staffing companies to avoid their tax and social obligations, reports L’Économiste, which denounces large-scale tax evasion, estimating the losses for the State at several hundred million dirhams.

The intermediation companies "play the role of intermediaries between the clients looking for IT skills and the consultants who possess these skills," details the publication. These intermediation companies "identify these consultants and place them with their clients for medium or long-term assignments depending on the needs of each user structure, but without being hired."

The phenomenon is taking on an alarming scale, warns the specialized daily, noting that these independent consultants would constitute 30 to 70% of the IT staff of large companies. "The phenomenon is reminiscent of certain service provider employees who were offered the status of self-entrepreneurs to pay a 1% income tax instead of the marginal rate of 38%. Before the legislator realized the misuse of this regime through false employment."