- Why was the amnesty implemented?
The result of the recent tax amnesty program in Morocco was a resounding success for the tax measure included in the 2024 finance law, collecting declarations totaling 100 billion dirhams (equivalent to 10 billion dollars).
According to data from January 1, 60 billion dirhams were recorded as cash deposits in the banking sector, while the other 40 billion dirhams were linked to purchases of real estate and contributions to members’ current accounts, as reported by various Moroccan media such as Le 360.
This program ended on December 31, 2024 by imposing a contribution rate of 5% on declared figures and is expected to generate around 5 billion dirhams in tax revenue for the state budget in 2025, with banks required to transfer these amounts authorized to the Treasury within one month from the presentation of the declaration. It should be noted that this process is a key step in improving the financial liquidity of the Moroccan kingdom, ensuring that funds are transferred to the Treasury in an efficient manner.
Furthermore, the total amount of the amnesty program has completely exceeded expectations which initially targeted Dh60 billion in declarations and has now exceeded the results of the 2020 tax amnesty by up to twenty times morejust for cash deposits.
Why was the amnesty implemented?
Let us remember that this process was implemented due to the high circulation of cash in Morocco which, according to Al-Maghrib Bank data, has come to represent almost a quarter of the total cash in circulation in the country with figures hovering around 426 billion dirhams at the end of October 2024.
From the start, the amnesty targeted people with undeclared income before January 1, 2024, covering various assets, bank deposits and cash holdings. This is in addition to movable and immovable property, cash advances on members’ current accounts and loans granted to third parties.
On the last day of the amnesty, December 31, an unprecedented crowd flocked to tax offices and bank branches to regularize their tax situation, in order to avoid the 37% tax rate on undeclared funds which was to be applied from January 1.
