Moroccan government considers tax amnesty “extremely successful”

1. Analysis of the newspaper Le Monde
2. Undeclared 2024 assets held abroad
3. The tax amnesty program and the 2030 World Cup

Mustapha Baitas, minister delegate to the head of government in charge of relations with Parliament and spokesperson for the Moroccan executive, described the tax amnesty operation as“extremely successful” and results “far exceeding initial expectations”. The program targeted people who had not declared profits and taxable income in Morocco before January 1, 2024.

The amnesty applies to a certain number of assets, including bank deposits, cash, real estate and movable property not intended for professional use, as well as advances on partners’ current accounts or bank accounts. operations and loans granted to third parties.

Analysis of the newspaper Le Monde

The French newspaper Le Monde carried out an analysis and, according to it, the declared amount represents “a quarter of the cash in circulation in Morocco, or around 430 billion dirhams (42.833 billion dollars), by the country’s Central Bank”.

Le Monde also noted that the success of this amnesty far exceeds the 2020 program, since it is “twenty times greater”. The French newspaper notes that the amnesty made it possible to regularize 32 billion dollars in four years. The newspaper also indicates that bank deposits alone represent 60 billion dollars of the declarations, the rest coming from real estate purchases and contributions to current accounts.

Around 10,000 “spontaneous” declarations generated 40% of the regularized amount, or an average of $400,000 per declaration. On another note, the Foreign Exchange Office indicated that the amnesty program on foreign assets, which has just ended, gave rise to declarations totaling $200 million in 658 statements.

Undeclared 2024 assets held abroad

Morocco’s Bureau de Change announced that the 2024 voluntary asset disclosure process for undeclared assets and funds held abroad resulted in total declared assets exceeding 2 billion dirhams (over $198 million ).

Financial assets represent 45% of foreign assets with $91.62 million, followed by real estate with $86.83 million and cash with $24.47 million. The evolution of liquidity reached 244.7 million dirhams, or 12% of the total amount declared. The process generated 231.76 million dirhams in contributions to the public treasury, according to the statement.

The voluntary liquidation process allows Moroccan residents who own undeclared property or funds abroad to regularize their situation. This applies to those acquired before January 1, 2024, which were in violation of exchange control legislation.

As part of this procedure, established by the 2024 finance law, people declare their assets abroad, repatriate foreign currency cash to Morocco and pay a single liquidation fee. The rate of this tax varies between 10.5 and 2%, depending on the case.

The government implemented the amnesty with a preferential tax rate of 5% for returns made in 2024, compared to the normal rate of 37% that would apply in 2025. This initiative was part of the 2024 finance law, and banks actively promoted its benefits throughout the year.

The tax amnesty program and the 2030 World Cup

The success of the tax amnesty program could have repercussions on the economic development of the country, which is preparing to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco is co-hosting with Spain and Portugal. This initiative also represents a balance between encouraging compliance and maintaining financial integrity, while working to formalize the economy.

As Morocco compresses what would normally be two decades of development into a seven-year World Cup time frame, the effectiveness of measures such as tax amnesty could play an important role in determining whether the country can achieve its economic transformation goals.