The prior registration of certain acts relating to the transfer of property has always been obligatory as already confirmed by Article 14 of General Instruction No. 714 relating to registration fees, published by the General Directorate of Taxes in 2004.
Circular subsequently repealed by “the basis and recovery book” (finance law 2006) then by the general tax code, the first edition of which was published in 2007 (finance law 2007). But apparently, this obligation was not respected by everyone. Many acts escaped the obligatory registration procedure or were registered for fees below the current scale. This constitutes a significant shortfall in terms of tax revenue. This is the reason why the finance law introduced new provisions to tighten the conditions for recording acts.
Thus, in addition to the prior and obligatory registration with the General Directorate of Taxes and the payment of fees according to the scale in force, notaries are required to proceed with the transmission electronically, after their presentation to the tax administration for visa , minute registers. In addition, like the registration procedure for land conservation, deeds and agreements transmitted by notaries to the tax administration must be provided with their electronic signature (article 137-I of the general tax code) . The initial version of the 2025 finance law provided for a fine of 50,000 DH applicable to a notary who transmits a document without his electronic signature. A financial sanction which was finally withdrawn since the DGI platform should be configured to reject any document not accompanied by the electronic signature of the notary.
The new provisions of course apply to deeds and agreements signed since January 1, 2025. The National Land Conservation Agency should therefore reject any document that has not been previously registered with the tax administration.
The scale of financial sanctions
Still regarding the registration of acts with the General Directorate of Taxes, the 2025 finance law provides for a financial sanction of around 1,000 DH instead of 10,000 DH as initially planned. It applies to persons responsible for completing the formality of recording acts by electronic process and who fail to mention certain information enabling the transaction to be traced and the property concerned to be correctly identified. The fine also applies in the event of incomplete or incorrect information or in the event of non-transmission of the document or agreement. This condition was added to the finance law in return for reducing the fine to 1,000 DH. However, this financial penalty does not apply if these omissions are corrected within 30 days from the date of registration. Failing this, the fine is issued by way of revenue order and becomes immediately payable without procedure. Among the information that must be mentioned to avoid a sanction, obviously include the first and last names, the CIN or residence numbers or even the tax identifier, the professional tax registration number, the article number of housing and communal services tax, etc. The act must also specify the nature of the transaction, the price or estimated value, the land title number, the origin of the property, the taxable basis for registration fees , the price, the number of series of the deed in the consignment register… So many provisions are part of the legislator’s desire to impose tax compliance, in this case in terms of registration fees.
Hassan EL ARIF
