What are Morocco's VAT rates and registration requirements?

VAT Morocco: Rates, Registration, and Filing Explained

If you're selling goods or services in Morocco, or importing into the country, VAT will hit you one way or another. Here's what the tax actually looks like in 2024-2025, who has to charge it, and what you file.

Quick answer

VAT Morocco (Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée, or TVA) is a consumption tax governed by the Code Général des Impôts (CGI), Articles 87 to 125. The standard rate is 20%. Reduced rates of 14%, 10%, and 7% apply to specific sectors. You must register for VAT if your taxable turnover exceeds MAD 500,000 for goods or MAD 250,000 for services. Filings are monthly or quarterly, depending on turnover, and paid to the Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI).

The rates you actually pay

Four rates. That's it.

20% standard — Covers most goods and services: consulting, software, electronics, professional fees, retail. If nothing else applies, assume 20%.

14% — Domestic passenger transport (excluding rail), electricity, and butter (other than artisanal). Yes, butter has its own rate. Morocco's tax code is like that.

10% — Restaurant and hotel services, banking operations, edible oils, gas and petroleum products, and certain financial services. Tourism runs heavily on this rate.

7% — Water supply, pharmaceuticals, school supplies, sugar, canned sardines. Essentials, roughly.

Some items are fully exempt: bread, milk, dates, medical services by licensed practitioners, exports (zero-rated with credit recovery), and international transport. Exempt with credit means you can still reclaim input VAT — a big deal for exporters. ^[1]

The 2024 Finance Law continued a multi-year reform aligning several rates toward 20% and 10%, so watch for rate changes in your specific sector each January.

Who registers, and when

You register for VAT if you cross the turnover thresholds set in Article 91 of the CGI:

• MAD 500,000 annual turnover for suppliers of goods
• MAD 250,000 for service providers and liberal professions

Below those numbers, you're outside the mandatory VAT regime — but you can opt in voluntarily, which sometimes makes sense if your clients are VAT-registered businesses who want to reclaim input tax on your invoices.

Registration happens when you set up your tax file with the DGI, typically alongside your Identifiant Commun de l'Entreprise (ICE) and RC (Registre de Commerce) filings. Foreign companies without a permanent establishment usually need a tax representative (représentant fiscal) resident in Morocco to handle VAT obligations — this trips up a lot of first-time exporters into the Moroccan market.

Watch out: Digital services supplied by non-resident providers to Moroccan consumers now fall under specific VAT rules introduced in recent Finance Laws. If you're a foreign SaaS or platform selling B2C into Morocco, check whether you need to register through the DGI's dedicated regime.

Filing frequency and deadlines

Two regimes exist under Article 108 of the CGI:

Monthly declaration — Mandatory if your prior-year turnover exceeded MAD 1,000,000, or if you're a non-resident. Due by the end of the following month.

Quarterly declaration — Available if turnover is below MAD 1,000,000. Due by the end of the month following each quarter.

Filing is done electronically through the DGI's SIMPL-TVA portal. Paper is essentially dead for this. Payment goes with the declaration — no separate step.

Late filing triggers a 15% penalty on the unpaid tax plus 5% surcharge for the first month and 0.5% for each additional month, per Article 208 of the CGI. Miss a quarter and it adds up faster than you'd think.

Input VAT: what you can actually reclaim

The whole point of VAT is that it's neutral for businesses — you charge output VAT on sales, deduct input VAT on purchases, and remit the difference. In theory.

In practice, Morocco restricts recovery on specific expenses under Article 106 of the CGI:

• Passenger vehicles (except for taxi, rental, and driving-school businesses)
• Fuel for passenger vehicles
• Employee accommodation and non-business gifts above MAD 100 per unit
• Purchases paid in cash above MAD 5,000 per invoice per day, capped at MAD 50,000 per month per supplier — pay by bank transfer or check to preserve deduction rights

That cash rule is the one most small businesses forget. You buy MAD 8,000 of stock, pay cash, lose the deduction. Simple as that.

Credit balances (when input exceeds output) can be carried forward indefinitely, or refunded in specific cases — exports, investment goods, and certain regime shifts. Refund requests go through a separate DGI procedure and can take 3 to 6 months in practice.

Invoicing rules that matter

A VAT-compliant invoice in Morocco must show, per Article 145 of the CGI:

• Your ICE number and the client's ICE
• Sequential invoice number and date
• Full identification of both parties
• Description, quantity, and unit price of goods or services
• VAT rate applied and VAT amount separately stated
• Total excluding VAT (HT) and total including VAT (TTC)

Missing the ICE on either side? Your client loses their deduction, and you may face penalties. Electronic invoicing is being progressively rolled out — the DGI has published a roadmap toward mandatory e-invoicing, though full implementation timelines have shifted more than once. Check the current status before investing in software.

For related obligations on corporate income, see our overview of corporate tax in Morocco.

When VAT gets complicated

Cross-border services, mixed activities, real estate transactions, and reverse-charge scenarios all have their own quirks under the CGI. A few common headaches:

• Reverse charge on foreign services — When you buy services from a non-resident supplier, you self-assess VAT at the applicable rate and (usually) deduct it in the same declaration. Net cash impact: zero. Compliance impact: mandatory.
• Real estate — Sales of new buildings by developers are subject to VAT at 20%; resales of old buildings generally aren't. The line between "new" and "old" has a legal definition worth checking.
• Mixed activities — If you sell both taxable and exempt items, you apply a prorata deduction ratio to input VAT. Get the calculation wrong and the DGI will find it during audit.

Honestly, if your business touches any of these, don't rely on a general article. Verify against your specific facts.

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