Morocco fiscalization: Electronic invoicing is slowly finding its way in
Morocco, a country with a population of next to 40 million inhabitants, is slowly but steadily adopting decisive fiscalization practices, expecting to fully embrace them by 2026.
Will they be able to overcome all obstacles and delays they have had since its conception?
Electronic invoicing has had, in Morocco, an eventful history since its very first conception by the DGI (Direction Générale des Impôts).
As a matter of fact, laws were initially written and conceived ever since 2018, when the main aspects concerning electronic invoicing, its practices, and extension were drawn and included in Morocco’s Tax Code. However, these measures were never implemented, and its launch was never put into practice. The reason behind this was that the DGI found problems related to more practical issues like its conception, implementation, parameters, or executive training issues.
A change of direction
Nevertheless, due to a change in the direction of the DGI’s leadership, with Mr. Younes Idrissi Kaitouni having just taken office as the new director, a push to relaunch this, never enforced law, has been decided.
In Mr. Younes’ words, “We want to eventually institute obligations to taxpayers in law-defined activity sectors, in this regard, we need a strong invoicing system that can answer to the technical criteria established by the tax administration”. One thing is sure, the DGI wants these measures to take place progressively, in different steps.
In another declaration, Mr. Younes stated that “for us, electronic invoicing is part of the arsenal that can help us in our fight against the grey economy and fiscal evasion yet as a country that respects the law, our teams won’t be able to search in a business location or investigate a shop without the law’s permission, we just want to understand fraud’s business model, detect it and chase it accordingly”.
The DGI has also explained that “on the one hand, electronic invoicing is deeply set into every company’s digital transformation plan, as more and more companies are looking to automate their invoicing systems. Tax administrations, on the other hand, see this opportunity posed by e-invoicing to improve VAT collection and fight against tax fraud”.
What are DGI’s objectives?
The main objectives sought in the implementation of the electronic invoicing system are the following ones:
- To simplify, accelerate, and secure fiscal data collection.
- Reinforce transparency, confidentiality, and business transaction traceability to reduce fiscal evasion and illegal practices.
- Promote the fiscal conformity of the companies by simplifying declarations, the payment of taxes, and foster sincerity in fiscal declarations.
- Automate the invoice verification process to optimize resources and reduce delays in their handling.
Furthermore, this project, which should be carried out in one year, is divided into three distinctive steps:
- The elaboration of technical and functional specifications (3 months).
- System’s conception (6 months).
- System’s deployment (3 months).
For now, these declarations are optional, however, upon the generalization of the e-invoicing procedures, scheduled for 2025, all companies generating an annual turnover estimated, on average, at more than 2 million dirhams will be concerned. “They will be the pioneers, as they alone represent more than 80% of the total tax. The system will be first tested by them, corrections will be made, and, after that, obligations will extend to the rest of the taxpayer population that should be concerned by these new regulations”, says the Economist.
