Fiscal Measures COVID-19 Morocco

Measures not yet official First of all, it should be remembered that despite the numerous announcements and publications on this subject, there is no official text from the Tax Administration authorizing the postponement of declarations and payments. As a precautionary measure, we therefore recommend that for the time being you comply with the reporting obligations as at 31 March 2020 (PIT, CIT,  CIT Advance payments, etc.). We describe below the exact legal situation and the remaining grey areas. Measures announced by the Economic Intelligence Committee In view of the exceptional situation caused by the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the Economic Watch Committee (CVE) chaired by the Minister of the Economy and Finance following its meeting on 19 January, decided to introduce a series of easing measures in favour of companies, SMEs and the liberal professions in difficulty. These measures include, inter alia, the possibility of postponing the filing of tax returns until 30 June 2020 for companies whose turnover for the 2019 financial year does not exceed 20 Millions of Moroccan dirhams, as well as the suspension of the payment of social security contributions until 30 June 2020. All the measures taken by the CVE are published on the website of the Ministry of Finance, for more information see the following link https://www.finances.gov.ma/fr/Nos-metiers/Pages/news-dispositions-cve.aspx. We remind you that the measures announced do not have the force of law. Decree-Law of 24 March 2020 Moreover, today, 24 March, the decree-law on the state of health emergency was published in the Official Gazette (attached the copy in Arabic, the only one available at the moment). Article 6 of the said decree stipulates that all the time limits provided for in the laws and regulations in force are suspended until the state of health emergency is lifted (i.e. 20 April 2020, unless extended). The only exception provided for by the provisions of the said article concerns the time limits for appealing to the Court of Appeal for persons prosecuted while in detention, as well as the periods of police custody and preventive detention. Our reading and position of the Order of Chartered Accountants According to our reading of the decree, all tax deadlines provided for in the CGI should be suspended since the aforementioned article does not provide for any exception to the provisions of the CGI. Nevertheless, this contradicts the CVE's communiqué which provided for the possibility of deferring tax returns only for companies whose turnover does not exceed 20 MMAD (without specifying whether the suspension also concerns advance payments and other tax payment obligations). This ambiguity led the Order of Chartered Accountants to refer the matter to the DGI as a matter of urgency in order to clarify the provisions of Article 6 of the abovementioned decree. Consequently, we are of the opinion that it is more prudent to respect the filing and payment deadlines provided for by the CGI until the publication of an explanatory note by the DGI taking into account the current circumstances. We remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.