Marrakech- In his office in Marrakech, the young accountant Rashid receives a call from one of the merchants who have been dealing with for years, and he is involved in reviewing some files.
In a voice marred by some anxiety, the merchant asks him about the fact that a new tax on bank deposits was imposed, showing his hesitation to deposit his money in a bank.
Rashid – to Al Jazeera Net – says these questions show the concerns of some Moroccan merchants, who prefer to keep their money outside the banking system, in order to avoid any tax measures.
It highlights that the media talk about the lack of banking liquidity and the high purchase of financial treasury, may be justified in light of the official reports indicated by AThe continued high percentage of banknotes circulating in the markets, in exchange for low savings within banks.
Disabled concerns
During the month of December, the Moroccan Tax Administration launched a voluntary settlement campaign for self -perspectives with a motivational rate not exceeding 5%, especially the assets deposited in bank accounts, or kept in the form of bank papers.
Economist Youssef Karawi Al -Filali notes – in a statement to Al -Jazeera Net – that this campaign encouraged some people to declare their entry, but after the end of the legal deadlines at the end of the year 2024, a fear of others prevailed in imposing taxes on their profits at the highest percentage, which is 37%.
For his part, the legal and collective advisor approved by the state accredited to the state, Abdul Samad Al -Idrisi, highlights that this campaign – which was launched after silence throughout the year – has turned into a stir due to poor communication between the tax administration and those subject to tax.
According to the Finance Law for the year 2025, any income that has not reached 40 thousand dirhams (4 thousand dollars) is exempt annually from the tax, while an ascending percentage is applied when the income exceeds this amount starting from 10%, then 20%, 30% and 34% to reach 37% When income exceeds 180 thousand dirhams (18 thousand dollars).
Al -Idrisi explains to Al -Jazeera Net that these concerns are not based on real foundations, and it is not permissible in the legal point of view to deduct a tax on amounts deposited in banks, whether by self -or ordinary people without submitting legal procedures that pass through a set of stages according to Article 216 of the blog General Taxes, related to the total examination of the status of those who are obligated to tax.
He explains that after a monitoring of a movement of money by buying a property, putting shares in a company or transferring money from current accounts to a company, for example, the tax department notice the person concerned twice the need to justify the methods of collecting these amounts, before demanding the payment of the tax due according to a specific schedule linked to profits Which may be 10%or 20%, and not necessarily 37%. After a third message, it is a warning, the file turns into the public treasury to implement the radical collection, as stated in the Public Debt Code.
liquidity
Experts link the volume of bank deposits and the availability of liquidity with banks, and the intervention of the central bank in order to maintain the stability of the financial sector.
The monthly bulletin numbers of the Bank of Morocco (the Moroccan Central Bank) appear during 2024 fluctuations in the volume of liquidity, reflecting financial tensions.
For example, after the liquidity rose in November 2024 to about 138.8 billion dirhams (13.8 billion dollars), he returned to record some decline last December to 135.9 billion dirhams, while Bank Al -Maghrib raised the volume of its interventions to 152 One billion dirhams (15 billion dollars) to ensure this stability.
The Philipopal Economist explains that the money traded and not deposited in banks is mainly related to the irregular economy and represents 30% of the Moroccan economy, noting that the failure to deposit these funds lead to a lack of liquidity, in exchange for the high store in homes and black industrial units.
The same spokesman calls for measures to encourage digital payment methods to contribute to the entry of money to banks, and then to raise financial liquidity.
Voluntary settlement
The Ministry of Finance stated that the voluntary tax settlement amounts were about 100 billion dirhams (10 billion dollars), which was considered by the economist Zakaria Ferrano – in an interview with Al -Jazeera Net – a number no matter how it contributed to reviving the state treasury by about 5 billion dirhams (500 thousand dollars), and helped In providing additional liquidity to support some social sectors and invest in some economic sectors.
He added that this step will also contribute to solving some of the problems of the irregular economy and reducing dealing with the banknotes circulating in the market, which reached about 430 billion dirhams (43 billion dollars), according to the data of the Moroccan Central Bank.
The Moroccan academic believes that the tax procedures do not have a negative impact on bank deposits, since the innocent contribution was not related to the mandatory deposit of funds in banks or to subject these funds to the tax and it has economic origin or related to savings, but to voluntary declaration of assets and profits outside the tax range of In order to benefit from this tax stimulation (applying 5%).
There are no legal texts that obligate the subjective persons to put their deposits in banks, but rather to declare their profits and pay the tax on them.
For his part, Al -Idrisi confirms that the money deposited is used by banks in order to fulfill their obligations, and for lending and stimulating investment, noting that their survival outside the network of banks affects all of this.
Integration of the irregular sector
A report by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (an official institution) indicates that 60% and 80% of the world -based forces are practicing activities that fall within the irregular economy.
The report highlights that this irregular sector – the season by evading social and tax obligations – constitutes a real dilemma that negatively affects production and competitiveness, stressing that the public authorities launched many programs aimed at direct or indirect integration of this sector in the system of organized economy, but the initiatives The taken was not enough to reduce its size and negative effects.
Among these initiatives is the encouragement of the “Self -Contractor” initiative, but 94% of this category, which numbered 340,000, does not declare them, according to the first official in the General Directorate of Taxes.
In this regard, economist Karawi Al -Filali believes that the integration of the irregular sector must be done with a commodity through tax reconciliation, away from the irregular logic, as happened in the tax settlement conducting, in order to obtain additional tax revenues that contribute to the growth of the national economy.
For his part, Ferrano confirms that the integration of the irregular economy in the official economic cycle must take place through public and comprehensive reform, which is based on 3 basic pillars:
- Approving tax incentives and simplifying administrative procedures.
- Reconsidering the system of work contracts within the irregular sector.
- Approving a tax system of a competitive nature.
