12/01/23

AFRICA: Tax Authorities to Gain Access to Bank Accounts of Moroccans Residing Abroad.

As published on moroccoworldnews.com, Wednesday 11 January, 2023.

Morocco’s government is set to implement a new policy that would allow tax authorities to have full visibility over bank accounts of Moroccans residing abroad. The measure will enter into effect starting September 2025.

According to a report from Financial Afrique, the policy is in line with the recommendations Morocco received from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It would mean that banks would start sharing their data with the tax authorities, a report from Financial Afrique indicates.

It would mean that banks would start sharing their data with the tax authorities, noted the report, adding the policy will allow tax authorities to gain access to bank accounts formerly obscured because their owners reside outside of Morocco.

The bank accounts in question are often not declared either in Morocco or the country where the individuals reside.

The policy is part of Morocco’s efforts to enhance tax transparency standards.

In an assessment of Morocco’s tax transparency standards in November of last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) said that the country has made significant strides in improving its transparency standards.

Morocco remains “largely compliant” with international standards of transparency and exchange of information on request, said the OECD report. After evaluating Morocco's regulatory and legal frameworks, OECD concluded that the country remains “largely compliant” with international transparency standards.

Since 2016, Morocco has implemented a number of multilateral conventions on the enforcement of tax regulations. In the past three years, the country has successfully introduced sanctions on non-compliance with tax declaration policies.

Morocco, the OCED report found, “has a legal framework that broadly ensures the availability of, access to, and effective exchange of relevant information for tax purposes, but this framework requires improvement in several areas, particularly in the exchange of information in practice.”