Before you start

A determination of your status under article 23, and of whether an exemption applies to you personally
An identifiant fiscal, if you have income beyond employment
The text of the treaty between Morocco and your home country
Records of foreign income and of tax paid abroad

Step-by-step

1
Test all three limbs of article 23
A permanent home in Morocco, a centre of economic interests in Morocco, or more than 183 days over any rolling 365-day period. Any one suffices. The rolling window rather than a calendar year is what catches people who split a long stay across a new year.
OnlineWho: You
2
Establish whether an exemption actually covers you, personally
Diplomatic and consular exemptions under the Vienna Conventions, and exemptions in headquarters agreements with international organisations, are specific to categories of staff and often do not extend to locally-recruited staff or to spouses' independent income. Read the instrument rather than the office rumour.
Via employerWho: You
3
Let payroll handle it if you are an ordinary Moroccan employee
Moroccan employers withhold IR at source on the progressive scale and remit monthly. An employee with no other income usually has nothing to file. Check the payslip shows IR, CNSS and AMO.
Via employerWho: Your employer
4
Declare any Moroccan rental or professional income
Income from letting Moroccan property or from independent activity here is taxable and brings an annual filing obligation, whatever your employment status and whatever exemption covers your salary.
OnlineWho: YouAnnually
5
Work out what your home country still wants
Leaving a country does not automatically end its taxing rights, and the treaty tie-breakers turn on permanent home, centre of vital interests and habitual abode rather than on where your employer is. Getting this wrong in both directions at once is the classic first-year error.
OnlineWho: You
6
File the annual return where required
The return covers the previous calendar year and is filed through the DGI's SIMPL portal. Rental, professional, foreign income and capital gains all trigger it.
OnlineWho: YouAnnually

Documents you’ll need

Identifiant fiscal
Payslips and the annual employer statement
Accreditation documents or headquarters-agreement extract, where an exemption is claimed
Evidence of foreign income and of foreign tax paid
Carte de séjour or accreditation card

Things most newcomers don’t know

Diplomatic and organisational tax exemptions are narrower and more personal than the corridor version.

Exemptions come from the Vienna Conventions and from headquarters agreements, and they attach to defined categories of accredited staff. Locally-recruited employees of an embassy or an agency are frequently outside them, as is a spouse's independent income and any Moroccan-source rental or business income. Because Rabat is full of people who genuinely are exempt, the belief that everyone at the institution is exempt spreads easily and is expensive to hold.

Source: Vienna Conventions; headquarters agreements

The 183-day test runs over any rolling 365 days, which is not what most people assume.

Article 23 counts more than 183 days of presence, continuous or not, over any period of 365 days. Splitting a stay across a calendar-year boundary does not defeat it. And the day count is only one of three tests — a permanent home available to you in Morocco, or your economic centre being here, is independently sufficient however few days you spend.

Source: CGI art. 23

Moroccan-source income is taxable even when your salary is exempt.

An exemption for accredited employment income does not extend to a flat you let in Agdal, a consultancy you run on the side, or a Moroccan capital gain. These are Moroccan-source and taxable in the ordinary way, with their own filing obligation. Renting out a property during a posting is the version of this that most often goes undeclared.

Source: CGI

The retiree pension reduction exists, and it costs you convertibility.

Article 76 grants an 80% reduction of the tax due on a foreign-source pension — but only on the part permanently transferred into a NON-convertible dirham account, evidenced by original bank documents showing it cannot be sent back out. It is a real benefit and an irreversible commitment of that money to Morocco. Relocation guides describe the reduction and omit the condition, which is the version most retirees arrive with.

Source: CGI art. 76

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming an institutional exemption covers you when you are locally recruited.
Treating a spouse's independent income as covered by your exemption.
Counting days against a calendar year rather than a rolling 365-day period.
Letting a Moroccan property during a posting and not declaring the rent.
Taking the article 76 pension reduction without understanding the non-convertible condition.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.