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Weekly highlights

Taxes: Last deadline for amnesty

T AX lesson for lawyers. The levels of jurisdiction. Lawyers are
exempted from the payment of ins-
Casablanca Regional Tax
Department held a meeting on
Friday, December 23, with the Casa- tallments for files relating to orders
on motions and reports in accor-
blanca Bar Association at the Bous- dance with the provisions of article
koura club. Several hundred practi- 148 of the Code of civil procedure,
tioners came to listen religiously to cases exempted from the legal tax or
the explanations of the tax services benefiting from legal aid. According
about their new tax system. to article 173-III of the General Tax
At the beginning of his speech, Has- Code, the payment is made for these
san El Ktini, interprefectural direc- cases only after the execution of the
tor of taxes, explained that the tax final judgment. Lawyers who have
system in Morocco is based on the just obtained a tax identification
principle of spontaneous declaration number are exempt from tax install-
of taxpayers within the framework ments for 60 months.
of the rule of law. The meeting was The second option consists of ma-
an opportunity to recall that lawyers king a spontaneous payment to the
who practice as natural persons and we have already started to receive The first relates to the spontaneous tax authorities via the internet before
who do not yet have a tax ID have the files of those interested. We hope payment of deposits to the clerk at the end of the month following the
until December 31 to report to the to continue at this pace to ensure the the cash desk of the court on behalf end of the financial year, i.e. Janua-
tax services to register for the busi- success of this operation”, explained of the collector of the tax administra- ry 2024 in respect of income for
ness tax. In return, they will benefit El Ktini during the meeting. tion. The amount of the deposit has the year 2023. The amount of the
from total amnesty on taxes due on In fact, the amnesty does not only been reduced to 100 DH (US$10) installments, set at 100 Dirhams, is
income generated before the date of target lawyers, but all persons exer- for each file in a single payment multiplied by the number of cases
its identification which will have to cising an activity liable to income for each case for which a lawyer handled during a financial year and
take place no later than December tax and who are still not enrolled has received all or part of his or her for which lawyers have received part
31. on the tax registers. In accordance fees. Payment occurs when filing or or all of the fees on the basis of the
“The Regional Tax Department and with the agreement between the registering a request, an appeal, an lists communicated to the tax autho-
the (bar) association have put in administration and the lawyers, the entrustment, or assistance before the rities. o
place a procedure for the regulari- latter have the choice between two courts. A single payment covers all Hassan EL ARIF
zation of the lawyers concerned and options. the stages of a trial, i.e. the different

Pensions: A high-risk reform

“T HE main basic schemes optional”, says a senior union offi-
cial, adding that “the use of a point-
are in a difficult financial
based system would give visibility to
situation marked overall
by the size of their implicit debts and the system but penalize taxpayers”.
the depletion of their reserves over The overall scheme adopted several
various time horizons.” This was one years ago remains the establishment
of the main conclusions of the Syste- of two clusters, both public and pri-
mic Risk Coordination and Monito- vate, one basic scheme, and supple-
ring Committee, which recently held mentary schemes. Such a scheme
its sixteenth meeting. The solution would require the unification of cal-
would come from systemic reform, culation methods and rules to ensure
which should make it possible to convergence, reduce disparities, and
introduce balanced pricing, but also provide fair remuneration in relation
to absorb, to a significant extent, past to the contributions paid. For the time
uncovered commitments, and thus being, the social partners are waiting
to restore financial balances in the for the meeting scheduled for January
future. This reform will require sacri- tant to preserve the purchasing power the proposed reform scenarios do ge- to unveil their position.
fices to ensure the sustainability of of future retirees while the problem nerate some fears. In any case, trade “The government is expected to de-
the system. Nonetheless, already, Mi- faced by some funds is more related unionists do not hide their fears about cline its proposals in January. That’s
loudi Mokharek, Secretary General to their governance and to the invest- the cap on pensions, the contribution when the serious stuff will start”,
of UMT (Moroccan Labor Union), ment policy relating to reserves. So base, and other issues. “The proposed says one trade unionist. Politically,
warns that his union opposes “any far, three meetings have been held by options include the rapid transition to the subject remains very sensitive, es-
increase in contributions, lower pen- the trade unions, the employers’ as- two clusters, both public and private, pecially in this difficult situation. The
sions, and the obligation to retire at sociation CGEM, the pension funds, with a first mandatory level capped subject also remains highly technical
65. The postponement of the retire- and the firm commissioned by the at twice the minimum wage, a com- and engages not only current assets
ment age should remain optional”. ministry of Finance to study pension pulsory supplementary insurance, but also future generations. . o
For Miloudi Mokharek, it is impor- schemes. If the diagnosis is accepted, and a third pillar that would be Khadija MASMOUDI
Friday 30 December 2022