Key Customs and Taxation Amendments in Morocco's 2025 Finance Bill

Wednesday 13 November 2024 - 09:50

In a meeting held on Tuesday, the Finance and Economic Development Committee at the House of Representatives discussed several proposed amendments to Morocco's 2025 Finance Bill (PLF), which primarily focus on customs and fiscal measures. These amendments were reviewed in the presence of the Minister of Budget, Fouzi Lekjaa.

One major change proposed was in response to customs infractions, specifically addressing the possession and use of counterfeit customs stamps. The amendments called for distinct penalties for illegal possession or provision of customs stamps, with fines ranging from two to four times the value of the goods or transport involved. Additionally, fines for these offenses could range between 200,000 and 800,000 dirhams. The government's support for these changes reflects an effort to reduce penalties related to customs offenses, in alignment with broader reforms aimed at simplifying sanctions.

Another proposal involved adjusting the process for correcting administrative errors that lead to the cancellation of detailed declarations. The Socialist-Ittihadi opposition group suggested compensating businesses for the amount of duties wrongly collected. However, the government rejected this amendment, arguing it was illogical to indemnify businesses for administrative errors, although it reassured that erroneous duties would be refunded within one week.

The Justice and Development group proposed an amendment to restore the previous 40% import duties on certain products, reversing the 30% reduction introduced in the 2024 Finance Law. The rationale behind this was to counteract a significant increase in imports and the loss of customs revenue, which amounted to a 17.6% rise in the first eight months of 2024. The group highlighted a 1.17 billion dirham loss in customs revenue.

The same group also proposed raising import duties from 2.5% to 17.5% on certain electrical products, such as wires and cables. This increase aims to boost the local production of fiber-optic cables, which has seen a 50% improvement in output since the previous duty hike, benefiting industries like telecommunications and internet services.

In the area of taxes on consumer goods, opposition groups proposed increasing taxes on e-cigarette refills and tobacco accessories like shisha products. They raised concerns over the health risks these products pose to children and adolescents, emphasizing that stricter taxes could reduce consumption. While Minister Lekjaa acknowledged that public health was a priority, he also noted that taxation was only one part of the solution, and illicit trafficking of these products remained a significant challenge.