Imagine finishing a job…
Sending your invoice…
And then discovering you won’t receive the full amount you’re expecting.
That’s the reality many Moroccan companies are now facing.
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Since July 1st, a new tax rule requires certain large companies, banks and insurance firms to withhold 5% of the invoice amount before tax (HT) when paying service providers.
Instead of paying that amount to the supplier…
They send it directly to the Treasury.
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On paper…
The goal is simple.
Improve tax collection and reduce fraud.
But in practice…
Businesses say the measure is creating serious complications.
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The biggest concern?
Cash flow.
Because this new 5% withholding can be combined with the existing VAT withholding mechanism, some companies could temporarily lose 20% to 25% of the cash they would normally receive from an invoice.
For SMEs especially…
That’s money used to pay salaries, suppliers and day-to-day expenses.
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There’s another problem.
Nobody is entirely sure how to treat invoices issued before July 1st but paid after the new rules came into force.
That legal uncertainty is leaving many finance departments waiting for clearer guidance from the tax administration.
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For now…
The reform only applies to the largest organizations, with a gradual rollout based on annual turnover.
But over the next two years…
More companies will be brought into the system.
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The objective may be to modernize tax collection…
But for many businesses…
The real challenge isn’t paying the tax.
It’s having enough cash left to keep operating while they wait for the money to come back.
