The taxe professionnelle — formerly the patente — is owed by any person or company, Moroccan or foreign, carrying on a professional activity in Morocco. It is not based on your turnover but on the rental value of your premises and means of production, to which a rate of 10%, 20% or 30% is applied depending on the class of your activity. A new activity is fully exempt for five years.
The rest of this article covers each point: what rental value actually means, the three rates and the minimum payable, the five-year exemption, the municipal services tax that almost always comes with it, the thirty-day registration deadline, and where your business tax number has to appear.
Who owes the business tax
The tax authority's rule is broad and fits in one sentence: it is owed by « any natural or legal person of Moroccan or foreign nationality carrying on a professional activity in Morocco ». Legal form — sole trader, SARL, SA — makes no difference, and neither does nationality.
What triggers the tax is carrying on an activity in premises: a shop, a workshop, a warehouse, an office. That is also why it follows your walls and your equipment rather than your sales — a slow year does not reduce it.
What it is calculated on: rental value
The tax is charged on the gross, normal and current annual rental value of the premises, installations and means of production used for the activity. Put plainly: what your premises and equipment would earn if they were rented at market conditions, whether you own them or rent them.
Two rules from the tax authority frame that calculation and stop a rental value from being declared too low:
- The 3% floor — for industrial and similar establishments, the rental value cannot be lower than 3% of the cost price of land, buildings, fittings, plant and equipment.
- Hotel coefficients — for hotels, rental value is derived from cost price in bands: 2%, 1.50%, 1.25% and then 1%, the rate falling as the cost price rises.
The three rates: 10%, 20% or 30%
Once the rental value is established, the rate depends on the class your activity falls into:
- Class 3 — 10% of rental value.
- Class 2 — 20% of rental value.
- Class 1 — 30% of rental value.
The tax authority also sets a minimum amount: the tax cannot fall below a floor fixed by class and by area. For class 1 it is 1,200 DH in communes with an urban perimeter and 400 DH elsewhere. In other words, a very low rental value does not bring the tax down to zero.
Which class an activity belongs to is not something to guess: it is set out in the schedules to law no. 47-06 on local taxation. This is the point to have confirmed by your accountant or your local tax office rather than estimated.
The five-year exemption for a new activity
This is the most valuable part of the regime, and it is stated plainly on the tax authority's page: a full temporary exemption applies « for a period of five (5) years from the year the activity begins ».
Two details matter. First, the count starts from the year the activity begins, not from an anniversary date: an activity started in November has already used one of the five years. Second, being exempt does not remove the duty to register — an exemption is recorded, not assumed, and it presupposes that the administration knows you exist.
The municipal services tax comes with it
This is the classic unpleasant surprise in the first taxable year: the business tax rarely arrives alone. The taxe de services communaux is charged on the same rental value, for property subject to — or exempt from — the business tax or the housing tax. Its rates do not depend on your activity but on where you are:
- 10.50% of rental value within urban perimeters, delimited centres and summer, winter and spa resorts.
- 6.50% of that same rental value in other areas covered by a development plan.
So the two have to be added together. For premises inside an urban perimeter in class 3, the annual charge tied to rental value is 10% + 10.50%, not 10%.
Registering: thirty days, no more
The registration declaration for the business tax must be filed « within a maximum of thirty (30) days following the date your activity begins ». The clock starts when trading actually starts, and it applies even to an activity that will be exempt for five years.
That registration is what gives you your business tax assessment article number — still commonly called the « patente number », and needed well beyond the tax office: banks, tenders, suppliers.
How the tax is claimed from you
The tax authority's page is explicit on one point and silent on another, and it is worth knowing that before hunting for a deadline elsewhere.
Explicit: « The business tax is established by way of tax rolls. » You therefore do not work it out yourself and pay it spontaneously the way you do with VAT — the administration assesses it and claims it from you through a tax notice.
Silent: the page gives no payment deadline at all. The private guides that come up when searching for Moroccan business tax payment dates contradict each other from one page to the next. The only date that binds you is the one on your tax notice; when in doubt, ask your local tax office or the tax authority's portal, not a blog.
Your business tax number belongs on your invoices
This is the direct link between the tax and your day-to-day invoicing, and it is an obligation of the General Tax Code, not a custom. Article 145-III-2° requires the invoice to show the tax identification number issued by the local tax office « as well as the business tax assessment article number ».
In practice the footer of a Moroccan invoice carries several identifiers side by side: the IF, the RC, the business tax number, the CNSS and the ICE. None of them replaces the others.
Frequently asked questions
What is the business tax calculated on in Morocco? The gross, normal and current annual rental value of the premises, installations and means of production used for the activity — never turnover. For industrial and similar establishments that value cannot be lower than 3% of the cost price of land, buildings, fittings, plant and equipment.
Are the patente and the taxe professionnelle the same thing? Yes. « Patente » is the former name, still used in everyday speech and in older documents. The official name is taxe professionnelle, and the matching number is the business tax assessment article number.
Does a new business pay the tax? Not for five years: the full temporary exemption runs for five years from the year the activity begins. It does not remove the duty to file the registration declaration within thirty days.
When is it due? The tax is established by way of tax rolls: the deadline that concerns you is the one shown on your tax notice. The official page publishes no general date, and the dates circulating on private sites do not agree with one another.
Does the municipal services tax always come on top? It is charged on the same rental value, at 10.50% within urban perimeters, delimited centres and summer, winter and spa resorts, and at 6.50% in other areas covered by a development plan. The two should always be considered together.
