Which administrations are involved in registering a company in Morocco in 2026?

Each administration issues a specific document, in a logical order:

1. OMPIC issues the negative certificate, which reserves the company name (dénomination sociale)
2. The partners (shareholders) sign the articles of association (statuts) (advanced electronic signature, Law 43-20) and, when required by law, deposit the capital in a bank
3. The commercial court registry receives the file and registers the company in the Commercial Register
4. As part of the same procedure, the DGI assigns the tax identification number, the ICE and the registration for business tax
5. The CNSS assigns the employer's affiliation number
6. The incorporation is published in a legal announcements newspaper (journal d'annonces légales) and in the Official Bulletin (Bulletin officiel) (see legal publication in the JAL and the Official Bulletin)

The Regional Investment Center (Centre Régional d'Investissement, CRI), the regional one-stop shop for investors, is not a mandatory step: each administration issues its own document. With Charikaty, these procedures are carried out online, in this order, without travelling.

In accordance with Law No. 15-95 (Commercial Code, Art. 27 to 78) and Law No. 53-95, registration in the Commercial Register (RC) is carried out by the commercial court registry. The registry assigns the RC number, issues the Commercial Register extract and then receives all mandatory filings: amendments to the articles of association and annual financial statements (états de synthèse). Registration must take place within 3 months of incorporation (Art. 75); the company acquires legal personality on that date.

The competent registry is the one with jurisdiction over the registered office (siège social) (or, where there is no commercial court, the registry of the court of first instance [tribunal de première instance]), as explained in our guide on where to register a company in Morocco. How the register works, including the centralization of the local registers in the central commercial register kept by OMPIC, is detailed in our guide to the Commercial Register in Morocco.

The Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (Office Marocain de la Propriété Industrielle et Commerciale), established by Law No. 13-99, is involved:

• By issuing the negative certificate confirming the availability of the company name (Art. 74 of the Commercial Code), an essential prerequisite for formation: 232.76 MAD online, valid for 90 days
• By keeping the central commercial register
• By registering trademarks, patents, industrial designs and models (Law No. 17-97); a trademark is protected for 10 years, renewable indefinitely

The Direction Générale des Impôts (General Tax Directorate) issues to the company, as part of its registration:

• The tax identification number (IF) and the Common Company Identifier (Identifiant Commun de l'Entreprise, ICE), a 15-digit identifier (Decree 2-11-63)
• Registration for business tax (TP) (Law 47-06), exempt for the first 5 years of operation
• Access to the SIMPL e-services for mandatory online filing and payment: IS (corporate income tax, Art. 19 of the CGI, rate of 20% in 2026 for profits below 100 M MAD), IR (income tax), VAT (TVA) (Art. 87 to 125, quarterly return for new taxpayers) and minimum contribution (cotisation minimale) (Art. 144, exempt for the first 36 months of operation)

The Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (National Social Security Fund) (Dahir No. 1-72-184 of 27 July 1972) assigns the employer an affiliation number (see the company's affiliation with the CNSS). AMO (mandatory health insurance) is governed by Law No. 65-00 enacting the Basic Medical Coverage Code. Monthly salary declarations and payment of contributions are made via the DAMANCOM portal; declaring employees is mandatory from the first hire. In 2026, contributions amount to 21.09% employer share and 6.74% employee share (social benefits capped at 6,000 MAD per month).

The Office des Changes publishes the General Foreign Exchange Operations Instruction (Instruction Générale des Opérations de Change, IGOC). Any foreign currency contribution by a non-resident, any repatriation or transfer is governed by the IGOC. Foreign investment financed in foreign currency, evidenced by the bank and declared in accordance with the IGOC formalities, benefits from the transfer guarantee for income (dividends) and sale proceeds; non-residents may hold convertible dirham accounts.

Law No. 88-17 on the electronic creation of businesses allows all formalities with the above administrations to be completed remotely. Deeds are signed by means of an advanced electronic signature (Law No. 43-20), issued by a trust service provider approved by the DGSSI (recommended level for company deeds). Official documents are still issued by the competent authorities; with Charikaty, a private platform, you complete the whole process online: OMPIC negative certificate, drafting and electronic signature of the articles of association, filing of the registration file with the Commercial Register, obtaining the IF, the ICE and the business tax, and CNSS affiliation.

Depending on the nature of the activity, specific approvals or authorizations are required, in addition to registration (see the authorizations and permits required to operate in Morocco):

• Credit institutions and similar bodies: Bank Al-Maghrib (Law No. 103-12)
• Insurance: Insurance and Social Welfare Supervisory Authority (Autorité de Contrôle des Assurances et de la Prévoyance Sociale, ACAPS)
• Telecommunications: National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications, ANRT)
• Healthcare: Ministry of Health and professional bodies
• Transport, private security, education: supervising ministries

Documents: the file submitted to the administrations includes the negative certificate, the signed articles of association, the identity documents of the partners and the director, proof of registered office (commercial lease [bail commercial], Law 49-16, or business domiciliation contract [contrat de domiciliation], Law 89-17), the registration application to the RC and, depending on the case, the capital deposit certificate (attestation de blocage du capital) (SA, or SARL whose capital exceeds 100,000 MAD: Art. 51 of Law 5-96 as amended by Law 21-19) and the contributions auditor's (commissaire aux apports) report (Art. 53 of Law 5-96). The detailed list, by legal form and partner profile, is set out in our guide to the documents required to register a company in Morocco; with Charikaty, you send these documents online and we take care of the rest.

Public fees (order of magnitude): negative certificate 232.76 MAD; registry filing and registration about 1,200 MAD; legal publications from a few hundred to 1,500 MAD; business domiciliation from 100 to 500 MAD excl. VAT per month where applicable.

Timeframes: the negative certificate is obtained in 24 to 48 hours online and registration in the RC takes in practice 3 to 10 working days after filing a complete file, depending on the registry, with the DGI identifiers and CNSS affiliation following immediately. Each step is detailed in our guide on how long it takes to register a company in Morocco.

Charikaty is a private Moroccan legal-tech platform specializing in company formation and compliance. To register your company, you need to apply to OMPIC, the registry, the DGI and the CNSS. With Charikaty, you do everything online: we handle all the interactions between you and the administrations, from the negative certificate from OMPIC to the filing and follow-up of the file at the commercial court registry, including obtaining your identifiers from the DGI, CNSS affiliation and, for foreign investors, the formalities relating to the Office des Changes. You receive your documents without travelling.