How are dividends taxed in Morocco in 2026?

A dividend is the portion of distributable profit allocated to partners or shareholders as remuneration for their contribution, by decision of the ordinary general meeting (assemblée générale ordinaire, AGO) ruling on the annual accounts:

• SA: Law No. 17-95 (Articles 327 et seq.)
• SARL and SARL AU: Law No. 5-96, as amended in particular by Laws 21-05, 24-10 and 21-19
• SAS: Law No. 5-96 as amended and supplemented by Law No. 19-20

A distribution requires a distributable profit: net profit for the financial year, less prior losses and the allocation to the legal reserve (5% of profit until it reaches 10% of the capital) and to the reserves provided for in the articles of association, plus profit carried forward. Free reserves may also be distributed.

Taxation takes place in two stages:

1. At company level: the profit is subject to Corporate Income Tax (Impôt sur les Sociétés, IS) under the conditions of Article 19 of the CGI (see corporate income tax rates in Morocco in 2026)
2. At beneficiary level: the distribution is subject to a withholding tax deducted by the distributing company upon payment, making available or crediting to an account

Example (2026): on a taxable profit of 100,000 MAD, a SARL pays 20,000 MAD in IS; if it distributes the remaining 80,000 MAD, it withholds 9,000 MAD in RAS (11.25%) and pays out 71,000 MAD net. The overall burden reaches 29%.

The 2023 Finance Law (Law No. 50-22) organized the gradual reduction of the RAS rate from 15% to 10%. The 2025 Finance Law (Law No. 60-24) revised this timetable and specified that the applicable rate is that of the year in which the dividends are paid, made available or credited to an account, regardless of the financial year from which they derive (Article 247-XXXVII of the CGI):

RAS is withheld at source by the distributing company and paid over to the DGI. It is in full discharge of IR (libératoire) for resident natural persons: the partner does not have to declare these dividends under the progressive scale.

For non-resident beneficiaries (foreign companies, MRE domiciled abroad for tax purposes), RAS applies at the same domestic rate, unless a tax treaty for the avoidance of double taxation provides for a more favourable rate (certain treaties provide for 5% to 10% depending on the country and the level of shareholding). The treaty rate requires the production of a tax residence certificate before payment.

The transfer of dividends abroad is carried out by the company's bank, on presentation of the AGO minutes, the financial statements (états de synthèse) and proof of payment of the RAS, within the framework of the transfer guarantee provided for by the General Instruction on Foreign Exchange Operations (Instruction Générale des Opérations de Change) of the Office des Changes for investments financed in foreign currency and duly declared (see the rules on foreign investment in Morocco). For companies in industrial acceleration zones (ZAI) and Casablanca Finance City, the RAS exemption on dividends paid to non-residents has been limited, since LF 2023, to the portion of dividends derived from foreign-source operations; the remainder bears the ordinary RAS (11.25% in 2026) or the treaty rate.

Article 6-I-C-1° of the CGI exempts from withholding tax the dividends paid by a company subject to IS (or exempt from that tax) to a company having its registered office in Morocco and subject to IS, which provides the distributing company with a certificate of ownership of the shares (attestation de propriété des titres) bearing its tax identification number. For the recipient, this income is recognized with a 100% allowance, which neutralizes double taxation within groups of companies. No minimum holding period or shareholding threshold is required. RAS applies only when dividends leave the group, in favour of natural persons or non-residents. This regime is central to the choice of a holding structure, presented in our guide to setting up a holding company in Morocco.

The decision is recorded in signed minutes (procès-verbal), kept with the annual accounts, the management report and, where applicable, the statutory auditor's report. In the SA, payment of the dividends must take place within 9 months of the year-end (Law 17-95). Any distribution taken from sums that do not constitute distributable profit is a fictitious dividend, subject to criminal penalties under Laws 17-95 and 5-96.

• Payment of the RAS to the DGI within the month following that of payment or crediting to an account (Articles 158 and 171 of the CGI), by online payment on SIMPL
• Annual return of income from shares, parts sociales and similar income (Article 152 of the CGI), filed electronically before 1 April of the following year, with the identity of the beneficiaries, the gross amounts and the RAS withheld
• Filing with the commercial court registry (greffe du tribunal de commerce) of the approved financial statements within 30 days of the AGO (Law 17-95, Art. 158; Law 5-96, Art. 95)
• Retention for 10 years of the AGO minutes, reports, certificates and proof of payment (Article 211 of the CGI; Law 9-88)

These formalities fit into the calendar presented in our guide to companies' annual obligations in Morocco.

Executive remuneration (salary or remuneration for the corporate office) is deductible from the company's taxable income, but taxable in the hands of the executive under IR according to the progressive scale (from 0% up to 40,000 MAD to 37% above 180,000 MAD per year) and subject to CNSS contributions (Dahir 1-72-184 of 27 July 1972: 27.83% in total in 2026). The dividend, by contrast, is not deductible (it bears IS upstream) but is taxed only at the final rate of 11.25% in 2026, with no social security contributions and no AMO or pension entitlements. The salary/dividend trade-off depends on the level of profit and the executive's situation; it must be worked out with a chartered accountant (expert-comptable) (see also the manager's status: employee or self-employed).

To distribute dividends, here is what you need: accounts approved by the AGO, minutes allocating the result signed by the partners and the filing of the financial statements with the registry. With Charikaty, you do everything online. Charikaty is a private Moroccan legal-tech platform that sets up your company 100% online (SARL, SARL AU, SAS, SA) and then supports you throughout its legal life: we draft the AGO minutes approving the accounts and allocating the result, have them signed electronically by the partners, including MRE remotely, and handle the filing of the financial statements with the registry. More than 250 companies have already been set up with Charikaty. For calculating the RAS, the return of distributed income and the tax return package (liasse fiscale), our accounting service refers you to chartered accountants registered with the OEC (Law 15-89).