Do you need a physical address to set up a company in Morocco in 2026?

The registered office is the statutory address of the legal entity. It determines:

• the territorial jurisdiction of the commercial courts (Law 53-95) and of the tax office responsible for the company (Articles 148 and 149 of the CGI);
• the commercial court registry (greffe du tribunal de commerce) with which the company is registered in the Commercial Register, as explained in the guide on where to register a company in Morocco (OMPIC, for its part, keeps the central commercial register);
• the address for service of official documents and administrative correspondence;
• the attachment to a CNSS agency and to a municipality (professional tax, operating authorizations).

The law allows three forms of proof for the registered office address: the commercial lease, ownership of the premises or commercial domiciliation. Their cost, commitment period, obligations and advantages (domiciliation at 100 to 500 MAD excl. tax per month in practice, commercial lease with right to renewal, ownership with acquisition costs) are compared in the guide comparing domiciliation and commercial lease for the registered office.

In practice, it is possible to establish the registered office at the manager's home, provided that this is evidenced to the registry (title deed or residential lease, with a certificate of provision of the address signed by the owner) and that the following rules are complied with:

• Compliance with the residential lease (landlord's consent if the manager is a tenant)
• Compliance with the co-ownership regulations
• No municipal rule prohibiting professional use at the address
• Activity compatible with residential use (no noisy or polluting activity, or activity receiving the public, without authorization)

This solution is typically transitional at start-up. It is recommended to switch to a commercial lease or professional domiciliation as soon as the activity justifies it, which entails a transfer of the registered office.

The address of the registered office appears:

• In the articles of association (mandatory clause)
• In the registration file filed with the commercial court registry, together with the proof of address (registered lease, title deed or domiciliation agreement with the domiciliation provider's RC extract); the full list is set out in the documents required to register a company in Morocco
• On the Commercial Register extract (model J) and on the tax identification certificate issued by the DGI (tax identifier, ICE assigned pursuant to Decree 2-11-63, professional tax)
• In the CNSS affiliation certificate (Dahir 1-72-184 of 27 July 1972), issued upon the company's affiliation with the CNSS

The declaration of existence to the DGI (Article 148 CGI) must be made within 30 days of incorporation. Law 88-17 makes it possible to complete all the formation formalities remotely: with Charikaty, you send your proof of address online, we file the application with the relevant authorities and provide you with your RC extract and your identifiers.

A fictitious or non-compliant address can lead to the refusal or removal of the registration, as well as tax reassessments and criminal penalties in the event of proven fraud.

The transfer of the registered office is an amendment to the articles of association that requires:

1. Decision of the competent body: partners representing at least three quarters of the shares for the SARL (Article 75, Law 5-96), extraordinary general meeting for the SA (Law 17-95), body designated by the articles of association for the SAS
2. Updating of the articles of association
3. Amending entry in the Commercial Register (Law 15-95), with the commercial court of the new registered office in the event of a change of city
4. Publication in a legal announcements newspaper and in the Official Bulletin
5. Declaration of transfer to the DGI within 30 days (Article 149 CGI)
6. Updating with the CNSS, the bank and partners

With Charikaty, the drafting of the deeds, the electronic signature, the filing with the registry and the legal publications are done online. The formalities are detailed in the guide to transferring the registered office to another city.

The articles of association, leases, titles, domiciliation agreements, minutes of meetings, RC extracts and amendment notices are kept for 10 years (Article 211 CGI; Law 9-88), on paper or electronic media.

Here is what you need to set up your registered office: a genuine address in Morocco and proof (commercial lease, title deed or domiciliation agreement). Charikaty is a private Moroccan legal-tech platform specializing in company formation and compliance, with which you do everything online. If you do not have premises, our domiciliation service offers you, with our partner domiciliation providers, a registered office address compliant with Law 89-17. We help you choose the appropriate address option (lease, ownership or domiciliation), we draft your articles of association with advanced electronic signature (Law 43-20), then we file your registration application with the commercial court registry, the DGI and the CNSS. More than 250 companies have already been set up with Charikaty. You follow each step online, whether you are in Morocco or abroad.