What are the tax incentives for setting up a company in Morocco in 2026?

Every newly created company benefits from an exemption from the Minimum Contribution for the first 36 months following the date on which it begins operating (Article 144 of the CGI). In any event, this exemption ends 60 months after the incorporation of the company, even if operations started late.

Key features:

• Duration: 36 months (3 years), from the actual start of operations
• Nature: automatic provided that the company is duly registered and has filed its declaration of existence (déclaration d'existence)
• Effect: the company bears only IS on its profit; in the event of a zero result or a loss, no minimum tax is due for 36 months. After that, the CM becomes due again, even in the event of a loss, at the rate and with the minimum presented in the taxes a new business must pay in Morocco

Any natural person or legal entity carrying on a professional activity for the first time benefits from a total exemption from the Professional Tax for 5 years from the year in which the activity begins, that year included (Article 6-II-1° of Law 47-06), automatically provided that the registration declaration (déclaration d'inscription) (Article 12) is filed within 30 days of the start of activity; no TP assessment roll (rôle) is then issued. Its conditions, its starting point and what remains due are detailed in the 5-year professional tax exemption, and the calculation of the TP at the end of the period in the taxes and duties of a new business.

• Capital goods (machinery, equipment, fixed assets) acquired by a new business during its first 36 months are exempt from VAT with the right to deduct, upon application for a certificate from the DGI and subject to providing sufficient guarantees (a requirement of the LF 2024, except under an agreement with the State)
• Official formation costs are limited to the OMPIC negative certificate (certificat négatif) (232.76 MAD online), the filing and registration fees at the registry (greffe) (about 1,200 MAD) and the legal publications

Contrary to a widespread belief, there is no total 5-year IS exemption for newly created companies under ordinary law. IS applies at the rates of Article 19 of the CGI from the first profitable financial year; these rates, as well as the return and the instalments, are presented in the taxes and duties of a new business, a new company paying no instalment during its first financial year.

The Industrial Acceleration Zones (formerly "Export Free Zones") are governed by Law No. 19-94 as amended, in particular by the 2020 Finance Law, which renamed the scheme; their access conditions are developed in the advantages of a company in a free zone. Companies that set up there benefit from:

• A total IS exemption for the first 5 financial years following the start of operations
• An IS rate of 20% after this period (rate reached in 2026 at the end of the convergence initiated by the LF 2023)
• VAT exemption with the right to deduct on goods and services acquired for the business
• Exemption from professional tax for 15 years
• Exemption from withholding tax on dividends paid to non-residents, limited since the LF 2023 to the portion derived from foreign-source operations (the remainder bears 11.25% in 2026 or the treaty rate)

Conditions: establishment in an approved zone, eligible activity (industry, logistics, related services), export orientation, agreement with the zone's developer-operator.

Approved zones: Tangier (Tanger Free Zone, Tanger Automotive City), Kenitra (Atlantic Free Zone), Casablanca-Settat (Midparc), Souss-Massa, Oujda, etc. (the list changes by decree).

CFC status, governed since 2020 by Decree-Law No. 2-20-665 of 30 September 2020, ratified by Law No. 70-20, which repealed and replaced Law No. 44-10, is reserved for companies with an international focus in the financial and services sectors (regional headquarters, service providers, holding companies). Beneficiary companies:

• Benefit from a total IS exemption for 5 financial years from the first financial year in which the status is granted
• Are then taxed at the rate of 20% (excluding credit institutions and insurance companies)
• Have their employees taxed, by option, at the specific IR rate of 20% for a maximum of 10 years from taking up their post, whether continuous or not (relaxation introduced by the LF 2026: periods worked outside CFC are not counted)
• Have access to a dedicated support framework and a regional business platform

Conditions: status granted by Casablanca Finance City Authority, activity with an international dimension, compliance with the eligibility criteria.

Framework Law No. 03-22 enacting the Investment Charter (December 2022) and its implementing decree No. 2-23-1 (January 2023) structure public aid for investment in the form of grants paid under an investment agreement:

• Common grants: linked to the number of stable jobs created, the gender approach, future-oriented professions, sustainable development and local integration
• Territorial grant: 10% or 15% of the amount invested in priority provinces and prefectures
• Sectoral grant: for targeted sectors (industry, renewable energy, tourism, digital economy, etc.)
• Cumulative ceiling: 30% of the amount of the eligible investment
• Strategic projects: ad hoc regime negotiated on a case-by-case basis

The main scheme targets projects of at least 50 million MAD creating at least 50 stable jobs, or projects creating at least 150 stable jobs regardless of the amount invested. The scheme specific to TPMEs (very small, small and medium-sized enterprises; Decree No. 2-25-342, operational since November 2025) opens three grants (employment, territorial, priority activities), which can be combined up to a limit of 30%, to investment projects of 1 to 50 million MAD carried out by companies whose turnover is between 1 and 200 million MAD (companies registered for less than 3 years are exempt from this criterion) and whose capital is not more than 25% held by a company with turnover of more than 200 million MAD, with an equity contribution of at least 10% and job creation proportional to the investment.

The Intelaka programme, launched in February 2020 (conditions and procedure detailed in the Intelaka loan for very small businesses), offers young entrepreneurs, very small enterprises (TPE) less than 5 years old (turnover below 10 million MAD) and auto-entrepreneurs:

• Loans of up to 1.2 million MAD at a rate of 2% in urban areas and 1.75% in rural areas
• A State guarantee of up to 80% via Damane Intelak (Tamwilcom, formerly CCG)
• The Start-TPE honour loan of 50,000 MAD at 0%, without guarantee, to supplement equity

Tamwilcom (formerly Caisse Centrale de Garantie) offers a guarantee on companies' bank loans under various programmes (Damane Express, Damane Intelak, the Innov Invest scheme for startups with the Innov Idea, Innov Start, Innov Risk and Innov Dev programmes, presented in Innov Invest and Tamwilcom financing for startups). These schemes, like the Intelaka programme, are not tax exemptions in the strict sense, but they reduce the cost of financing projects.

• Tahfiz (Article 57-20° of the CGI): for companies created between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2026, the gross monthly salary of 10,000 MAD or less paid to an employee recruited on a permanent contract (CDI) within 2 years of the start of operations is exempt from IR for 24 months, up to a limit of 10 employees; the State covers the employer's CNSS share and the vocational training tax
• Idmaj (ANAPEC integration contract, Article 57-16° of the CGI): internship allowance of up to 6,000 MAD per month exempt from IR for 24 months and exemption from CNSS contributions; in the event of hiring on a CDI, the employer's CNSS share is covered for 12 months

The procedures for benefiting from them are described in hiring aid (ANAPEC, Tahfiz, Idmaj).

The two ordinary-law exemptions (36-month CM and 5-year TP) apply automatically provided that:

• The company is duly incorporated and registered in the Commercial Register (Registre du Commerce) by the commercial court registry, with its ICE and IF issued by the DGI
• The declaration of existence is filed with the DGI within 30 days of incorporation (Article 148 of the CGI)
• The TP registration declaration is filed (Article 12 of Law 47-06); the TP identifier is assigned as part of the registration

No specific exemption application to the DGI or the municipality is required. With Charikaty, these formalities are built into the online formation: the company receives its Commercial Register extract, its IF, its ICE and its TP identifier without any additional step.

Conversely, the ZAI and CFC regimes and the Investment Charter aid require an approval procedure with:

• A complete file describing the project (investment plan, jobs, financing)
• Specifications (cahier des charges) or an agreement to be complied with
• A decision by the competent authority (zone developer-operator for the ZAI, Casablanca Finance City Authority for CFC status, Unified Regional Investment Commission for the Charter, with the National Investment Commission ruling on agreements of 250 million MAD or more)
• Annual monitoring of compliance with the commitments, failing which the grants must be repaid

The regimes can often be combined, but under strict conditions:

The combination of total exemptions between special regimes is, as a general rule, restricted: the anti-cumulation clauses specific to each scheme should be checked (for example, the overall ceiling on Charter grants, set at 30% of the amount invested).