Morocco ’s Administration of Customs and Indirect Taxes (ADII) has announced that foreign ecommerce platform transactions will no longer be exempt from customs duties as of July 1, 2022. The new rule now requires firms or consumers to pay value-added tax and import charges on products supplied or acquired.
The announcement generated much criticism. According to the ADII, beginning on July 1, 2022, purchases conducted through international e-commerce platforms would no longer be exempt from import customs duties, regardless of value.
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According to the same source, this rule does not apply to non-commercial imports valued at less than 1,250 dirhams, which will continue to be exempt from customs duties in accordance with the aforementioned directive.
The Customs Administration justifies the new step by citing the development of online shopping, noting that certain sites’ turnover in Morocco exceeded one billion dirhams in 2021. In addition, investigations conducted by Moroccan authorities revealed that illicit actions were to blame for this disturbing trend.
The new levies differ based on the characteristics of the products. In addition to the fixed VAT, import levies can differ from nation to country. Regarding the first, the standard rate is 20 percent. If an item’s initial selling price before this policy was 100 dirhams, you would be required to pay an additional 20 dirhams. If the item in question is a textile, the additional cost would be 40 dirhams in the form of an import charge of 40 percent. This similar rate climbs to 2.5% if the product is electrotonic.
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Regarding Turkish products, textile import duties are 36%. Therefore, the additional cost would be 36 dirhams.
The application of these taxes also stems from the fact that the shipments sent by certain international e-commerce platforms are actually import operations involving large quantities of goods, under the guise of the customs facilities made available for exceptional shipments that are not of a commercial nature and contain low-value goods.
This situation has led to the emergence of a black market consisting of the resale of items acquired through international e-commerce sites, using fraud on the declared value of purchases (under-invoicing) or distributing them among several beneficiaries, while the real buyer is the same person, in order to benefit from the customs exemption and to circumvent consumer protection control standards. The ADII noted that it attempts to balance the market with these actions because “these acts constitute unfair competition for local industry and formal commerce, a loss of revenue for the state, and a potential threat to consumer health.”
“In order to solve this situation, a tightening of customs controls on e-commerce shipments was deemed necessary,” says the ADII.
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“Accordingly, it was decided to change the terms of Article 190-e)-2° of Decree №2–77–862 governing unusual shipments devoid of any commercial nature.”
Morocco ecommerce tax Morocco ecommerce tax
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
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