While the representations of lawyers are demanding the revision of the terms of application of the tax measures of the PLF 2023, especially concerning withholding tax, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Fouzi Lekjaa reveals astonishing statistics regarding the tax evasion of a good part of the black dresses.
The Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Fouzi Lekjaa released figures that denounce nearly half of practicing lawyers in Morocco. Indeed, it is “the lawyers registered with the tax administration amount to 8,837, while the number of lawyers in the country is around 16,000″, launches the government official. The number of lawyers who declare their income to the tax authorities is only 6,600 and the number of those who contribute to the tax is 5,788″, revealed the Minister, Thursday, before the Finance Committee in the House of Councillors. The minister also specified that 90% of lawyers who contribute to the payment of taxes pay less than 10,000 dirhams per year.
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“But what exactly are these people looking for? asks the Minister, “knowing that there are around 66,000 employees in Morocco whose income tax is deducted at source and before they receive their salary, in addition to the fact that retirees pay the income tax twice: during their work and even following their retirement”, he insists. As a reminder, the Bar Association of Moroccan lawyers had declared a national strike on November 8 and 9 with a sit-in in front of parliament. A strike which was extended until the 11th by the Bar of Casablanca. And for good reason the application of tax provisions. Between call for a continuous labor boycott, periodic stoppage, the black dresses continue their arm to do with the government. Their demand is to review the terms of application of the tax measures of the PLF 2023, especially in its mode of operation which is the deduction at source.
Speaking during a plenary session at the House of Representatives dedicated to the examination and vote of PLF N° 50.22 for the 2023 budget year, Lekjaa underlined that the 2023 PLF aims to put in place a global conception of the concept of income tax with the aim of moving from a declaration system to a withholding system and with a view to ensuring equality with employees. To this end, he reassured regarding the existence of a periodic and continuous evaluation for the improvement of the provisions of the legislative texts relating thereto.
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It should also be noted that among the main amendments adopted under the first part of the Finance Bill (PLF) No. 50.22 for the 2023 budget year by the House of Representatives concerning the taxation of lawyers, giving the possibility of paying income tax by installments according to two formulas, i.e. paying an installment of 300 dirhams, valid for all phases of the procedure, for each case when filing or registering an act, a request or an appeal, or when registering a mandate or assistance in a case brought before the courts of the Kingdom, or spontaneously pay the tax authorities two installments electronically before the end of the month following the 6th and 12th month of the accounting year.
