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Guide · updated 6 November 2026

Guide: tax residency between France and Morocco

You become a Moroccan tax resident as soon as your home is in Morocco, the centre of your economic interests is in Morocco, or you spend more than 183 days in Morocco in any 365-day period. From then on, you declare all your income in Morocco, every year before 1 March. The 1970 France-Morocco tax treaty decides which country taxes what.

The criteria in Morocco

Under article 23 of the Moroccan General Tax Code, one of these three criteria is enough:

  1. A permanent home in Morocco.
  2. The centre of your economic interests in Morocco.
  3. More than 183 days in Morocco, in one stretch or not, over any 365-day period.

A resident is taxed in Morocco on both Moroccan and foreign income. A residence card does not make you a tax resident, and being a tax resident does not give you a residence card. They are two separate matters.

The criteria in France

Under article 4 B of the French General Tax Code, you remain a French tax resident if just one of these criteria applies: your home or main place of stay is in France, your main professional activity is in France, or the centre of your economic interests is in France.

Since the 2025 Finance Act, a person who is resident in another country under a tax treaty is no longer treated as domiciled in France.

If both countries treat you as a resident

The treaty settles it (article 2):

  1. You are resident where you have your permanent home.
  2. If you have a home in both countries, you are resident where the centre of your professional activities is.
  3. Failing that, where you spend the most time.

So for a retiree or a remote worker who keeps a home in France, the number of days spent in each country becomes the deciding factor. Keep a day-by-day record (passport stamps, tickets).

Leaving France for tax purposes

  • The year you leave: in the spring, declare the previous year's income and give your new address and your departure date.
  • The following year: file form 2042 for your income from 1 January to your departure date, and form 2042-NR for your French-source income after you left.
  • After that: if you still have income in France, your file moves to the tax office for non-resident individuals (Service des impôts des particuliers non-résidents, SIPNR). If not, you no longer file anything in France.
  • Once you have left, France taxes only your French income, at a minimum rate of 20% up to €29,579 and 30% above that, unless you opt for the average rate.
  • Rent from a property in France, and capital gains on that property, are still taxed in France (articles 9 and 24 of the treaty).

Your Moroccan tax residence certificate

This is the document that proves to France that you are a Moroccan resident. You can request it:

  • online at tax.gov.ma, if you are registered for the DGI's SIMPL online services;
  • or at the tax office where you live.

You need a tax identification number and, in practice, to have already filed a tax return. Be careful: this certificate does not bind the French tax authorities. If they audit you, France looks at the facts: your days of presence and your home in France.

Your French pension

Under article 17 of the treaty, pensions are taxable only in the country where you are domiciled. Article 18 bis, which reserves public-sector pay to France, expressly excludes pensions. Public-sector pensions therefore follow the domicile rule too. Some websites say the opposite, so have your own case confirmed.

In Morocco, a foreign pension is taxed like this:

  1. A 70% allowance on the part up to 168,000 DH a year, and 40% above that (article 60).
  2. The tax is worked out using the normal income tax bands.
  3. An 80% reduction of that tax on the share of the pension transferred permanently to Morocco in non-convertible dirhams (article 76).

So your pension must arrive in an ordinary dirham account, not a foreign currency account or a convertible dirham account. Otherwise, you lose the 80% reduction. See our guide to opening a bank account in Morocco.

To get this reduction, attach to your tax return a certificate from your pension fund and a bank certificate showing the amounts received and their value in dirhams.

The pension exemption voted in 2025 and 2026 covers Morocco's basic pension schemes (CNSS, CMR, RCAR). According to the wording of the Code, it does not apply to French pensions.

Employees and remote workers

If you physically work from Morocco for a French employer, your salary is taxable in Morocco (article 18 of the treaty). A foreign employer does not withhold Moroccan tax at source, so you have to file the annual return yourself.

The Moroccan income tax bands, in force since 1 January 2025:

Annual taxable income (DH) Rate
Up to 40,000 0%
40,001 to 60,000 10%
60,001 to 80,000 20%
80,001 to 100,000 30%
100,001 to 180,000 34%
Above 180,000 37%

Work expenses are deducted from salary: 35% up to 78,000 DH of gross income, 25% above that, capped at 35,000 DH.

Self-employed status (auto-entrepreneur)

  • Maximum turnover: 500,000 DH a year for trade, industry and crafts, 200,000 DH for services.
  • Tax: 0.5% of turnover (trade) or 1% (services), and that settles your income tax in full.
  • Above 80,000 DH a year invoiced to the same client, that client withholds 30% on the excess.
  • Monthly or quarterly declaration.

We have not been able to confirm that a foreign national can register under this status.

Exit tax and IFI (French property wealth tax)

  • Exit tax: it applies to you if you were a French tax resident for at least 6 of the last 10 years and hold at least €800,000 in securities. Unrealised capital gains are declared on form 2074-ETD.
  • IFI: as a non-resident, you remain liable in France on your French property assets if they exceed €1,300,000 net.

Penalties in Morocco

  • Late return: a 5% surcharge up to 30 days late, 15% after that, 20% if the tax is assessed by the authorities, with a minimum of 500 DH.
  • Late payment: a 10% penalty (5% if paid within 30 days), plus 5% for the first month and 0.50% for each extra month.
  • If France reclassifies you as a French resident, it taxes you on all your worldwide income.

What is not yet confirmed

  • The cost and processing time of the tax residence certificate (the DGI website could not be reached).
  • The rate of social charges (prélèvements sociaux) on French property income for a Moroccan resident: 17.2% or 18.6%, depending on the source.
  • How exactly your pension fund handles a public-sector pension: it may keep deducting tax until it has received your residence certificate.

Sources

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