Behind the latest tax digitization wave
Chartered accountants and notaries are better prepared for the future digitization wave by the tax authorities. Electronic invoices and computerized accounting will be generalized in 2024 (see L’Economiste issue # 6394 of November 22, 2022). Other professions, especially judicial ones, such as lawyers, are lagging behind in terms of digitization. The 2023 Draft Budget Bill will however change the tax regime for lawyers: 10% for companies and 5% for individuals. The goal among others is to increase tax revenues, but not only that. The tax authorities identified 186,231 new taxpayers in 2021. “The interconnection of its files with those of other administrations finetunes targeting and tax control”, confides a senior finance official who wished to remain anonymous. There is also the tracking of dirty money and other financial crimes. It is in this context that the partnership between the Association of Chartered Accountants and the German group Unifiedpost was made. It was signed on October 20, 2022 in Casablanca. “It aims to set up a collaborative platform to facilitate the financial administration of the company and to digitize exchanges with its accountant. Banqup is an IT solution that maintains the role of the accountant or chartered accountant as guarantor of document flows”, explains Unifiedpost General Manager Tom Van Acker. Time is running out, and not just for chartered accountants. The Moroccan legislation has increased financial traceability obligations by one notch since September 2022, and for good reason, the digital policy -especially tax administration- is rooted in international commitments relating to the transparency and legality of financial and commercial flows. To the fight against fraud and tax evasion as well as the fight against money laundering are added the tracking of dirty money and the financing of terrorism. The Kingdom of Morocco is on the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body created in 1989, hence the amendment of the law on money laundering and financing of terrorism. The Arabic language version of the amendment to the law is available in the Moroccan Official Gazette issue number 6995 of June 14, 2021 and the French edition was published in issue number 7018 of September 02, 2021. And what about cash in this matter? The aim is to limit its use in commercial transactions as much as possible. This is the wish of the executive. “ Cash expresses the nature of the relationship that a citizen has with the State, and above all, the degree of trust in a government. Morocco is one of the countries with the most recourse to cash. There is no downtrend looming ahead”, said the General Manager of Cash Plus, Hazim Sbata. This further complicates the situation for public authorities and their representatives in the fight against financial crime. Notaries, lawyers, bankers, chartered accountants, and approved accountants are among the professions required to make suspicious transaction reports, ie alert to any suspicious transaction or funds of dubious origin. These professions are qualified in the legal jargon as being “subject” to the anti-money laundering law. These figures and legal professionals are required to make declarations to the National Financial Intelligence Unit. The Ministry of Finance also sent a questionnaire to chartered accountants. They had until the end of October 2022 to respond. This deadline had been extended to the end of November 2022.
Faiçal FAQUIHI
