Business tax/tourism: The modus operandi
Hotel industry actorsthat have not yet paid the business tax for 2021 and 2022 can be exempted. The government has signed an agreement with the National Federation of the Tourism Industry (FNIH) and the National Confederation of Tourism (CNT) on the coverage by the Government of the business tax for tourist accommodation establishments. The announcement had been made a few days ago. The terms of implementation have just been made public. It should first be noted that entities that have already paid the tax are not affected. Moreover, they will not be entitled to any refund. Besides, this issue has already been discussed by the professionals with the Ministry of Budget. As it was agreed that the tax paid could not be refunded, the scheme was extended to 2022. Those who had already paid will therefore be able to benefit from the measure in 2022 as compensation.
The second observation concerns the fact that the measure targets exclusively tourist accommodation establishments within the meaning of Law No. 61-00: hotels, cottages, tourist residences, guest houses, kasbahs, pensions, vacation villages, campsites … Are therefore excluded tourist restaurants, tourist transport companies and travel agencies that have all been equally impacted by the health crisis, particularly because of the closure of borders for several months. Also excluded from the measure are tourist accommodation establishments that paid dividends in 2020. The Ministry of Finance will provide beneficiary companies that have provided an e-mail address with a copy of the tax payment receipts.
Entities wishing to benefit from the measure have until May 01 to apply to the regional hotel industry associations, but must produce an affidavit not to pay dividends in 2021 or 2022 and to confirm that they did not pay any dividends in 2020. Within this scheme, the FNIH, through its regional associations, and the CNT will have to conduct a census of the companies eligible for the measure and transmit the list with the tax identification number before May 15. The lists, which must be certified by the regional chapters of the Ministry of Tourism, will then be completed by the General Treasury of The Kingdom (TGR) with the amount of arrears. The collection operations will be deactivated in the integrated management system of the revenue. The General Taxation Directorate (DGI) will proceed to partial tax forgiveness of late payment surcharges and penalties and the TGR will condone collection costs for all debts relating to the business tax.
The governance of the system will be entrusted to a steering committee, co-chaired by the Minister of Tourism and the Minister of Budget. It is made up of the general manager of the Moroccan Tourism Investment Company (SMIT), the president of the CN, and that of the FNIH. The latter’s mission is to draw up an evaluation report, to validate any changes that may affect the agreement, and to take any other decision deemed necessary by the president. The steering committee meets whenever necessary at the invitation of one of the presidents. The secretariat is provided by the SMIT.
The measure has been requested on a regular basis by tourism companies. The coverage of the business tax by the Government will bring comfort to operators heavily impacted by the health crisis.
Hassan EL ARIF
