Real Estate: Alarming Collapse in Property Transactions
Morocco’s Tax audits and tax regularization operations have never generated so much revenue. Yet, according to the General Tax Directorate (DGI), their purpose has fundamentally changed.
According to its 2025 Annual Activity Report, tax audits and regularization operations generated MAD 20.93 billion in additional revenue last year, representing an 18% increase compared with 2024.
As the Director General of Taxes has repeatedly emphasized, these additional revenues are entirely allocated to financing tax refunds, rebates and reimbursements granted to taxpayers. These amounted to MAD 24.98 billion in 2025, up 13.8% year-on-year.
At first glance, such figures could be interpreted as evidence of a tougher tax enforcement policy. The DGI, however, offers a very different reading.
Speaking before Morocco’s business community, the tax administration defended what it described as a break with previous practices, when tax audits were often used as a rapid means of mobilizing public revenue by concentrating inspections on sectors considered the most profitable.
Today, the administration says its approach has changed.
Tax audits are no longer viewed primarily as a budgetary revenue tool but rather as an instrument to strengthen long-term tax compliance and improve the voluntary fulfillment of tax reporting obligations.
The sharp increase in desk audits illustrates this shift in methodology. Instead of multiplying on-site inspections, the DGI now places greater emphasis on data analysis and the identification of anomalies through risk-based targeting.
Desk audits increased by 35% in 2025, reaching 82,017 files reviewed. Combined with tax base regularization procedures, they generated MAD 6.54 billion in additional revenue, representing a 24% increase compared with the previous year.
The DGI’s figures also reveal a high concentration of tax issues.
Large companies account for only 5% of audited files but represent 41% of the tax assessments collected.
By contrast, individual taxpayers—including both professionals and private individuals—represent more than half of all files reviewed, while generating only one-quarter of the amounts recovered.
Fewer Field Audits, Higher Returns
The trend is even more striking for on-site tax audits.
Although the number of field audits declined by 7%, to 7,133 cases, the additional revenue they generated rose by 11%, reaching MAD 10.67 billion.
In other words, the DGI now appears to favor better targeting over a higher volume of inspections.
This strategic shift is also reflected in the profile of audited taxpayers.Corporate entities now account for 90% of on-site audit cases, compared with 54% a year earlier. At the same time, the share of targeted audits—focused on specific tax issues rather than a comprehensive review of a company’s accounts—increased from 18% to 34% of all on-site inspections.
Khadija Masmoudi
