Tax review notices for tax arrears falling on secondary housing owners

The Kingdom’s General Treasury has bombarded obligated secondary housing owners with tax audit notices for tax arrears, especially the housing and sanitation fees, collected by the Kingdom’s General Treasury, in coordination with the interests of the Ministry of the Interior, given that collective tax revenues are distributed in specific proportions to the budgets of groups and entities, as The observers took the initiative to verify the tax status of tens of thousands of taxpayers, using data received from electronic exchange channels with the National Real Estate Conservation Agency.

Informed sources confirmed that the tax reviews were mainly concentrated in the cities of Casablanca, Agadir and Tangier, and aimed to collect huge tax arrears owed by obligated persons who own secondary homes in their cities of residence and other regions in the Kingdom and who failed to pay their dues from the housing and sanitation officials to the benefit of the regional tax authorities affiliated with the public treasury, explaining that the value of Some of the tax returns exceeded 30 thousand dirhams, which they considered “arbitrary” and they resorted to submitting complaints to the regional tax collection services, which entered into negotiations with them in order to settle their tax status.

The same sources reported, in a statement to Hespress, that some of those obligated to be the subject of tax audits explain in their complaints about the increase in the value of their tax dues that the audit procedure concerned the main residence and not the secondary residence, as they provided documents proving the ownership of their properties and the dates of their ownership, confirming that these cases concerned people who have Mainly residences in different cities, which forced tax inspectors to re-subject their files to scrutiny and study, with the aim of reporting on the legal soundness of the basis for imposing the tax in these cases.

The new tax reviews coincided with the imminent entry into force of a tax measure starting next July 1, related to the obligation to obtain a tax receipt (quitus fiscal) proving the settlement of local fees, especially housing, cleaning, and communal services fees, as well as fees on bare lands, during transfer operations. Ownership under contracts drawn up by notaries, notaries, lawyers accepted to plead before the Court of Cassation, or any other person exercising notarial duties, in implementation of the requirements of Article No. 139 of the New General Tax Code.

The same sources revealed that the new tax audits fall within the framework of coordination between the General Directorate of Taxes and the interests of the Ministry of Interior with the aim of enhancing the taxation resources of groups and entities, and expanding the tax base, by targeting obligated persons who own more than one residence, as they have become a stimulating field for tax collection activity, especially for To the collective fees and real estate income for the plots and rents, stressing that the tax administration, during the new reviews, adopted flexibility in the settlement processes, by giving priority to negotiated solutions and reducing tax amounts in exchange for immediate payment.

It is noteworthy that Abdel-Wafi Laftit, Minister of the Interior, revealed at the beginning of this year that a large percentage of Moroccan citizens did not comply with the housing and hygiene duties owed to the territorial groups and regions, which had a negative impact on the financial balances of the elected councils, as he criticized the minister in a session for oral questions. The House of Representatives at the time had weak governance in managing this aspect, stressing that the groups were in an unhealthy situation, because incomes were limited and expenditures were rising.