Starting a business in Morocco, what next? Your first 90 days of management

Which identifiers should you check right after incorporation?

Formation, through the Regional Investment Centre (CRI) or the online company-creation platform, leaves you with several numbers. Before issuing a single document, gather them on one sheet and check every digit against the documents delivered at creation: an error copied onto a hundred invoices costs far more to fix than one spotted on day one.

Also ask your accountant to confirm that the declaration of existence has been filed with the tax office: the General Tax Code sets a 30-day deadline after the company is formed.

• ICE (15 digits): the company's common identifier, mandatory on business-to-business invoices.
• IF: the tax identifier issued by the DGI, used for every tax return.
• RC: the trade register number, with the city of the court.
• Professional tax: the tax roll number (formerly patente), to be printed on invoices.
• CNSS: the employer's affiliation number, to be requested when you first hire.

Bank account and cash: how do you get through the first months?

A company, even a single-member SARL, is separate from its partners. Run all its receipts and expenses through an account in its name, pay no personal expense from it, and make any advances by bank transfer, recorded in a shareholder current account.

Keep cash to a minimum: under the General Tax Code, at the time of writing, expenses not paid by crossed cheque, bill of exchange, transfer or electronic means are only deductible up to 5,000 DH per day and per supplier (monthly cap of 50,000 DH per supplier); beyond that, their VAT cannot be recovered.

Build a month-by-month cash forecast too: a company can be profitable on paper and short of cash, because customers pay at 30 or 60 days while rent and equipment are paid immediately. Example of a consulting firm starting with 60,000.00 DH in the bank:

• Month 1: no receipts (invoice payable at 30 days); rent 7,000.00 DH, IT equipment 14,400.00 DH including VAT, accountant's fees 2,000.00 DH, sundry costs 1,850.00 DH; balance 34,750.00 DH.
• Month 2: the first invoice is collected, 10,231.20 DH including VAT, and 10,850.00 DH is paid out; balance 34,131.20 DH.
• Of which 1,705.20 DH is output VAT: set it aside to be safe (recoverable input VAT on your purchases will be deducted in the return). The cash really available is then 32,426.00 DH, close to three months of fixed costs.

How do you issue your first invoice without mistakes?

Prepare a complete template from the start, checked once by your accountant: your identifiers (ICE, IF, RC, professional tax), number and date, the business customer's name and ICE, a precise description, prices excluding VAT, VAT per rate, total including VAT and payment terms. Number invoices chronologically and continuously (FA-2026-0001, FA-2026-0002…): an issued invoice is never deleted, it is corrected with a credit note.

Set a due date too: Law 69-21 on payment terms provides, when nothing is agreed, 60 days from the invoice issue date, and up to 120 days when the parties agree, with sector exceptions. Example of a consulting firm's first invoice at the standard 20 % VAT rate:

• Consulting assignment: 3 days at 2,500.00 DH excluding VAT, i.e. 7,500.00 DH excluding VAT and 1,500.00 DH of VAT.
• Training materials: 12 copies at 85.50 DH excluding VAT, i.e. 1,026.00 DH excluding VAT and 205.20 DH of VAT.
• Total excluding VAT 8,526.00 DH, VAT 1,705.20 DH, total including VAT 10,231.20 DH, payable at 30 days.

VAT, corporate tax, professional tax: what applies in the first year?

Most trading and service companies are subject to VAT. Under the General Tax Code, a new taxpayer in principle files quarterly during the calendar year in which it starts, and may ask to file monthly; afterwards, the frequency depends on the previous year's turnover (monthly from 1,000,000 DH, at the time of writing). Returns are filed on SIMPL-TVA, in principle before the end of the month following the period, even with no transactions. The default regime is the cash basis (encaissement): VAT is due when the customer pays; the accrual basis (débits) is an option.

On corporate income tax, the General Tax Code exempts companies from the minimum contribution for the first 36 months after they start operating, within 60 months of incorporation; returns are still due. For professional tax, the law on local authority taxation provides a full temporary exemption of five years from the year a newly created activity starts, with exclusions (notably credit institutions, insurance companies and real-estate agencies). These rules change with finance laws, so have your situation confirmed by your accountant.

Accounting and your accountant: which first-year mistakes should you avoid?

Books are kept under the CGNC (Code général de normalisation comptable), Morocco's chart of accounts, from the first transaction, not at year end. Every entry relies on a supporting document (invoice, bank statement, payslip, receipt), to be kept for ten years under the General Tax Code. Choose your expert-comptable (chartered accountant) before the first financial year, with an engagement letter stating what they handle and what you send them each month. The usual first-year mistakes are rarely complex:

• No VAT return for the first quarter, because there was no turnover yet.
• Invoices without the customer's ICE, or numbered by hand with gaps.
• Personal expenses paid by the company, or cash purchases without a receipt.
• Lost purchase invoices: VAT not recovered, expenses open to challenge.

First employee: which CNSS steps and how is pay calculated?

When you first hire, the company affiliates with the CNSS within the following month, according to the CNSS, and registers each employee. Salaries are then declared every month on DAMANCOM and contributions paid before the 10th of the following month. Use a written employment contract and take out workplace accident insurance, which is mandatory for every employer.

The payslip deducts from gross salary the employee's CNSS share (4.48 % of salary capped at 6,000 DH), AMO (2.26 %) and income tax (IR), calculated after the professional expenses allowance. For a single employee with no dependants and a monthly gross salary of 10,000.00 DH: 268.80 DH of CNSS, 226.00 DH of AMO and 601.56 DH of IR, i.e. a net pay of 8,903.64 DH (rates and scale in force at the time of writing). The IR withheld is summarised each year in the état 9421, on SIMPL-IR.

How does SOGESTIO support a company that is just starting?

In SOGESTIO the company profile is created once: legal form (SARL, SARL AU, SA, SNC, SCS, auto-entrepreneur, sole proprietorship), address, ICE, IF, RC, professional tax number, bank details and logo, then printed on your quotes, invoices and credit notes in PDF, in French, Arabic or English. Numbering is assigned by the server, per document type and per year; VAT rates (20 %, 14 %, 10 %, 7 %, exempt) are pre-filled and editable.

The Starter pack (199 DH excl. VAT per month) covers sales and invoicing, stock, expenses and petty cash. The Pro pack (449 DH excl. VAT per month) adds, among other things, automatic entries on the CGNC chart, payroll with CNSS, AMO, IR and a DAMANCOM preparation file, and a 13-week cash forecast. The 14-day free trial needs no card, and trial data is kept when you subscribe. SOGESTIO prepares and automates; it does not replace your accountant.