Quotes in Morocco: template, recommended details and validity period

What is a quote for, and what is it worth once signed?

A quote is the written proposal you give a customer before you sell or carry out a job. It describes what you will deliver, at what price, by when and on what terms. For the customer it is the basis of the decision, and often the document its purchasing department needs before committing to an expense. For you, it is the reference that prevents arguments about the price once the work is done.

Under Moroccan contract law (the Dahir des obligations et contrats), a sale is complete as soon as the parties agree on the item and the price. A quote accepted without reservation is therefore, in principle, binding: you must deliver what is described at the stated price, and the customer must pay on the agreed terms. Until it is accepted, it is an offer that binds you for the validity period you set. For a large contract, have your terms reviewed by a lawyer or by your expert-comptable (chartered accountant).

A quote is not an invoice: it does not record a completed sale, is not booked as revenue and does not, on its own, make VAT payable. It follows its own numbering sequence, separate from invoices, for example DV-2026-0001, DV-2026-0002.

What should a quote in Morocco include?

The content of a quote is less strictly regulated than that of an invoice, but practice has settled on a common core. Showing the same identifiers on the quote as on the future invoice avoids discrepancies between the two documents and reassures your business customers' accounts teams.

• Your identity: company name, legal form, address, phone, ICE, IF, RC and business tax (taxe professionnelle) number.
• The customer: name or company name, address, contact person and, for a business, its ICE number.
• A unique quote number, the issue date and, where needed, a version number.
• A precise description of each line: item, reference or brand, unit, quantity, unit price excluding VAT.
• Totals: any discount, total excluding VAT, VAT broken down by rate, total including VAT, ideally in figures and in words.
• The validity period, payment terms, deposit amount and lead time for delivery or completion.
• Special conditions: what is not included, travel costs, warranty, price revision, and a space for the customer's acceptance.

How long should a quote remain valid?

No single duration applies to every quote: you set it, and what matters is to write it down. In practice you often see 15 days for goods whose prices move quickly or for imported items, 30 days for most services and standard supplies, and 60 days or more for long projects that need internal approval on the customer's side. A specific date (“offer valid until 30 November 2026”) is clearer than a duration the customer has to work out.

During that period you are, in principle, bound by your prices if the customer accepts. Once it expires, you can keep the offer or update it; in the second case, issue a new quote or a new version rather than correcting the old one by hand. Without a written validity period, whether your price still holds six months later becomes a source of dispute, especially once raw material costs have changed.

“Bon pour accord”: how does the customer accept a quote?

The traditional way is for the customer to return a copy of the quote bearing the handwritten words “bon pour accord” (approved), the date, their name, their signature and, for a company, its stamp. Keep that copy: it is your proof of agreement on price and terms. Acceptance by email, or through an online portal that records who accepted and when, also leaves a useful trail; for large contracts, take advice on the most suitable form of commitment.

After acceptance, the usual chain is as follows: the customer confirms with a purchase order, its own or one you issue, pays the agreed deposit, you deliver or perform with a delivery note, then you issue the invoice referencing the quote and collect the balance. If the customer asks to change quantities, options or timing, do not quietly edit the signed quote: issue a new quote or an amendment that the customer accepts in turn.

Worked example: a quote with a discount and a 30 % deposit

An IT services company in Rabat quotes for equipping a consulting firm: six desktop computers at 7,450.00 DH excluding VAT each, a file server at 18,900.00 DH excluding VAT and three days of installation at 2,800.00 DH excluding VAT. The gross total is 72,000.00 DH excluding VAT. A 5 % trade discount of 3,600.00 DH brings it down to 68,400.00 DH excluding VAT. VAT at 20 % comes to 13,680.00 DH, giving a total of 82,080.00 DH including VAT. The table below shows each step.

The quote asks for a deposit of 30 % of the VAT-inclusive total at order, i.e. 24,624.00 DH, and a balance of 57,456.00 DH on delivery. The discount is applied before VAT, never to the VAT-inclusive total. Note that the deposit contains 4,104.00 DH of VAT: under the cash-basis regime (encaissement), which is the default rule in Morocco, VAT becomes due when the price is collected in full or in part, so as soon as the deposit is received. Have this treatment confirmed by your accountant; VAT rates change with the finance laws.

Which quote mistakes should you avoid?

Most disputes over a quote come from something left out when it was written, not from bad faith on the customer's side.

• No validity period: the customer comes back months later and insists on the old price.
• Vague descriptions (“miscellaneous work”, “equipment lot”) that do not show what is included.
• A discount calculated on the VAT-inclusive total, or VAT calculated on a rounded total, creating centime differences with the invoice.
• A deposit agreed verbally but missing from the quote, or a deposit with no due date for the balance.
• Customer approval given over the phone, with no signature or written trail.
• A quote corrected by hand after acceptance instead of a new quote or an amendment.
• Quote numbers mixed with invoice numbers, or the business customer's ICE number left out.

How does SOGESTIO handle quotes, from sending to invoicing?

In SOGESTIO, your identifiers (company name, address, ICE, IF, RC, patente, bank details) and your logo are entered once and printed on every quote PDF, in French, Arabic or English, with the amount in words and a stamp-and-signature area. Totals excluding VAT, VAT and including VAT are calculated by the server, with VAT line by line and totalled per rate. Price lists apply the right rate for each customer, and numbering is assigned by the server, per document type and per year.

The customer receives a private link to their portal, with no account to create: they view the quote, download the PDF and accept it online, and SOGESTIO records their name, the time and the IP address. The accepted quote then becomes a purchase order, delivery note, invoice and payment without re-entry, with the deposit and instalments tracked. On the Pro and Groupe plans, the CRM pipeline follows the deal from first contact to signature. Without a connection, you can prepare a quote in the installed web app or the Android app; it syncs automatically when the network returns. Try it free for 14 days, no card required.