Moving to Morocco in 2026: proximity, retirees and cost of living

Article 23 of the Moroccan General Tax Code treats a person as having their tax domicile in Morocco where they have their permanent home there, the centre of their economic interests there, or where they stay there, continuously or not, for more than 183 days³ in any period of three hundred and sixty-five days.

The wording deserves attention: the reference period is not the calendar year but a rolling window. A stay straddling two years can therefore lead to tax domicile in Morocco even though no single calendar year exceeds the threshold.

The income tax scale is progressive. Its first bracket is exempt, up to 0%⁴, and the top marginal rate reaches 37%⁵.

Investment income

Through the Finance Act 2023, Morocco began a scheduled reduction of the withholding tax on income from shares and partnership interests, in steps set according to the financial year in which the profit was earned: 13.75%⁶ for the financial year opened in 2023, 12.5%⁷ for 2024, 11.25%⁸ for 2025, then the target rate of 10%⁹ for profits of financial years opened from 1 January 2026. Profits of financial years opened before 2023 remain at the historical rate of 15%¹⁰, whatever the date of distribution.

This downward trajectory is a matter of timing: it is the financial year in which the profit was earned, not the date of distribution, that determines the rate (DGI circular note No. 733), and distributions are deemed to come from the oldest profits.

Investment products and income covered by Article 66 are subject to a specific rate of 20%¹¹.

Companies

Corporate income tax follows a scale depending on profit and activity, with a rate of 20%¹² for the standard regime and a rate raised to 35%¹³ above a profit threshold. The intermediate rate of the transitional period no longer applies since 2026; credit institutions, Bank Al-Maghrib, the CDG and insurance and reinsurance companies are subject to a specific rate of 40%¹⁴.

Morocco also offers sector-based and zone-based incentive regimes, notably for export activities and industrial acceleration zones. They are subject to precise eligibility conditions and are negotiated before a business is set up.

Among them, the Casablanca Finance City status targets service companies, excluding credit institutions and insurance and reinsurance companies: full exemption from corporate income tax for 5¹⁵ consecutive financial years, then the standard rate. Their employees may be taxed at a proportional rate of 20%¹⁶ instead of the scale, for a maximum of up to 10 years¹⁷ from the start of their employment (Article 73-II-F-9° of the General Tax Code).

For a French retiree, however, the starting point is not the Moroccan scale but the tax treaty. It determines which of the two States taxes the pension, and on what terms. An allowance or favourable regime announced locally has effect only if the treaty actually gives Morocco the right to tax. This check comes before any simulation.

Where the treaty gives Morocco the right to tax, domestic law eases the burden on domiciled retirees. Pensions and life annuities benefit from an allowance of 70%¹⁸ on the portion of the annual gross amount not exceeding up to MAD 168,000¹⁹, and of 40%²⁰ above that (Article 60). Foreign-source pensions also entitle the holder to a 80%²¹ reduction of the tax due, in proportion to the sums permanently transferred to Morocco in non-convertible dirhams, which a bank certificate must establish (Article 76).

A French national can enter Morocco without a visa for a short tourist stay. Beyond that, a residence permit is required, and this is a procedure in its own right, to be carried out with the police services of the place of residence.

The grounds for granting a permit are the usual ones: salaried employment, self-employment, family reunification, or own resources for non-working persons and retirees. Each requires a separate application, and renewal is not automatic.

The resource thresholds required for a residence permit based on own income, the periods of validity and the renewal conditions do not appear in the official sources we were able to consult: we do not quantify them.

To our knowledge, there is no residence-by-investment programme comparable to those of several European countries. Settling in Morocco is therefore built on an ordinary ground, not on a financial threshold.

One practical point sets Morocco apart from most destinations: exchange controls. Capital transfers to and from the country are regulated, and resident status under exchange control rules is not the same as tax residence. This distinction governs the ability to repatriate funds, and it must be understood before investing.

The acquisition of urban property by a foreigner is free. The restriction concerns agricultural land, the acquisition of which by non-nationals is prohibited except by derogation, which rules out certain rural projects.

The market is very uneven between Casablanca and Rabat, the economic engines, Marrakesh and Tangier, driven by foreign demand and tourism, and the rest of the country. Asking prices in sought-after neighbourhoods of tourist cities do not reflect the national market.

The main point of vigilance is land title. Registered properties, with an enforceable title, coexist with unregistered properties governed by other regimes. Buying an untitled property exposes the buyer to considerable difficulties on resale and financing.

Exchange controls come back into play here: repatriating the proceeds of a resale assumes that the acquisition was financed in foreign currency and properly declared at the outset. A transaction poorly structured at purchase is paid for on exit.

We do not publish registration duties, the housing and municipal services tax, or the taxation of property gains: they do not appear in the code extracts available to us.

One last factor weighs on resale: the market for properties aimed at foreigners, in Marrakesh in particular, is narrow and cyclical. A property bought at the top of a cycle can take a long time to find a buyer again, and the exchange constraint adds friction on exit. This market should therefore be treated as illiquid, whatever the advertised prospects.

The cost of living in Morocco is markedly lower than in Europe, particularly for services and labour. The gap is narrower for imported goods and for property in sought-after neighbourhoods.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget: we have not found an official Moroccan data series measuring a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate.

Two items drive an expatriate's budget. The first is schooling: the network of French schools is dense and well regarded, but the fees and selectivity make it a major expense for families. The second is healthcare, where private care is the norm for foreign residents, with insurance whose cost rises with age.

A third factor, specific to the country, must be anticipated: managing two currency zones. Living in dirhams while receiving income in euros means organising your transfers within a regulated framework, which carries a cost and a friction that comparison tools ignore.

1. Determine the purpose of stay and put together the residence permit application as soon as you arrive, since a tourist stay cannot be extended indefinitely;
2. open a convertible dirham bank account if your income comes from abroad: it is this account status that determines your ability to transfer funds out again;
3. for a purchase, check that the property is registered and finance the transaction with properly declared foreign currency;
4. track the rolling period of three hundred and sixty-five days for tax residence, not the calendar year;
5. handle your departure from France according to its own criteria and the applicable tax treaty.

The order is dictated by exchange controls: the account status and the method of financing a purchase are decided at the outset and cannot be corrected retroactively.

We do not publish processing times for Moroccan residence permits: we have no official source that is both quantified and dated.

• Tax residence is assessed over a rolling period of three hundred and sixty-five days, not over the calendar year.
• Exchange control is the most country-specific issue: it governs the repatriation of funds and must be prepared for on arrival.
• The land title must be checked before any purchase: the absence of registration is not an administrative detail.
• The reduction in the dividend rate follows the financial year in which the profit was earned, with distributions deemed to come from the oldest profits: the age of the reserves matters.
• The Moroccan passport gives visa-free access to about 73²²; naturalisation would bring no gain in mobility for a European national.

Finally, the France–Morocco tax treaty is old and contains its own particular clauses, notably on pensions and property income. It cannot be read like a recent treaty modelled on the OECD template, and it, not Moroccan domestic law, will determine most of the treatment of a French retiree.