Plan contractor hiring in Morocco

Engage the Moroccan contractor through a services contract that identifies the supplier's business status and how the export fee will be received. Morocco treats paid services supplied by a resident to a nonresident as a service export, including work performed in Morocco. That puts the receiving arrangements into the engagement decision from the start. Establish which person or business will sign, issue the invoice and receive the money before approving the supplier. Include a clear description of the work and the agreed billing events, then have the contractor check the receiving account against their registration. This gives both teams a consistent contract to use when an invoice or receipt needs explaining.

Sources: Office des Changes, service exports, Articles 95 to 100

If the line is crossed

A relationship found to be employment can expose the customer to employee termination claims where Moroccan labour law governs. Article 41 gives the harmed party a right to seek damages for abusive termination and prevents the parties from waiving possible termination damages in advance. A contractor clause giving the buyer an immediate right to end the assignment therefore cannot be treated as a complete answer to an employee claim. Review the actual work history before terminating an arrangement that has become directed staff work. The employment finding and whether the termination was abusive are separate questions; damages do not follow automatically from the supplier's status being wrong.

Sources: Morocco, Labour Code, Articles 6 and 41

Justificatifs de règlement en devises

Evidence of payment in foreign currency

Foreign-currency payment evidence supports the contractor's export VAT exemption when they claim that exemption as a VAT taxpayer. The tax code requires the invoice in the foreign customer's name together with payment evidence endorsed by the competent body, or an equivalent document. Keep the connection between the billed service and the payment clear: the contractor needs to substantiate the exported transaction, including its receipt. If accounts payable combines several invoices into one payment, send the allocation with the payment confirmation. Agree who will supply a missing reference or corrected customer detail before the contractor has to assemble the tax file.

Issued by: The competent body endorses payment evidence; the contractor retains it with the foreign-client invoice.

Timing: When documenting receipt of the export fee for the exemption.

Sources: DGI, Code général des impôts 2026

A foreign customer's address does not by itself justify leaving Moroccan VAT off a service invoice. For a supplier claiming the export exemption as a VAT taxpayer, the service must be intended for use or exploitation outside Morocco and the export must be documented. The invoice in the foreign client's name and qualifying foreign-currency receipt evidence are part of that support. Describe where the service will be used when agreeing the assignment, especially if the buyer also has projects or customers in Morocco. Ask the supplier to identify the reason for charging or omitting VAT, then keep that reason consistent with the work ordered and the payment records.

Sources: DGI, Code général des impôts 2026

What an invoice has to show

• Fiscal identification, professional-tax number and ICE under the ordinary invoice rules

  For a contractor subject to the ordinary Article 145 rules, the fiscal identifier and professional-tax article number are distinct invoice particulars, and the ICE is a separate common enterprise identifier. Record the supplier's fiscal ID and professional-tax number separately from the invoice issuer's ICE; retain the foreign buyer's actual business name and address, with a buyer ICE only where applicable. Article 145 expressly excludes professional-income taxpayers under the auto-entrepreneur and contribution professionnelle unique regimes from these rules, apart from its email-address requirement. Apply the invoice check to the supplier's actual regime. A checklist copied from a company invoice should not become a demand that every Moroccan individual produce exactly the same identifiers.

  Sources: DGI, Code général des impôts 2026

• Article 145 exemption indication on an ordinary VAT-exempt invoice

  An invoice governed by Article 145 replaces the VAT amount with an indication of the exemption when an exempt operation is being billed. For a qualifying service export, the supplier should identify the export exemption that explains the absent VAT. A bare zero gives the accounts team less information than the reason the supplier is entitled to omit the tax. Keep this check linked to the contractor's regime and the actual service: the ordinary Article 145 requirements have an express auto-entrepreneur and contribution professionnelle unique exception. Correct the tax explanation with the supplier before accepting an inconsistent invoice.

  Sources: DGI, Code général des impôts 2026

Set the billing events and due dates in the services contract before work starts. Morocco requires a contract for the service export, and the exporter also needs to receive the proceeds within the applicable exchange-control period. A monthly invoice or a milestone invoice can be a practical agreement between the parties; choose dates that leave time for approval, corrections and receipt. Record what completes each billable service so the contractor can connect the work to the invoice. If the buyer's approval process will delay payment, address that in the schedule before the supplier has already performed the work.

Sources: Office des Changes, service exports, Articles 95 to 100

Local currency rules

The Moroccan resident service exporter must repatriate the full export proceeds within ninety days after the services are performed, subject to the permitted adjustments in the exchange rules. This is the contractor's receipt obligation, so plan payment early enough for the funds to reach them within that period. The rules require surrender of repatriated proceeds, while allowing eligible exporters to retain part in foreign-currency or convertible-dirham accounts. The ordinary account permission names legal entities and natural persons registered in the commercial register. An individual exempt from that register needs their account arrangements checked against the separate authorization process before either party assumes the fee can remain in foreign currency.

Sources: Office des Changes, service exports, Articles 95 to 100, Office des Changes, account authorization documents

Assuming an auto-entrepreneur automatically qualifies for an exporter currency account

An auto-entrepreneur's exemption from the commercial register matters when arranging a foreign-currency or convertible-dirham account. Office des Changes has a specific authorization application for individual exporters who have no commercial-register entry. For service exporters, its document list includes an explanatory letter, copies of invoices, identity evidence and repatriation evidence where applicable. Have the contractor settle the account permission with their bank before agreeing how the fee will be received. The existence of that application does not guarantee approval. A supplier can have a valid business status while still needing a separate decision about the account they want to use.

Sources: Office des Changes, account authorization documents, Ministry of Justice, Law 114-13 on auto-entrepreneurs, Office des Changes, service exports, Articles 95 to 100

Leaving a disputed export invoice without a documented collection response

A dispute over the work does not remove the contractor's exchange-control follow-up duties. When a nonresident customer's insolvency or a dispute prevents full or partial collection, the service exporter must pursue recovery through appropriate means and keep Office des Changes informed of the steps taken. Give the contractor a clear written account of the disputed amount, the reason and the proposed resolution. Keep any undisputed payment and any later settlement traceable to the original invoice. That record helps the supplier explain what remains outstanding and the efforts to collect it, without presenting the dispute as an automatic extension of the receipt deadline.

Sources: Office des Changes, service exports, Articles 95 to 100