Lhe government majority finally agreed to accede to the grievances of the OPCI sector, which saw in the initial version of the PLF 2023 a pure and simple “killing” of this industry. Indeed, in their amendment proposals for the PLF 2023, the teams of the government majority proposed to reduce the reduction on the dividends raised by the OPCIs to their shareholders to 40% against 60% currently in force, and this at provided that at least 40% of the shares of the OPCI are sold by its holders to third parties. A measure that was finally voted in the first chamber.
In its initial version, the PLF planned to completely eliminate the allowance and tax all dividends distributed by OPCIs, judging that this vehicle is used for tax optimization. Several institutional investors had declared that they had sold part of their OPCIs, thus refuting the reasoning of the legislator. In addition, OPCIs, whose regulations exclude the practice of tax depreciation, saw in the current 60% reduction a condition for the tax neutrality of the vehicle, necessary for its proper functioning. But for some operators, even a 40% reduction does not achieve the desired tax neutrality and maintains a more advantageous status for property companies. If this measure is adopted as it stands by the second chamber, it will no doubt be necessary to make adjustments to the operators’ business models.
Moreover, by requiring the transfer of 40% of the shares of the OPCI by its holders to third parties, the legislator has made sure to cut short the tax optimization that it considers overexploited by certain players. The PLF has now arrived in the second chamber. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fettah, moreover presented, on Monday November 14, before the Finance, Planning and Economic Development Committee of the Chamber of Councillors, the main tax measures provided for in the framework of the 2023 Finance Bill. In her presentation, the Minister reviewed the main tax measures which relate in particular to a revision of the current corporate tax rates, in order to achieve, within four years , a rate of 20% for all companies whose net profit is less than 100 million dirhams (MDH), 35% for companies making a profit greater than or equal to 100 MDH, and 40% for credit institutions and organizations assimilated, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), Caisse de depot et de gestion (CDG) and insurance and reinsurance companies.
During this meeting, which took place in the presence of the Minister Delegate for the Budget, Fouzi Lekjaa, Nadia Fettah added that these measures also concern the gradual reduction over four years of the rate of withholding tax on proceeds from , shares and similar income from 15 to 10%, harmonization of the professional income tax regime with the reform of corporate tax rates and the revision of the taxation of OPCIs. It also involves supervising the tax privilege granted to those subject to the auto-entrepreneur and unified professional contribution regimes, revising income tax relating to land profits, standardizing the tax rate on added value applied to the liberal professions, and the abolition of article 20 of the draft finance law relating to taxable profits made by professional law firms, with the revision of the taxation of lawyers.
The Minister noted that the measures also included the revision of the rate applied to companies with a preponderance of real estate and the regularization of the tax situation of so-called “inactive” companies, as well as those which have not achieved any turnover or which do not have paid only the minimum contribution during the last four closed accounting years, as well as the adoption of the social solidarity contribution on profits and income for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025.