By IBTimes Staff Reporter
Doing business in Morocco is getting easier, according to a new study.
The paper “Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World” assessed regulations affecting firms in 183 economies, ranking them in 10 areas of business regulation including starting a business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders.The data, provided by doingbusiness.org, covers regulations measured from June 2010 through May 2011 in the attempt to determine the ease of doing business in different countries.
Among the countries that stood out in the study was Morocco, located in the northwest of the African continent, and bound on the north by the Strait of Gilbraltar and the Mediterranean Sea, to the south by Algeria, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
With a population of roughly 35 million, major ports include the city of Tangier and the city of Casablanca.
In the study, Morocco improved its business regulation the most compared to other global economies, climbing 21 places in the 183-country ranking to 94. Reasons cited for Morocco’s ranking leap including simplifying the “construction permitting process, easing the administrative burden of tax compliance, and providing greater protections to minority shareholders.” Morocco has implemented 15 business regulatory reforms since 2005.
The main business structures used in Morocco include:
–Companies
–Partnerships
–Joint ventures
–Foreign branches
–Sole proprietorships
The most common is the limited liability company, and under Moroccan law these types of corporate structure are available: limited liability companies, private limited companies, limited partnerships with shares, general and limited partnerships, and joint-ventures — all of which conform to Western company forms of the same composition.
In terms of taxation, the Moroccan taxation system is comprised of direct and indirect taxes — and indirect taxes provide the greatest source of revenue for the country. Individuals who live and work in Morocco, regardless of nationality, are subject to personal income tax on their global income on a progressive scale of between 12 and 40 percent.
However, individuals who do business in Morocco but don’t make the country their habitual residence are only subject to tax on Moroccan-derived income.
The country has incentives for those doing agriculture business in the country, in that certain types of corporate income is tax exempt until the year 2013 if it comes from agriculture.
Migration to Morocco for work is said to be very complex, and specific advice from a qualified professional is advised before making business plans that involve the transfer of employees or principals to the country.
However, Morocco wants to attract people with businesses or trade and professional skills that will contribute to the country’s economic growth, so getting around these regulations is easily done as long as one is properly advised and prepared. Morocco has temporary residence guidelines for that allows companies to sponsor highly-skilled works for migration if such skills can’t be found in the country’s labor market.
