Property tax in Morocco reaches an owner at three moments: when you buy, while you hold or let, and when you sell. Four taxes do the work across those moments, and none of them changes with your nationality or where you live.
This guide sets out each one with the rates in force this year, drawn from the General Tax Code, PwC’s tax summaries and the latest budget law. It then turns to the question most guides skip: what your country of residence may add on top.
It is written for anyone holding, or planning to hold, a Marrakech home or one of the city’s branded projects from abroad. It is orientation, not personal tax advice.
How property taxes in Morocco work: three moments, four taxes
Taxation of a Moroccan property follows the life of the holding. At purchase there is a registration duty. While you own it, two annual local taxes are charged on its assessed value. If you let it, the rent is taxed. When you sell, the gain is taxed.
Each levy falls on the owner or usufructuary, as Upsilon Consulting, a firm of chartered accountants in Casablanca, points out. A foreign owner therefore pays exactly what a resident owner of the same home would pay.
The table gives the short version. The sections that follow explain each tax rate and the exceptions that change it.
| Moment | Tax | Rate | Who pays, when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buying | Registration duty | 4% built, 5% bare land, plus 2% on non-bank payments above MAD 300,000 | Buyer, at completion |
| Holding | Housing tax | 0% to 30% of assessed value, 75% off the owner’s own home | Owner, every year |
| Holding | Communal services tax | Fixed share of assessed value, by zone | Owner, every year by the end of May |
| Letting | Tax on rent | 10% of gross rent below MAD 120,000, 15% above | Owner, every year, with 5% withheld by large tenants from July |
| Selling | Tax on the gain | 20% of net gain, minimum 3% of the price | Seller, within 30 days for non-residents |
What taxes do you pay when buying a property in Morocco?
The main tax on a property transfer is registration duty. Under Article 133 of the General Tax Code, it is 4% of the price for built property, including land up to five times the built area, and 5% for bare land. These registration duties are paid once, at completion, and they are the largest tax you meet on the way in.
Since the 2026 Finance Law, an extra 2% registration duty applies to transactions above MAD 300,000 when payment does not go through approved banking instruments. It is charged in proportion to the part paid outside those channels. The simple rule is to pay the whole price through the banking system.
Registration is not the only cost at closing. The land registry and the notary charge their own fees, and together with the duty they bring total purchase costs to roughly 6 to 8 percent above the price. The process itself, and where each fee arises, is set out in our guide to buying property in Morocco as a foreigner.
Annual local taxes: housing tax and the communal services tax
Two annual local taxes fall on a home for every year you own it. Both are calculated on the assessed rental value: the yearly figure the tax administration assigns to the property. It is not the price, and it is not what you paid.
Housing tax applies progressive rates across four tax brackets. The housing tax bands run as follows:
| Annual rental value (MAD) | Housing tax rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 5,000 | 0% |
| 5,001 to 20,000 | 10% |
| 20,001 to 40,000 | 20% |
| Above 40,000 | 30% |
Two reliefs change the bill. The owner’s primary residence has its assessed value cut by 75% before the scale applies, while a second home or a let property is taxed on the full figure. New buildings and extensions carry a full exemption for five years after completion, which matters to anyone buying new in a branded project.
The communal services tax is a second levy on the same assessed value. According to Upsilon Consulting’s guide to it, the rate is 10.5% in urban zones and 6.5% in peripheral zones. Second homes and let property receive no reduction.
It falls due by the end of May or early June each year, and late payment costs a 10% penalty plus surcharges. Since June 2025, under Law 14-25, the DGI collects both local taxes, and both can be paid online.
Tax on rental income when you let the property
If you rent out your property, the rent is subject to tax on its gross amount. According to PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries and Article 73 of the General Tax Code, the tax rate is 10% where gross rent is below MAD 120,000 a year and 15% at or above that level.
Because the base is gross rent, the taxable income is simply the rent received. A long-term rental bringing in MAD 100,000 a year is taxed at 10%, or MAD 10,000. The same home let for MAD 150,000 crosses the threshold and is taxed at 15%, or MAD 22,500.
The same budget law brings the new 5% withholding, effective 1 July 2026. Public bodies, banks, insurers and large companies that pay rent now hold back 5% and pay it over directly. It is not a final tax: it is credited against what you owe for the year, and any excess is refunded. The withholding reaches smaller payers by 2028.
Letting also changes the local taxes. A let home gets no reduction on the communal services tax, so its annual bill runs on the full assessed value.
Owners who live abroad usually hand the lease, the rent and the paperwork to a manager, which is the work of rental management in Marrakech. For how the figures of a let holding come together, see our note on buy-to-let in Marrakech. A clean record of rental income matters twice for an owner who lives elsewhere, as the next sections show.
Selling property in Morocco: capital gains tax and its exemptions
When you sell, the gain is taxed at a flat rate of 20% of the net gain. A minimum tax of 3% of the selling price applies even when the gain is small or nil, according to PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries.
The net gain is worked out in three steps:
- Start from the sale price and take off the selling expenses.
- Take the acquisition price, updated for inflation, and add the costs you paid when you bought.
- The difference between the two is the taxable gain.
The floor matters more than it first appears. Sell for MAD 5 million with a net gain of MAD 400,000, and 20% of the gain is MAD 80,000. But 3% of the price is MAD 150,000, so the minimum applies and the seller pays MAD 150,000.
The holding period changes the picture for one seller in particular: the owner parting with a main residence. Under the General Tax Code (Art. 63, in French), a home used as your principal residence for at least five years is exempt. Where that sale price exceeds MAD 4 million, a 3% minimum still applies to the part of the price above MAD 4 million.
A second relief is narrower. Where your total property sales in a calendar year do not exceed MAD 140,000, the gain is exempt.
Some published guides still quote a six- or eight-year residence rule, and a few give non-residents a 25% rate. The current code says five years, and the rate is 20% whoever sells.
A non-resident selling a property declares the gain to the local tax office within 30 days of the sale, as Upsilon Consulting notes in its guide to non-resident disposals. The sale of property by a non-resident is taxed at the same rate as a sale by a resident.
| Situation | Treatment of the gain |
|---|---|
| Standard sale | 20% of net gain, minimum 3% of the sale price |
| Principal residence held five years or more | Exempt, but 3% minimum on the part of the price above MAD 4 million |
| Total sales in a calendar year up to MAD 140,000 | Exempt |
| Non-resident seller | Same rate, declaration within 30 days |
Owning from abroad: Moroccan tax, home-country tax and double taxation treaties
Most international owners deal with two tax systems, not one. Where your country of residence has signed a double taxation treaty, its articles on immovable property and on gains typically let the country where the property sits tax the rent and the gain first.
Many countries also tax their residents on worldwide income. Rent from a Marrakech home, and the gain when you sell it, may therefore need declaring for tax purposes where you live as well.
The treaty then decides how the two systems share the same income. Your country of residence usually gives relief, most often as a credit for the tax already paid where the property sits.
That tax relief may not cover everything you paid. The real cost of holding is therefore set by both systems together: the tax on your income and capital gains from the property is not simply the local rate.
Treaties differ in their wording, and each country applies its own rules to foreign rent and gains. Before you buy or sell, check the treaty that applies to you, and ask a tax adviser where you live to confirm how the tax authorities there will treat the income.
Planning a holding net of both tax systems
Put together, the picture is clear enough to plan around:
- Registration duty is a one-off cost at purchase.
- The annual local taxes depend on how you use the home, with the 75% cut reserved for the owner’s own residence.
- Rent is taxed on the gross amount.
- A sale carries a 3% floor even when the gain is thin.
For owners who live elsewhere, the country where the property sits taxes first, and relief at home may not cover everything. The yield worth measuring is the one net of both tax systems, not the headline rent.
A residential property that looks strong on gross figures can read differently once each tax is placed on the timeline of the holding. If you would like your own figures checked, speak with our advisory team.
We advise on the holding itself, from real estate transactions to letting, while the tax position is one to confirm with a qualified tax adviser. For the wider investment case, see our view on luxury real estate investment in Morocco.
Tax is rarely the reason to buy or not to buy, but property tax in Morocco shapes what a holding returns. To model a Marrakech holding net of tax before you commit, begin a private conversation with Originn.
Quick answers on Moroccan property tax
Do foreigners pay property tax in Morocco?
Yes. Foreign owners pay the same property taxes as local owners: registration duty on purchase, housing tax and the communal services tax each year, tax on any rent, and tax on the gain at sale. Upsilon Consulting notes that the local taxes fall on the owner or usufructuary, whatever their nationality or place of residence.
How much is property tax in Morocco per year?
There is no fixed annual figure. The yearly bill is housing tax on the home’s assessed value, in bands from 0% to 30%, plus the communal services tax at its urban or peripheral rate. An owner’s own home has its value cut by 75% for housing tax, and a new building pays no housing tax for five years after completion, according to Upsilon Consulting.
How do I pay housing tax in Morocco online?
Since June 2025, the national tax directorate collects housing tax and the communal services tax, and both can be paid online, according to Upsilon Consulting. Pay before the deadline at the end of May or early June to avoid the 10% late-payment penalty and surcharges. Online payment also makes these two taxes simple to settle from abroad.
