IS Morocco a tax haven?

Abstract

Nowadays, economists, lawyers, financiers and journalists are constantly talking about tax havens, which seem to be easy to recognize by all, but at the same time remain difficult to define unanimously. Although the decision to set up in a tax haven is dictated in most cases by a single objective, which is the search to reduce the tax burden as part of a strategy of optimization, evasion or tax fraud, the characteristics of these havens differ from one country to another.

The objective of this article is, on the one hand, to define the concept of "tax haven" as it has been defined by various international organizations. On the other hand, to draw up a portal of the evolution of these havens throughout the world as well as their weight and impact on the international economy. And finally; to focus on the main operators who use these havens. They are mainly rich people, multinationals, criminals, bankers, legal professionals and experts in numbers.

The case of Morocco remains ambiguous and too controversial. Its classification by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union on the gray list of tax havens since 2017 has not ceased to raise questions and queries from both public and private authorities. Especially we have noticed that some countries of the American and European continent where real tax havens are located such as Delaware, Switzerland, Monaco and others; were not on any list, whether black or gray.

It is this paradox that led us to conduct this study which, beyond the search to locate tax havens in the international sphere, sought in the framework of a descriptive and comparative approach; on the one hand to analyze the similarities and differences of these havens where they are located; on the other hand to situate the case of Morocco in relation to the issues of international standards in tax matters.

Keywords: Tax Haven, Taxation, Taxes

JEL Classification:  H2-H7

Paper type:  descriptive and comparative research