Does the 30% withholding apply to individuals?

No. It concerns amounts paid by business clients (companies, administrations). An individual withholds nothing, whatever the amount.

Is the 80,000 MAD threshold per invoice or per year?

Per client and per calendar year, on amounts received. Ten invoices of 10,000 MAD to the same client cross the threshold at the ninth.

Do I declare the net or the gross amount?

The gross. Your revenue received remains the full invoice amount; the withholding is a levy made on your behalf, justified by the client’s certificate.

What if the client does not apply the withholding?

It is their obligation, not yours, and they carry the risk. You may warn them out of courtesy; you do not change your invoice for it.

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Tax

30% withholding tax: how to avoid the nasty surprise with your business clients

The transfer arrives, 30% is missing. Nobody warned you. Here is how to see the threshold coming and make it a contract topic rather than a surprise.

By the SoloGestion team · 17 October 2026 · updated 19 October 2026 · 7 min read

Since the 2023 finance law, the amounts an auto-entrepreneur receives from one business client above 80,000 MAD a year are subject to a 30% withholding tax. The client deducts it and pays it to the tax administration. The principle is simple; what is not is discovering it on a reduced transfer in November, when the workshop rent was planned on the full amount. This article explains the rule, shows how it is computed with figures, and above all how to see it coming. The withholding tax guide gives the full framework.

What the withholding is, and what it is not

It applies per client and per calendar year: 80,000 MAD from A and 80,000 MAD from B trigger nothing.
It applies to the excess, not the whole: at 100,000 MAD received from one client, the withholding concerns 20,000 MAD, i.e. 6,000 MAD withheld.
It concerns business clients (companies, administrations, legal entities), not individuals.
It does not replace your 1% or 0.5% tax on revenue; it is a separate, final levy that the client makes on your behalf. For your precise situation, the tax administration remains the reference.

A worked example over the year

Nadia is a freelance developer. Her main client, a Casablanca agency, gives her one project a month at 12,000 MAD. In June, the total received reaches 72,000 MAD. In July, the seventh transfer takes the total to 84,000 MAD: 4,000 MAD exceed the threshold, and the agency withholds 30% of those 4,000 MAD, i.e. 1,200 MAD. Nadia receives 10,800 MAD. From August to December, every 12,000 MAD transfer is entirely above the threshold: 3,600 MAD withheld, 8,400 MAD received. Over the year, the agency will have withheld 1,200 + 5 × 3,600 = 19,200 MAD. If Nadia did not see it coming, her second half-year is cut by 30% without any invoice having changed.

Why it is a surprise, and how to stop being surprised

Most auto-entrepreneurs track their overall revenue, not the total per client. Yet the threshold is computed client by client, over the calendar year, on amounts received. A big regular client crosses 80,000 MAD in September without you seeing it, because you were looking at the total. The only defence is a per-client counter, updated at every payment, with an alert before the threshold: at 60,000 MAD you still have time to talk about it; at 79,000 MAD you do not.

Talk to the client before, not after

When a client approaches the threshold, warn them: they will have to apply the withholding on their next payments, and their accounts department needs to know to declare it correctly. A warned client is one who will not pay you late “while we check with the accountant”. Three options present themselves, to be discussed openly:

1Accept the withholding and adjust your cash flow: you will receive 70% of the next amounts, the rest is paid on your behalf. That is the normal situation of a relationship that works well.
2Spread the relationship into the following year when it is natural: a job that can genuinely start in January, not a December invoice dated January.
3Review your rates with this client for the part concerned, if the relationship allows it. Say it plainly rather than discovering it together.

Once the threshold is crossed: check, document

Ask the client for the withholding certificate matching the amounts deducted; it is their obligation, and your proof. Keep it with the invoice. Do not change the invoice: it stays at the full amount; it is the payment that is partial, and the remainder is justified by the certificate. In your register, record the payment received (8,400 MAD) and the withholding (3,600 MAD) separately: your revenue for the ceiling and for the tax remains 12,000 MAD.

The mistakes that cost

Invoicing 70% “to keep it simple”: the invoice is false, and the client cannot justify the withholding.
Forgetting the withholding in the quarterly return: the revenue received remains the full invoice amount.
Mixing up two entities of the same group: the threshold is assessed per legal entity, so per ICE.

And the invoice in all this

Nothing changes on the document itself: the mandatory details stay the same, the total stays the total. Some auto-entrepreneurs add an information line “Amount subject to 30% withholding above 80,000 MAD” at the bottom of the invoice for the clients concerned. It is not compulsory, but it saves the accountant’s call.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 30% withholding apply to individuals?: No. It concerns amounts paid by business clients (companies, administrations). An individual withholds nothing, whatever the amount.
Is the 80,000 MAD threshold per invoice or per year?: Per client and per calendar year, on amounts received. Ten invoices of 10,000 MAD to the same client cross the threshold at the ninth.
Do I declare the net or the gross amount?: The gross. Your revenue received remains the full invoice amount; the withholding is a levy made on your behalf, justified by the client’s certificate.
What if the client does not apply the withholding?: It is their obligation, not yours, and they carry the risk. You may warn them out of courtesy; you do not change your invoice for it.