Guide to Starting a Business in Morocco

Formal registration of companies has many immediate benefits for the companies and for business owners and employees. Legal entities can outlive their founders. Resources are pooled as several shareholders join forces to start a company. Formally registered companies have access to services and institutions from courts to banks as well as to new markets. And their employees can benefit from protections provided by the law. An additional benefit comes with limited liability companies. These limit the financial liability of company owners to their investments, so personal assets of the owners are not put at risk. Where governments make registration easy, more entrepreneurs start businesses in the formal sector, creating more good jobs and generating more revenue for the government.

Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in Morocco. It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income.

This information was collected from World Bank: Doing Business 

No.	Procedure	Time to Complete	Associated Costs
1	Obtain a "Certificat Négatif" online, which registers the company name at the Regional Investment Center (CRI, Centre Regional d’Investissement)	1 day	MAD 230 (MAD 210 + MAD 20 droits de timbres)
2	Deposit paid-in capital in a bank and obtain a bank receipt (attestation de dépot)	1 day	no charge
3	Pay stamp duty at Mayor’s office (Commune)	1 day	DH 20/page + DH10
4	File documents with CRI to register with the Ministry of Finance for patent tax, with the Tribunal of Commerce, and for social security and taxation	7 days	1% of capital (at least DH1,000) + DH200 (registration fee) + DH 350 (registration at commercial registry) + DH 150 publication fee (DH 8-9/ line in business paper, DH4/ line bulletin officiel).
5	File a declaration with the economic office of the Préfecture (Service Economique de la Commune)	1 day	no charge
6	Make a company stamp	1 day	MAD 200