Housing tax and TSC in Morocco: what your villa owes

The tax scale tells you very little about what you will pay. What decides it is how your villa is used: if you occupy it, even for three weeks a year, it owes housing tax; if it is let, it does not — but its municipal services tax (TSC) is then calculated on the rent.

Is housing tax due on a second home in Morocco?

Yes, as soon as you occupy it, even for a few weeks a year. Article 19 of Law 47-06 on local authority taxation charges housing tax — taxe d’habitation — on buildings “occupied in whole or in part by their owners as a main or second residence”, or lent free of charge to a spouse, parent or child. For a second home, the tax is charged on the full rental value: the 75% allowance is reserved for main residences (article 24).

A villa let in its entirety falls outside that scope. An empty villa does not. The law only recognises vacancy on two grounds — major repairs, or a property held for sale or for letting — proven by removing the furniture or the water and electricity meters (article 26). A furnished house waiting for you between stays, garden watered and pool running, is not vacant. It is your second home, and it is taxed as one.

How are housing tax and the municipal services tax calculated?

On a rental value you do not set. A census commission, bringing together the tax administration and the municipality, fixes it by reference to rents for similar homes in the same neighbourhood (articles 23 and 32). The figure is published nowhere before the tax notice arrives, and it is revised upwards by 2% every five years.

Housing tax is then applied by bracket. The municipal services tax — taxe de services communaux, or TSC — comes on top: 10.50% of the same rental value within an urban perimeter, 6.50% in areas covered only by a development plan (article 36). Outside those areas, neither tax is due. For a rental value of 60,000 dirhams, a second home within an urban perimeter owes 11,500 dirhams in housing tax and 6,300 dirhams in TSC — 17,800 dirhams a year, to add to what a Marrakech villa costs.

The amount deducted simply applies each rate to its own bracket. Below 200 dirhams, no tax is raised (article 28).

Who pays the municipal services tax when the villa is let?

You do, but on a different basis. The TSC is raised in the name of the owner or usufructuary (article 33), whether the villa is occupied, lent or let. A lease clause that passes it on to the tenant settles accounts between you and the tenant, not with the administration.

What changes is the basis. For a property not subject to housing tax and let to others, the tax is charged on “the total amount of rent” (article 35), a rule the Directorate General of Taxes repeats word for word. Within an urban perimeter, that means 10,500 dirhams for every 100,000 dirhams of rent: the tax follows occupancy, and a good season pushes it up. One point remains open. The law does not say whether a villa let furnished to guests falls under this rule or under the business tax. We do not decide that on the administration’s behalf; an accountant should, before the first return is filed.

When is housing tax paid in Morocco, and what does paying late cost?

Before the deadline printed on the notice. In 2026 it fell on 31 May, a Sunday, and the Directorate General of Taxes moved it to Monday 1 June, according to Le360. The rule sits in article 132: the tax falls due at the end of the second month after the roll is issued. Since Law 14-25 of 2025, housing tax and the TSC have been collected by the tax administration rather than the Treasury. They can be paid on tax.gov.ma, through your bank’s app, or at a tax office.

Paying late costs a 10% penalty, plus 5% for the first month and 0.50% for each month after (article 147), unless neither of the two taxes exceeds 1,000 dirhams. The notice goes by post, to the address the administration holds. For a villa whose owner lives in London, that is often the villa’s own letterbox, which nobody opens between stays. Not having received it postpones nothing.

What do we check each winter on a villa’s local taxes?

Five points, before 31 January. Which address does the notice go to, and who opens it? What use has the commission recorded — second home, let property, vacant property? Has letting the villa, or stopping, been declared? The law requires any change of use to be declared by 31 January of the following year, on pain of a 15% surcharge (articles 30 and 144). Have works been declared in January as vacancy, with evidence? That declaration earns a discharge, and missing it forfeits one (articles 31 and 145).

The fifth point concerns the notice itself: does the rental value match your villa? A claim must be filed within six months of the roll being issued, and it does not suspend payment (article 161). What we take on day to day is set out on our property management in Marrakech page. For the tax your guests pay, see our article on tourist tax in Marrakech.

Would you like to know what your villa owes each year, and what has been declared in its name? We offer a free, no-commitment assessment within 48 hours.