How to write a customs broker invoice in Morocco
A customs broker invoice in Morocco mixes two kinds of money. One part is your own pay: transit and clearance fees, the price of your work, which carries VAT. The other part is money you only passed through: duties and taxes paid to customs on the client's behalf, known as débours. Mixing the two is the classic error of the trade. This guide shows how to keep them apart under the General Tax Code (CGI), with an example you can rebuild above.
What goes on the lines
Picking "Customs broker (transit)" fills in the two lines that hold your fees:
- Transit and clearance fees, usually a flat amount per file or per container, with the container or truck reference in the description.
- File and declaration fees, for preparing and lodging the DUM, the single goods declaration filed with customs.
Add the débours yourself below them, one line per receipt or one line per type (duties and import VAT, port charges), each with the receipt or DUM number. The preset's note already says that duties paid for the client are billed separately with receipts.
VAT on transit fees: 20%
Brokerage and services in general are subject to VAT under article 89-I-10°-b. No reduced rate in article 99-B names customs clearance, so your fees take the normal rate of 20% (article 99-A). It makes no difference whether the goods are imported or exported, or what rate the goods themselves carry: the rate on the line is the rate of your service.
By default the VAT on your fees falls due when you are paid (article 95). If the client pays a provision before clearance, the part that pays your fees carries VAT when received.
Débours: outside the taxable base
Article 96-7° sets the taxable base of brokers, agents and other intermediaries at the gross amount of their fees, minus the expenses incurred for the client and reimbursed at identical cost. Those expenses are the débours. Re-billed at exactly what you paid, they carry no VAT from you.
Practice that keeps this safe:
- pay in the client's name and keep the customs receipt, then attach a copy to the invoice;
- re-bill the exact amount, with no margin: anything added on top is a fee, at 20%;
- put the débours on their own line, never folded into your fee.
In the generator, set that line to "No VAT". The totals block then labels it "exempt or not registered", which is not quite right for débours: they are not exempt, they are simply outside your taxable base. So start the description with the word "Débours" and add a note such as "Débours re-billed at cost, outside the taxable base (CGI art. 96-7°)".
Import VAT is paid at customs
The VAT on imported goods is a different tax from the VAT on your fees. It falls due when the goods are cleared (article 121), on the customs value plus the import duties and taxes, and customs collects it just as it collects duties (article 122). When you pay it for the client, it is part of the débours, and the client's own accountant recovers it from the customs receipt, not from your invoice.
Quote the DUM number on the invoice so that receipt, declaration and invoice point to one another. To estimate duties on a car before quoting, the car customs calculator gives a figure in a minute.
Worked example: clearing an import container
An importer in Nador asks you to clear a container at the port. Your transit fees are 2,000 MAD and the DUM file fees 500 MAD, both at 20%: the 20% base is 2,500.00 MAD and its VAT 500.00 MAD. You paid 18,000 MAD of duties and import VAT at customs for the client; that line is set to "No VAT", described as "Débours" with the receipt number, and the outside-the-base base reads 18,000.00 MAD. The client owes 21,000.00 MAD in total, of which 500.00 MAD is your VAT.
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit price excl. VAT | VAT | Total excl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transit and customs clearance fees, container MSKU 123456-7 | 1 | flat fee | 2,000.00 MAD | 20% | 2,000.00 MAD |
| File and declaration (DUM) fees | 1 | flat fee | 500.00 MAD | 20% | 500.00 MAD |
| Débours: customs duties and import VAT paid for the client, DUM no. ..., at cost (receipt attached) | 1 | flat fee | 18,000.00 MAD | Exempt | 18,000.00 MAD |
| Total excl. VAT | 20,500.00 MAD | ||||
| VAT 20% | 500.00 MAD | ||||
| VAT-exempt lines | 0.00 MAD | ||||
| Total incl. VAT | 21,000.00 MAD | ||||
Common mistakes
- Charging 20% on the duties: the client pays VAT twice on the same money.
- Adding a margin to the débours line: the margin is a fee and must be at 20%.
- One total "clearance, all included" with no split, so no one can tell fee from débours.
- No DUM number or receipt: the client cannot match your invoice to customs records.
Clearing for an exporter or an importer? The import-export invoice page covers their own invoices, and the transport invoice page the road leg.
Questions
What VAT rate applies to customs broker fees in Morocco?
The normal 20% rate (article 99-A). No reduced rate covers transit or clearance services.
Do I charge VAT on duties I paid for my client?
No, if you re-bill them at exact cost as débours. Article 96-7° takes them out of your taxable base. Keep the customs receipt.
Why does the tool print "exempt" on the débours line?
The tool has one zero option for every case. Write "Débours" in the description and add a note citing article 96-7°.