Selling online on a regular basis is a business activity: you need a legal status. This guide compares the three usual options and details the formalities, based on the official texts in force on 10 November 2026.

This guide sets out the general framework. It does not replace advice from a chartered accountant, especially if you import your products, sell regulated products or exceed the caps mentioned. Thresholds and rates change with each finance law.

The three statuses at a glance

	Auto-entrepreneur	Sole proprietorship	SARL or SARLAU
For whom	Individual, small activity	Individual, activity with no cap	A company, with one or more partners
Turnover cap	MAD 500,000 (trade), MAD 200,000 (services)	None	None
Tax on profit or turnover	0.5% or 1% of turnover collected	Income tax (IR)	Corporate income tax (IS)
VAT	Outside its scope	Depends on activity and turnover	Depends on activity and turnover
Trade register (RC)	Exempt	Mandatory	Mandatory
Accounting	Exempt	Yes	Yes, full accounts
Liability	Personal	Unlimited, on your personal assets	Limited to contributions

The detail of each row follows, with its sources.

The auto-entrepreneur status

This is the simplest status to start with. The 2026 guide of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI) sets its rules: Régime fiscal de l'auto-entrepreneur, 2026 edition (in French).

Who can use it

Any individual who carries out a professional activity on their own. Two conditions:

capped annual turnover collected: MAD 500,000 for a commercial, industrial or craft activity, MAD 200,000 for a service activity;
membership of the social security scheme (CNSS).

The status is refused if you already carry out an activity subject to the business tax (taxe professionnelle): you must first close it.

Several professions are excluded from the status. Several of them concern online selling: import traders, export traders, retail and wholesale dealers in gold, silver and jewellery, booksellers, publishers, opticians, pharmacists, tobacconists. If you import the goods you resell yourself, check this point before registering.

What you pay

Income tax is calculated on the turnover collected, without deducting your costs:

0.5% for commercial, industrial and craft activities, up to MAD 500,000;
1% for services, up to MAD 200,000.

These rates are final: they settle your income tax.

One rule concerns services: above MAD 80,000 invoiced to the same client in a year, the excess is subject to a 30% withholding tax. That client withholds it. Selling products to individuals is not covered by this rule.

The auto-entrepreneur is outside the scope of VAT. They are also exempt from the business tax for five years from the start of the activity.

What you do not have to do

No registration in the trade register.
No accounts to keep.
You can run the business from your home, and your main residence cannot be seized for the business's debts.

Declaring and paying

You declare your turnover collected every month or every quarter, depending on the option chosen, to Barid Al-Maghrib. The deadline is the end of the month following the period. For the January-March quarter, you therefore have until the end of April. Payment is made at the same time as the declaration.

Declare at every deadline, even with no sales. From the second year after registration, a missing declaration or a declared turnover of zero leads to removal from the register. Not paying social and tax contributions for a year has the same effect.

When you exceed the caps

The status remains valid as long as you do not exceed the caps for two consecutive years. Beyond that, you switch to the actual net income regime, unless you opt for the simplified net income regime or the single professional contribution (CPU). You can then no longer return to the auto-entrepreneur status.

Registering, step by step

01
Create your application online on the portal of the National Register of Auto-entrepreneurs. An email address is enough to start. The application counts as a declaration of existence.
02
Submit the signed file within 30 days, at a counter of one of Barid Al-Maghrib's partner banks. Include a photo and a copy of your national identity card (CIN).
03
Receive your identifiers: the ICE (your register number), the tax identifier and the business tax number.
04
Give the DGI an email address on the SIMPL platform, with form ADC450. The tax administration will write to you electronically.

The sole proprietorship (individual)

You remain an individual, but with no turnover cap. It is the next step when the business grows, or the starting point if your profession is excluded from the auto-entrepreneur status.

Mandatory trade register: any individual or company carrying out a commercial activity in Morocco must register (Article 37 of the Commercial Code).
Unlimited liability: your personal assets answer for the business's debts.
Income tax under the chosen regime: actual net income, simplified net income or CPU. The choice depends on your turnover and costs: get advice.

The SARL and the SARLAU

The limited liability company (SARL) separates your personal assets from the company's. The SARLAU is an SARL with a single partner.

According to the business creator's guide of the Casablanca-Settat Regional Investment Centre:

the share capital is freely set by the partners, with no legal minimum;
an SARL has between 1 and 50 partners;
the partners' liability is limited to the amount of their contributions.

The company pays corporate income tax (IS) on its profit and keeps full accounts. It is the best-suited status for going into partnership or clearly separating your assets from the business.

Setting up your company online

Since March 2025, company formation goes through DirectEntreprise, now rolled out nationwide. The platform is run by the Ministry of Industry and Trade through the Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office (OMPIC). According to Morocco's national portal, it brings the formation procedures together in a single access point. The first step is still the certificat négatif, which reserves your company name with OMPIC.

ICE, RC, IF: three numbers not to confuse

Number	What it identifies	Where it appears
ICE (Common Business Identifier)	Your business, with all administrations	On your invoices and tax returns
RC (trade register)	Your registration as a trader or company	On your business documents
IF (tax identifier)	Your file with the DGI	On your returns

Showing the ICE on invoices has been mandatory since the 2016 finance law. This is Article 145-VIII of the General Tax Code, recalled in the DGI circular of 14 January 2016. An auto-entrepreneur receives their ICE on registration. For a company, it appears on the certificat négatif or the identification certificate. Otherwise, the ice.gov.ma portal lets you retrieve it.

Which status should you choose?

01
You are testing a product-selling activity, alone, without importing yourself: the auto-entrepreneur status is the simplest and cheapest.
02
Your profession is excluded, or you aim for more than MAD 500,000 a year: a sole proprietorship or an SARLAU.
03
You want to protect your personal assets or go into partnership: an SARL or SARLAU. If you import, a sole proprietorship remains possible. But reselling imported products as-is is subject to VAT, whatever your turnover (Article 89-I-3° of the General Tax Code).

Your status and Wasal

Wasal accepts both auto-entrepreneurs and companies. The documents requested depend on the status: an auto-entrepreneur card for some, trade register, ICE certificate and articles of association for others. The full list is in Registering as a seller on Wasal, and how to send the documents in Complete your store's KYC verification.

The bank account must be in the name of the seller or the company. Your bank details are entered only once, at registration: to change them later, call your account manager on 05 22 09 43 43.

Once your status is ready, you can submit your seller application.

Which legal status to sell online in Morocco?