Do you lose the status in the first year of excess?

No. The first year has no consequence on the status; it is the second consecutive year above the ceiling that leads to leaving the regime.

Do the 200,000 and 500,000 MAD ceilings add up for a mixed activity?

Each category has its ceiling, assessed on that category’s payments. Hence the importance of recording each payment’s category when you sell both services and products.

What happens to the withholding if I exceed the ceiling?

Nothing changes: the 80,000 MAD per-client threshold is independent of the ceiling and keeps applying.

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Tax

Exceeding the auto-entrepreneur ceiling: what really happens, and how to plan for it

Exceeding the ceiling is not a fault, it is a signal. But two years in a row means leaving the regime. Here is how to read the gauge and decide in time.

By the SoloGestion team · 15 October 2026 · updated 19 October 2026 · 7 min read

The auto-entrepreneur regime has two annual revenue ceilings: 200,000 MAD for services, 500,000 MAD for trade, industry and crafts. Exceeding them is not illegal. What matters is what you do next, and above all what you decide beforehand. This article explains the consequences year by year, gives three markers to read your gauge, and details the possible decisions. The ceiling guide recalls how the figure is computed.

First, which figure we are talking about

The ceiling is assessed on revenue received in the calendar year, not on revenue invoiced. A December invoice paid in January counts for the following year. A deposit received in November counts right away. The figure includes cash and amounts subject to withholding at their full value. If your activity is mixed, each payment belongs to its category, and each category has its ceiling. The category depends on the activity chosen from the official list of 104 activities.

What happens in the year you exceed

Your tax is still computed at your category’s rate (1% for services, 0.5% for trade, industry and crafts) on revenue received, including the excess. You remain an auto-entrepreneur, you file normally, you invoice normally. However, the year is counted as a year of excess. It is the system’s first warning: it does not punish you, it takes note.

What happens if it happens again

Two consecutive years above the ceiling lead to the loss of the status: you move to the ordinary regime, with its obligations (bookkeeping, VAT depending on the activity, professional income tax or corporate tax if you set up a company). It is not a punishment, it is the logical next step for an activity that has grown. But it is far better lived when decided than when suffered: the difference between a company creation prepared over six months and a change of regime discovered in a letter.

Read the gauge, not the total

The useful question is not “where am I” but “where will I be in December”. Project your revenue from the pace of recent months, and compare the projection with the ceiling. Three markers:

70% of the ceiling reached before September: you will probably exceed it. It is time to choose, not to worry.
85%: the year’s new contracts must be weighed. Some can honestly start in January.
95%: decide now, not in December. December decisions are always the most expensive.

Example

Omar is a graphic designer (services, 200,000 MAD ceiling). At the end of August he has received 152,000 MAD, i.e. 76%. His pace over the last three months is 21,000 MAD a month: projection at end of December, 236,000 MAD. He will exceed. He has four months to decide, and he knows it is his first year above: this year he can simply carry on. It is next year that is being prepared from now.

Three possible decisions, none of them wrong

1Smooth: move a job or an invoice to the start of the following year when it is honest (the work is genuinely done in January). Do not play with payment dates; that is the kind of thing that shows, and a client who pays when they want is not a client waiting for your go-ahead.
2Accept the excess for one year, because the growth is one-off (a big project, an exceptional year), and come back under the ceiling afterwards. The system provides exactly for this case.
3Prepare the exit: if your activity exceeds durably, the regime is no longer made for you. Setting up a company (most often a single-member SARL) is prepared three to six months ahead, with a chartered accountant this time. Your clients, invoices and payments exported as CSV become the starting point of the new books.

The classic mistake

Turning clients away in November to “stay under the ceiling”. That is giving up revenue to keep a status which, at that level of activity, no longer saves you much: the gap between 1% of revenue and the taxation of a well-run company is often smaller than the revenue refused. Do the maths with real figures before refusing anything, and remember that the first year of excess has no consequence.

What exceeding does not change

Your invoices: same details, same VAT exemption as long as you are registered under the regime.
Your return: same rhythm, same rate, on the real figure.
The withholding tax: its 80,000 MAD per-client threshold is independent of the ceiling.

Frequently asked questions

Is the ceiling computed on invoiced or received revenue?: On revenue received in the calendar year. An invoice paid in January counts for the following year, a deposit received in December counts for the current year.
Do you lose the status in the first year of excess?: No. The first year has no consequence on the status; it is the second consecutive year above the ceiling that leads to leaving the regime.
Do the 200,000 and 500,000 MAD ceilings add up for a mixed activity?: Each category has its ceiling, assessed on that category’s payments. Hence the importance of recording each payment’s category when you sell both services and products.
What happens to the withholding if I exceed the ceiling?: Nothing changes: the 80,000 MAD per-client threshold is independent of the ceiling and keeps applying.