Form 3916: Declaring Your Moroccan Bank Accounts When You Live in France

Declaring an account costs nothing. Forgetting it can cost a fortune. The difference is one ticked box.

By the Namup team · Updated July 2026

You live in France and you have an account in Morocco — one the bank opened for family matters, an old account from before you moved, a convertible-dirham account for your project back home. The nagging question: "Do I have to tell the French tax office about it?" The answer is simple, with no grey area: yes, every year, even if the account is dormant. The good news is just as simple: the declaration is free, quick, and triggers no tax by itself. Declaring an account is not paying tax on it — it is only saying that it exists.

Who must declare, and what exactly

The rule comes from article 1649 A of the French tax code: anyone tax-resident in France must declare, together with their income tax return, the references of accounts "opened, held, used or closed abroad"¹. The key word is "held": a Moroccan account you haven't touched in years must still be declared. So must an account you closed during the year.

In practice that covers your current account at a Moroccan bank, your convertible dirham account, a savings account, a joint account with a parent — each account, one by one. Foreign life-insurance policies and foreign crypto-asset accounts have their own neighbouring declarations, on separate legal grounds².

How to declare: box 8UU and form 3916

In your online income tax return, tick box 8UU ("Accounts opened, held, used or closed abroad")³ — the form 3916 annex then opens automatically. You file one declaration per account⁴: the bank, its address, the account number, the opening date. That's all. No balance to prove at this stage, no fee, no tax triggered.

If your Moroccan accounts produce income — interest, rent paid locally — that income is declared separately, like any other income, under the France–Morocco tax treaty rules that prevent double taxation⁵. The 3916 itself is only a declaration of existence: it says where your money lives, not how much you owe.

What forgetting costs — the actual numbers

This is where the gap between "declare" and "don't" becomes enormous. The texts in force provide, in increasing order of severity:

• A €1,500 fine per undeclared account, per year, raised to €10,000 per account when the country has no administrative-assistance agreement with France⁶. Morocco has had a mutual administrative assistance convention with France since 1970⁵ — so the €1,500 tier is the one that applies to you.
• An audit window stretched to 10 years instead of 3: the administration can go back up to the tenth year when a foreign account went undeclared — unless you can prove the combined balance of your foreign accounts never exceeded €50,000 at any point in the year⁷.
• An 80% surcharge on tax reassessments connected to sums held on an undeclared account⁸.
• And the heaviest scenario: if the administration asks you to justify the origin of the funds on an undeclared account and you cannot answer in time, the highest balance of the last ten years can be presumed to be a gift and taxed at 60% — the top gift-tax rate, the one applied between unrelated persons⁹. The presumption can be rebutted with proof — but you never want to be there.

Reread the first line of this article after that list: declaring is free. The imbalance is such that there is no scenario in which forgetting is a good bet.

"Nobody will know" — not for much longer

For a long time, many assumed the French administration simply couldn't see a Moroccan account. That is officially changing: Morocco has committed to the OECD's automatic exchange of bank information (the global standard under which banks report non-residents' balances to their country of tax residence every year). The OECD states that Morocco, which aimed for 2025, is expected to begin these exchanges by 2028 at the latest¹⁰. Exchange on request already exists under the 1970 convention. The "nobody will know" window is closing — and declaring now, voluntarily, puts you on the right side of it before it does.

What if you forgot to declare in past years? It can be fixed: you file the missing declarations and write to your tax office. A voluntary step always lands better than an audit you didn't choose — and this is exactly where a professional (accountant, tax lawyer) earns their fee.

Two countries, one clear picture

Deep down, this declaration says something you already know: your financial life lives in two countries, and it deserves to be seen whole. That is Namup's principle: your accounts in euros and your accounts in dirhams, your commitments here and what you send back home, your savings for the project in Morocco — one picture, and one calculation: income − commitments − savings = what you can spend, with savings withheld at source like a bill. When every account has its place in your declared wealth, filling one 3916 per account becomes a ten-minute formality: the list is already in front of you.

Try it in 60 seconds — free, no card. See my wealth →

If you are selling property in Morocco and want to bring the proceeds back, declaring the accounts is only half the journey — the other half plays out on the Moroccan side, with the retransfer guarantee. And if you are wondering which type of Moroccan account spares you these complications, start with the convertible dirham account.

Frequently asked questions

My Moroccan account is almost empty. Do I really have to declare it?

Yes. The text covers accounts "opened, held, used or closed" — the balance is irrelevant. A dormant account holding 200 dirhams is declared exactly like a six-figure one. The declaration is free in both cases; the €1,500-per-year fine is the same in both cases too.

Will declaring my Moroccan account make me pay tax on it?

No. Form 3916 reports the account's existence, nothing else. You only pay French tax on the income the account produces (interest, for example), under the France–Morocco treaty rules that eliminate double taxation. Holding an account is not income.

Does a joint account with my mother in Morocco count?

Yes — you are a holder of the account, so you "hold" it within the meaning of the text. Each holder who is a French tax resident must report it in their own return. If you only have signing power on someone else's account, that borderline case is exactly the question to put to a professional.

I've forgotten to declare for years. Can it be fixed?

Yes, and sooner is always better. Coming forward voluntarily — filing the missing 3916s and regularising any income — is treated far more favourably than a reassessment you didn't initiate, and it keeps you away from the worst scenario, the 60% taxation of funds whose origin can no longer be justified. Don't go it alone: this is the moment for an accountant or a tax lawyer.

1. Article 1649 A of the Code général des impôts, paragraph 2: "Les personnes physiques […] domiciliées ou établies en France, sont tenues de déclarer, en même temps que leur déclaration de revenus ou de résultats, les références des comptes ouverts, détenus, utilisés ou clos à l'étranger." Légifrance, version in force since 7 May 2022, consulted July 2026. ↩
2. Foreign life-insurance and capitalisation contracts: article 1649 AA CGI (also via form 3916); foreign crypto-asset accounts: article 1649 bis C CGI (form 3916-bis), wording in force 1 July 2026. ↩
3. Official income-tax return guide, "Divers" section: "Comptes ouverts, détenus, utilisés ou clos à l'étranger — Joignez la déclaration n°3916 – 3916 bis — 8UU cochez". impots.gouv.fr, IR brochure, consulted July 2026. ↩
4. "Une déclaration doit être souscrite pour chacun des comptes, contrats et placements concernés." Service-public.gouv.fr, sheet R40394, consulted July 2026. Form: n°3916, impots.gouv.fr. ↩
5. France–Morocco tax convention of 29 May 1970 (in force since 1 December 1971, amended 1989), "tendant à éliminer les doubles impositions et à établir des règles d'assistance mutuelle administrative en matière fiscale". Official text, impots.gouv.fr; commentary: BOFiP BOI-INT-CVB-MAR. ↩
6. Article 1736, IV-2 CGI: "amende de 1 500 € par compte ou avance non déclaré", raised "à 10 000 € par compte non déclaré" for countries without an administrative-assistance convention with France. Légifrance, version in force 1 July 2026. ↩
7. Article L169 of the Livre des procédures fiscales: reassessment right "jusqu'à la fin de la dixième année" where article 1649 A was not complied with; the extension does not apply if the taxpayer proves that "le total des soldes créditeurs de ses comptes à l'étranger n'a pas excédé 50 000 €" at any point in the year. Légifrance, version in force 1 July 2026. ↩
8. Article 1729-0 A CGI: "majoration de 80 %" on reassessed tax linked to an undeclared foreign account, which cannot be lower than the article 1736 fine; it does not stack with article 755 taxation. Légifrance, version in force since 1 July 2026. ↩
9. Articles L23 C LPF (60-day demand to justify the origin of assets) and 755 CGI: unjustified assets "sont réputés constituer, jusqu'à preuve contraire, un patrimoine acquis à titre gratuit" taxed "au taux le plus élevé mentionné au tableau III de l'article 777" — i.e. 60% — on the highest balance of the last ten years. L23 C · 755, versions in force July 2026. ↩
10. OECD Global Forum — "Status of commitments for the automatic exchange of financial account information", update of 22 May 2026: "Morocco voluntarily committed to commence exchanges in 2025 but has not yet exchanged […] Morocco is therefore expected to commence exchanges by 2028 at the latest." Official OECD document (PDF). ↩