Social Security taxes/totalization agreement (Part II)

Per the SSA website, the following countries have signed totalization agreements with the SSA :

Italy (November 1, 1978)

Germany (December 1, 1979)

Switzerland (November 1, 1980)

Belgium (July 1, 1984)

Norway (July 1, 1984)

Canada (August 1, 1984)

United Kingdom (January 1, 1985)

Sweden (January 1, 1987)

Spain (April 1, 1988)

France (July 1, 1988)

Portugal (August 1, 1989)

Netherlands (November 1, 1990)

Austria (November 1, 1991)

Finland (November 1, 1992)

Ireland (September 1, 1993)

Luxembourg (November 1, 1993)

Greece (September 1, 1994)

South Korea (April 1, 2001)

Chile (December 1, 2001)

Australia (October 1, 2002)

Japan (October 1, 2005)

Denmark (October 1, 2008)

Czech Republic (January 1, 2009)

Poland (March 1, 2009)

Mexico (Signed on June 29, 2004, but not yet in effect)

The Moroccan government has signed 18 bilateral conventions on Social Security payments per the CNSS website. Others are in the process of negotiation:

1. France (July 9, 1965)

2. Belgium (June 24, 1968)

3. The Netherlands (February14, 1972)

4. Spain (November 8, 1979)

5. Sweden (January 4, 1980)

6. Germany (March 25, 1981)

7. Denmark (April 24, 1982)

8. Romania (July 27, 1983)

9. Libya (August 4, 1983)

10. Tunisia (February 5, 1987)

11. Canada (July 1, 1998)

12. Portugal (November 14, 1998)

1. Algeria (February 23, 1991)

2. U.M.A (March 10, 1991 – multilateral convention)

3. Italy (February18, 1994)

4. Québec (May 25, 2000

5. Egypt (May 12, 2006)

6. Luxembourg (October 2, 2006)

1. Norway

2. Greece

3. Turkey

Equality of treatment between Moroccan nationals and the host countries’ nationals in terms of rights and duties relating to social security. 

Determining the needed legislation to avoid undue accumulation of social security contributions or other contributions and employee-born benefits.

Maintaining the authority of the initially applied legislation in exceptional cases, such as maintaining affiliation if the person is working on another country’s territory.

Retaining rights in the acquisition process for maintaining contribution, employment, and residence periods complying with one party’s legislation, and cumulating it with corresponding periods achieved with the other party, in order to 1) acquire, maintain, or regain rights and, should it occur, calculate benefits; and 2) enroll in voluntary or optional insurance.

The transfer of acquired benefits to beneficiaries in line with one party’s legislation, regardless of their place of residence. 

No exceptions to the above can be made unless an agreement is in place. For example, the “detached worker” rule (designed to minimize disruptions in the coverage careers of workers whose employers send them abroad on temporary assignment) or “seconded” expats (those workers on loan for a determined period not exceeding an authorized duration) apply only within the framework of an existing bilateral agreements on social security entered into between Morocco and the United States.

CNSS was contacted regarding this issue in December 2010, and they confirmed that no convention/agreement is in place, none is in the works, and the above rules apply to US expats with no exceptions. They expressed their frustration at this void and their strong desire to see this matter resolved between Morocco and the United States.