Cambodia to launch new property tax by end this year

Cambodian government is set to launch a new property tax by the end of this year, local media reported on Tuesday, citing officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Under the Finance for Management Law, passed in November, purchasers of constructions worth more than 100 million riels ( around 25,000 U.S. dollars) will be required to pay an annual tax worth 0.1 percent of property value.

"We are preparing a prakas to establish a committee to evaluate property and we will start implementing tax collection in the end of this year, as the National Assembly requires," Norng Piseth, chief of the Real Estate Division at the Ministry of Economy and Finance was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

"It is very important for increasing national income," he added.

Although the new levy is not expected to raise large amounts of additional funds, as Minister of Finance Keat Chhon has estimated tax revenue would be between 3 million U.S. dollars and 9 million U.S. dollars, the government has voiced its ambition to improve tax administration.

About 180,000 houses that are under municipal and provincial administration would be covered under the new property tax, according to Hang Chuon Naron, secretary of state of the Finance Ministry.