Cambodia: GDT to educate on tax, money laundering crimes

• May 11, 2022

The General Department of Taxation (GDT) is set to raise awareness among business owners in Cambodia on the investigation into tax and money laundering crimes to increase tax revenue and reduce negative monetary impacts on the economy.

Business owners and representatives can get keep themselves abreast of the consequences of tax crimes and money laundering on their economic activities on the ‘Tax Cambodia’ programme that is live on GDT Facebook Page every Thursday from presentations by tax officials, said Ream Ratha, director of Administration and General Affairs Department at GTD.

A tax official, who declined to be named, told Khmer Times, “Mainly, we want to educate businesspeople who are trying not to pay tax, and they need to learn and understand the impact, so they need to respect laws. If they do not respect [tax] laws, our society would not be good, and they will get tariff penalties.”

Chan Veasna, Managing Director of local tax consulting APV Cambodia, praised the initiative of GTD to promote investors’ confidence.

“Even though we cannot evaluate cases of such crimes, reports show that tax revenue has increased from one year to another, which reflects that taxpayers start to implement their obligations to pay tax,” said Veasna.

Veasna explained that money laundering refers to converting money made from an illegal source into different investment forms, making that money clean in society. Still, it may affect
the economy by raising inflation under management by the
central bank.

“It affects the economy because that money is out of the system, and it would affect the value of money. For example, if the amount is huge, it means
there is much more cash in the economy, and then people’s purchasing power would decrease,” said Veasna.

The European Union has included Cambodia in a list of countries that need to improve anti-money-laundering controls. The list consists of Afghanistan, Barbados, South Korea,
Iran, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Burkina
Faso, the Cayman Islands, Haiti, Jordan, Mali, Morocco, Myanmar, the Philippines, Senegal, and South Sudan.

Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501072829/gdt-to-educate-on-tax-money-laundering-crimes/