Tax service firms are seeing an increase in business as the General Department of Taxation (GDT) continues to push individuals and enterprises to register for online payments.

Clint O’Connell, partner at law firm VDBLoi, said the government’s push has undoubtedly led to increased demand for professional tax services.

“The cumulative effect of the GDT’s push to ensure more taxpayers enter into the real regime tax system, as evidenced for example by the recent tax registration changes, has already led to an increase in the number of businesses seeking assistance from professional tax services firms in Cambodia,” O’Connell said.

He added that new requirements for tax agents to now be registered with the GDT had also had a positive effect on services demand.

It comes after Kong Vibol, director general at the GDT, on December 9 urged a room full of 1,000 companies in Phnom Penh to register for payments via the government’s new online tax registration portal, touting the service as a more transparent method of revenue collection.

State-run media agency AKP reported last week that he GDT had raised $1 billion in taxes during 2014 and expects to raise more than $1.2 billion next year.

The GDT has in recent months installed a raft of reforms aimed at improving tax collection methods including the new electronic registration system, taxpayer ID cards, financial incentives for GDT auditors and stiff, retroactive penalties for tax-dodging firms.