The Cambodian and South Korean tax chiefs have agreed to ramp up cooperation on taxation, with emphasis on making things easier for businesspeople of both countries.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was penned to this effect on December 6 by General Department of Taxation (GDT) director-general Kong Vibol and Kim Chang-ki, commissioner of South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS), the GDT said in a statement.
The statement said the MoU will centre on cooperation on the implementation of the double tax avoidance (DTA) agreement between the two countries – which took effect on January 29, 2021 – as well as strengthening exchange of information (EoI), training for GDT tax officials, and regular workshops to be organised by the GDT to promote awareness of tax obligations and compliance among Koreans doing business in Cambodia.
The GDT’s Vibol said in the statement that his department has constantly worked well with the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) in Cambodia, and that tax officials routinely meet with the private sector to address the challenges facing Korean investors.
He also shared that, as of November 30, a total of 19 Korean companies doing business in Cambodia had benefited from the DTA, and that an additional 36 applications for DTA treatment had been received.
“This bilateral agreement has brought huge benefits to taxpayers and investors of both countries,” Vibol said.
Speaking in the statement, the NTS’ Kim noted that the GDT’s revenues have been on an annual uptrend, propelled by its modernisation efforts – despite a 3.71 per cent slip in 2021 versus a year earlier.
Through its “sweeping, in-depth” reforms, the GDT has “in the last 10 years” managed to ensure that its revenues surpass the annual targets set by the Law on Financial Management for the corresponding year, he was cited as saying.
The GDT posted $2.946 billion in revenues this year as of October 31 – up 26.9 per cent year-on-year – which it noted is 104.48 per cent of the 2022 full-year target of nearly $2.820 billion, or 11.419 trillion riel.
On September 28, Vibol had disclosed that the GDT had revised up its full-year revenue estimate to a range of 110-115 per cent of the target. For reference, the department reported that it collected 124.02 per cent of the full-year target for 2021.
