The tax authority has released a new app that validates official audit documents to protect taxpayers from scams.
Cambodia’s tax authority has released a smartphone app that allows enterprises to verify the authenticity of audit documents they receive in an effort to improve governance and prevent financial fraud.
Launched on the Play Store and Apple Store earlier this month, GDT Audit Check assists taxpayers in confirming whether or not audit documents they have received are genuine. The app utilises QR code technology, which offers fast readability and greater storage capacity than traditional barcodes, scanning the unique QR code printed on audit papers to determine the authenticity of the documents.
Kong Vibol, director-general of the General Department of Taxation (GDT), said the creation of the app is fulfilment of an objective to improve governance and promote fiscal safety in Cambodia.
“This app will help us promote the transparency of our services by matching the paper document with the enterprises’s data and information in our system,” Vibol explained. “Therefore, it protects our taxpayers from the scammers who pretend to be tax officials and use fake documents to rob them of their money. At the same time, it also protects them against penalties.”
After downloading GDT Audit Check to their smartphone, taxpayers must create an account before using it. The registration process requires information on the user and enterprise, including the phone number and taxpayer identification number (TIN) under which they are registered at the GDT.
This is not the first time the country’s tax authority has used a smartphone platform to assist taxpayers. GDT has also created smartphone apps that function as tax calculators, tax calendars and even a tax live-chat platform.
Vibol said tax authority’s IT department is working to develop more apps, including one that will allow enterprises to use their smartphone to pay taxes.
“We have young, outstanding developers who can produce many useful apps, which will help us achieve our goal,” he said. “We are doing whatever we can to ensure good transparency and secure taxpayers’ confidence.”
