GDT collects over $1B of tax revenue in 3 months

figures, when combined with customs revenue for March, means that the Cambodian government earned “more than $900 million”.

In the first quarter of 2021, the GDT collected $1.032 billion in tax revenue – $217 million in January, $200 million in February and $615 million in March.

Hong Vanak, director of International Economics at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, told The Post that the increase in tax revenue indicates that the Cambodian economy has improved as people have begun to spend more. He also noted that the process of paying taxes has become easier and more streamlined for taxpayers on the whole, thereby encouraging them to file their taxes promptly and accurately.

Vanak noted that the tax revenue will increase “even more” in the future, especially when the tourism and construction sectors “fully recover” in the post-pandemic era.

However, he offered a word of caution to tax authorities, saying that in order to collect revenue more effectively, they “must make more efforts to strengthen the efficiency of tax collection to prevent tax revenue from ‘leaking’ as it used to”.

Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) vice-president Lim Heng said that although the Covid-19 pandemic had yet to be decisively controlled worldwide, economic activity in the Kingdom has begun to recover, leading to the increase in tax revenue.

He cited the population’s high vaccination rate and the reopening of the country as being the most significant driving forces behind the resumption of production in almost all sectors.

“When the production chain is resumed, it not only helps people earn an income, but also helps the state collect more taxes and duties,” Heng said.

According to data from the GDT, revenue collection in 2021 reached $2.78192 billion, exceeding the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s original projections by 24.02 per cent, or $538.85 million.