Men Sam An (L) (Photo Chantha, Koh Santepheap newspaper)Saturday-Sunday, July 15-16, 2006
By Kay Kimsong
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Minister of National Assembly and Senate Relations and Inspection Men Sam An said Friday that although her ministry has discovered that some 500 companies owe the government $125 million in back taxes, her ministry has no power to take further action.
The ministry estimates that 497 companies in Cambodia owe the government $51 million in profit tax and $32 million in value-added tax accrued up to the end of 2004 and $42 million in interest on the unpaid taxes, according to an Inspection Ministry report obtained on Tuesday.
The report also found that in 2003, of the 5,196 companies that were required to pay tax, only 69 percent or 3,439 firms actually declared tax and in 2004, of the 6,072 companies then owing tax, only 67 percent or 3,941 companies declared their returns.
"My ministry has no right to force these companies and enterprises to pay money to the national treasury," Men Sam An said, adding that the information on the 497 firms has been forwarded to the Finance Ministry to act upon.
Men Sam An's report also notes that because of a provision in the Law on Taxation, her ministry cannot publicly name the companies involved.
But the losses discovered by the Inspection Ministry may be far less than is actually being lost in tax revenue to the government.
A new survey of 1,200 businesses conducted by the Economic Institute of Cambodia estimates that the government may be losing up to $400 million in tax revenue per year due to corruption.
CPP lawmaker and National Assembly Banking and Finance Commission Chairman Cheam Yeap said he has urged the Finance Ministry to step up its efforts to collect back taxes.
He said the Finance Ministry will now issue warning letters to the 497 firms, and follow up the warnings with the freezing of bank accounts and then court action.
Telecommunications and garment factories are among those that owe tax, Cheam Yeap said.
The ministry estimates that 497 companies in Cambodia owe the government $51 million in profit tax and $32 million in value-added tax accrued up to the end of 2004 and $42 million in interest on the unpaid taxes, according to an Inspection Ministry report obtained on Tuesday.
The report also found that in 2003, of the 5,196 companies that were required to pay tax, only 69 percent or 3,439 firms actually declared tax and in 2004, of the 6,072 companies then owing tax, only 67 percent or 3,941 companies declared their returns.
"My ministry has no right to force these companies and enterprises to pay money to the national treasury," Men Sam An said, adding that the information on the 497 firms has been forwarded to the Finance Ministry to act upon.
Men Sam An's report also notes that because of a provision in the Law on Taxation, her ministry cannot publicly name the companies involved.
But the losses discovered by the Inspection Ministry may be far less than is actually being lost in tax revenue to the government.
A new survey of 1,200 businesses conducted by the Economic Institute of Cambodia estimates that the government may be losing up to $400 million in tax revenue per year due to corruption.
CPP lawmaker and National Assembly Banking and Finance Commission Chairman Cheam Yeap said he has urged the Finance Ministry to step up its efforts to collect back taxes.
He said the Finance Ministry will now issue warning letters to the 497 firms, and follow up the warnings with the freezing of bank accounts and then court action.
Telecommunications and garment factories are among those that owe tax, Cheam Yeap said.
3 comments:
They have police force to crackdown poor garment protestors to save factory owners money but no polices to enforce factory owners to pay taxes. May be money for the taxes went under table to CPP officers??????
It sure sound like it. One hundred and twenty five milions in tax that did not pay or missing? and our poor bothers & sisters are still living in the slum?
What are those royal polices for? and what kind of the government is that?
Big Corporations like to do business with corrupted governments
and I came to realize and see why that is the case. You see big Corporations are like greedy people with money! Greedy people don't like to see their money being split in many directions and so in corrupted system only a few powerful people will get the money and why bother with the rest of the population!
Who said corruption promoted by big Corporations are not good for economy?aahahahah
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